It is a new hotel in a new development area (with the surrounding area still under construction), so the facilities are new. The rooms are spacious, the neighbourhood is quite but safe. The only complaint is that the area is just a bit remote to see much activity.

Fine hotel with every facitity on site. the inexpensive taxis and buses mean it is easy and cheap to get downtown. The location with views over the the canal and river is spectacular from the 34th floor restaurant. Even in the modern district some interesting hutong type areas remain within a 10 minute walk.

I stayed at Tianyuan Tower with my husband, who was attending a conference at this hotel. We stayed a total of eight nights so we experienced many of the hotel's amenities.

The location is not ideal if you want to do sightseeing, as it is away from the West Lake area. So do not stay here if you intend to do a lot of sightseeing. The area is not yet fully serviced by public transport and many taxi drivers do not know where it is. So it is best to take a good map with you, and the address of the hotel rather than just the name. This is because it is in the planned new Hangzhou CBD area, which is still under construction and is currently sparsely populated. Once the CBD is relocated, I'd imagine it would be in the ideal location for a business traveller.

When we arrived, we were asked to pay a deposit of 500 RMB (about 60 USD), which we thought was quite reasonable. However, we later discovered that other conference attendees were charged anything from no deposit to 3000 RMB even though our stays were all of the same length. This inconsistency extended to many other parts of our stay. For instance, when resolving the breakfast bill, we encountered no less than five different payment methods! These inconsistencies caused a lot of confusion and we were never quite sure of the correct method for payments.

The rooms were clean, though some parts (e.g. carpet) showed signs of wear and tear. Our room was furnished with faux Chinese antique furniture, which looked very impressive. However, much to our dismay, we found the chairs were very heavy to move and uncomfortable to sit on. Other rooms (we saw some of the other conference attendees' rooms) were furnished in a modern style with softer chairs - try to request one of these rooms if you stay here. The beds were very comfortable. I cannot comment on the mini bar as it was inexplicably locked throughout our stay.

The bathrooms were large and very clean. The combined shower/bath was one of the better ones I've encountered in China, though not the best. One very nice feature was a drinking water tap, which was incredibly convenient as we did not need to boil water for drinking, which is the norm in China. The water quality was excellent. Another nice feature was the retractable washing line, which significantly reduced our laundry bill.

The housekeeping staff seemed intent on coming into our room at every opportunity, sometimes without any warning. One night, we were woken up by a cleaner barging into our room to look for a chess set which we had already returned to reception the previous day. Another night, we were woken up by a cleaner asking if we required the room to be cleaned. It was already past 10 o'clock at night on both occasions. Several times when I was in the room during the day the hotel staff asked if they could close the curtains in our room, though I could never fathom why. When going out, I frequently returned to find the curtains closed. If I opened them again and left the room, they would be closed again by the time I returned.

Other features of the hotel include the lobby bar (where the strange pricing system dictates that a cup of tea costs more than a bottle of beer), free wifi in the lobby, several restaurants (which were all very nice, especially the Japanese/Korean restaurant, 'Skyreach', on the sixth floor of the east building) and a business centre (all services will incur a charge). There was also a (men's only) health centre where a massage will set you back no less than 750 RMB, which led my husband to decline trying the service.

It seems like the hotel has spent a lot of money on fitting out the rooms and general areas, which does create a pleasant atmosphere. However, we felt that the service staff, despite being attentive, frequently bordered on intrusive and the confusion and inconsistency of staff made our stay so stressful that we would not return.

I am currently writing this FROM the Tianyuan Tower where I am staying for a conference. On the positive side, my room is lovely, the food is good and the lounge attractive, on the negative:

1. The site I booked through said the total price would be RMB 1992, on check in the charged my Visa RMB3000 (£100 more!) I amd currently waiting for confirmation that this is because they put a charge of that amount on all Visas on check in and deduct on checkout as I know some places do - but it looked to me that they were charging for breakfast too and god knows what else (given that breakfast was quoted as being included). Unfortunately my Mandarin is as limited as ther reception's English so I am still in the dark...and unable to move hotels due to the charge.

2. On the "God knows what else" Every website advertises the amazing health and recreational facilities - a pool, a fitness centre, a spa and so on. On asking at reception, neither the pool for fitness centre is in existence, and the spa is for MEN ONLY - the only recreation open to women is a foot massage.

Because I booked this place as a business hotel, the facilities were important to me as I intended to maintain my fitness regieme with the short time I had outside the conferences rather than sight see - and arguably, the only sights near the hotel are tower blocks (although the hotel does have a booth for organising trips).

3. They charge £3 (RMB30) for a tea the size of an espresso!

4. The "shopping arcade" they advertise also doesn't exist.

(Luckily wireless access is free as I guess this is where I'll be spending most of my time!)

The level of English spoken is minimal (I admit, my Mandarin is extremely poor too), so it is very hard to communicate. They couldn't even locate my name on the booking voucher.

If you are here and you want a nice place for the night, then go for it, but if you are after the "excellent" recreational facilities that all sites seem to suggest, a foot massage just does not cut it... although, once everything is built, it _WILL_ be wonderful! (As I said, ring first!)