Stating life threatening asthma and allergy concerns, my Chinese speaking colleage requested a non-smoking room at this hotel for a critical business trip in Hangzhou, a beautiful city.

It took us two days to reach Hangzhou by plane for this occasion, and when we arrived, we found that the halls were dim and dirty and smelled like smoke. Our room was a SMOKING room, with the beds unmade, and ashes all over the tables. The walls were badly cracking (we had reserved one of their more expensive rooms) and the floor was dirty.

When we asked for another room due to our health issues, we were denied. Furthermore, the hotel refused to return our payment for the room (we had to pay in advance for our booking). This incident cost us several hours and lost us our business meeting that we had travelled so far for.

We do not recommend booking this hotel, unless you smoke (heavily). The location is great, but the condition of the hotel is poor by any standard.

If you want to experience West Lake, this is the hotel. The room we stayed in was literally 20 feet from the lake. Great view. Perhaps these were some of the better rooms, but with the exchange rates in our favor, pay for the best and it's still cheap for what you get. The hotel apparently was/is used for state events. Some military big shots were there when we stayed so we had to go through a bit more security that usual getting in. They also wouldn't let us walk towards the boat docks. I'm sure that doesn't happen all the time. This hotel is spotless, pristine, actually. The condition of the hotel and the quality of the fixtures was top notch. If there is any criticism, the hotel seemed TOO perfect. It also seemed like there weren't many guests. We were only there a couple of nights, but I think if your destination is West Lake, this would be a good spot. The grounds are big and if you like to take long strolls in a beautiful setting next to the lake, this is the place. The only restaurant we went to was the Western one for breakfast. They did a good job. I'm not sure how their English was. I was with my Chinese wife, so she did all the talking.