We stayed at the Golden Elephant Hotel for 2 nights on the way to and from Beijing. There are better 3 star hotels available in the area so unless you really are forced to stay here I would give it a wide berth. The whole hotel has a depressing, dark and run down atmosphere and the rooms are cramped and not that clean. The first room we were given (until we complained and were moved) was dirty (particularly the walls and carpets), and when the electricity went off (a common occurrence) we found we were right opposite the emergency diesel generator and the noise is overwhelming - be warned, when the power does go down, you are left with only 2 small lights in the room; hardly enough to see by - but rest asssured, the reception area and restaurant blaze away! We visited the hotel in Winter - there is no heating before 8pm (which is no joke when the temperature is well below zero) and when it does finally switch on, the vent seems to be fed directly from the kitchen as the stench of fried food is overwhelming. The amount of heat is so small that its hardly worth bothering with anyway. On the plus side the bedding is clean and the beds are comfortable.