somethings change but much the same - The First World Hotel, Hangzhou Traveller Reviews

Fred201107

Shanghai

2 reviews

Reviews in 2 cities

1 helpful vote

“somethings change but much the same”

Reviewed 9 January 2009

1

person found this review helpful

I just got back from a business conference held at this hotel. Thought I would just update the review since it has been 2 1/2 years since the last review. Obviously not many people get out to this hotel from the number of reviews. It really is a nice hotel facility. I really concur with the previous review. Way too much technology in the rooms that makes it unmanageable. When I arrived in the room, it was 28 degrees and the thermostat was set to 31. Well I tried and tried to change the setting but to no avail. Being the pround techno male, I refused to call housekeeping to change it for me and only after 1 whole day did I give in. The washroom motion sensor drove me crazy as it shuts the light off during the most inconvenient times of washroom use. I spent the whole shower time trying to activate the sensor every minute when the lights would shut off. Luckily the sensor was near the shower. The decor of the room was very nice and the room was very clean. My room was also very interesting, in that the large window faces the interior "Rain forest" solarium. It reminded me of a hotel that was inside a domed stadium. The food was quite good. The check in and check out was quite chaotic as in typical chinese fashion they try to take care of 10 customers simultaneously with 3 staff, so a lot of confusion. The location is probably the biggest drawback. There is really nothing near this place and it is a 60 RMB taxi ride (if you can actually get one from here) to anywhere in town. Watch out for the pricing of the unofficial taxis, they seem to be in with the concierge. When I called the concierge to find out how much she thought it would be to town and she said 80 rmb. Lo and behold, when I got downstairs I was propositioned by the only car around to take me for 70. Good deal eh. However, on my return trip to the hotel with proper taxi , the fare was only 50 rmb. I did notice that there was a really posh sauna located now in the basement level which must be new. Overall a nice place if you had a self contained schedule within the complex, otherwise there is nothing to do here.

Liked — nice decor and clean
Disliked — way too far away from anything

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Varan

Grasse, France

Top Contributor

87 reviews

Reviews in 48 cities

47 helpful votes

“Brand new hotel in World Leisure Expo”

Reviewed 18 June 2006

3

people found this review helpful

The First World Hotel is a typical brand new 5 (local) stars Chinese hotel with a lot of "gold" and flashy furnitures and also a lot of high tech equipments everywhere. Unfortunately, if this high tech equip is funny (more funny than really convenient), it makes things complicated when you want to make sure lights are off during the night and want to keep it that way during all night (movement sensors in the room) ! Nobody seems to know how it works anyway !

Cleaning of the room is not bad but below international standards of US/European competitors like Accor or Holiday inn since they only clean what you can touch but for instance not below furnitures !
Western food is acceptable but once again it is much below US/European competitors and room service is extremely poor.
Service is good and overall we like this hotel and spend a good time.
The location near the World Leisure Expo is excellent, some part of the hotel like the atrium (on the picture) are gorgeous but there is no swimming pool, no exercice room, no massage, no beauty saloon.
Rooms are confortable and people are friendly but management have a lot of room for improvement.

Hotel website is very difficult to find and even google could not find it [-] :