We stayed at the White Swan for 10 days from May 11th-May 21st. The hotel lobby is beautiful although the it smells a little musty. The breakfast buffet is unbelievable--all kinds of foods that will appeal to Americans, Asians, and Europeans. Very delicious! I think that I gained weight because of the buffet.

The rooms are worn and need updating. Housekeeping staff is awesome! We seemed to always need ice and extra towels. The needed items were always brought promptly and with a smile. The view from our room was of the Pearl River. We all loved watching the boats and barges go up and down the river.

The pool and outdoor landscaping is absolutely gorgeous! My girls loved the swimming pool although it was a little cold.

There is great shopping on Shamian Islands-lots of sourvenir shops of traditional Chinese items. Also, the shops sell product knock-offs, which is fun. There is a Starbucks about a block and half away. The island also has many great restaurants-Italian, German, American, etc. The city of Guangdong and a great shopping street is only a 20 minute walk from the hotel. We walked through the herb and animal market (very interesting!) to get to the shops around the Guangzhou Holiday Inn.

We throughly enjoyed our stay at the White Swan!

We stayed here 1 night as part of a tour. Definitely would choose and recommend this hotel. Location is safe and the view over the river at night is exceptional. Service and food range is excellent and the room, although showing some signs of age, was well appointed, clean and practical with a full range of amenities complete with slippers and robe.

We spent two nights here and had a lovely time. The staff was attentive and courteous, and the rooms comfortable. I saw complaints about hard beds and the rooms smelling of humidity, but both are characteristic of this region and we didn't find either serious enough to be problematic. After we turned the air con on we didn't notice a smell at all - and most importantly, the linens and furniture all smelled fresh. The two rooms we had were of ample size with a fine view of the Pearl River, a refrigerator and well stocked mini bar, and modern bathroom. The public areas of the hotel are spacious and impressive, and there are many restaurants and shops as well as several ATMs. There are two large pools and a large lovely well maintained garden. Everything was even better than it looks in the pictures, which isn't always the case! My only complaint would be that the restaurants were all very expensive with no low cost options - even the coffee shop's brunch was 168 yuan - about $24 USD per person. Not outrageous, but expensive for China. The cost of the rooms was very reasonable. We booked them through our Hong Kong travel agent for 580 Hong Kong dollars (a little more than $70 USD each).
We loved the location of the hotel on Shamian Island. We spent several hours strolling around the island and sitting with coffee to watch locals play badminton and shuttlecock in the park that runs down the center of the island. There is a nice playground for children with exercise machines for all ages. Even our 10 and 12 year olds found some Chinese playmates who joined in their games. We also enjoyed getting off the island and wandering around the neighborhoods near Qingping Market - fascinating old lanes with street vendors and families going about their business. It is also an easy walk to the Metro Station (Huangsha) to get to other attractions. The Metro was clean, efficient, and easy to figure out with destinations and directions for buying tickets in English.
Before going, I had been a little apprehensive after having been constantly accosted by aggressive vendors in other places in China, but did not find that at all in Guangzhou. As far as crime - we took normal precautions and felt perfectly safe wherever we were. We took several metered taxis and found that the drivers used their meters and took the most direct route - a very inexpensive way to get around. Many people don't speak or understand English, so be sure to take a phrase book or card from the hotel with your destination written in Chinese.
All in all a wonderful weekend. We plan to return to the White Swan and Guangzhou with other family members.

We stayed at the White Swan hotel for 1 week and found the hotel to be pretty luxurious, although a little outdated. The service was excellent as was the location. Samian Island is just perfect for taking a nice stroll with young ones. The breakfast buffet is very good and the hotel also houses several other reasonably priced restaurants. This hotel has a good number of American tourists and is known for housing adoptive families since the US Consulate is also located on the island. Our room was luxuroius and had a view of the Pearl River, although the room was rather small. During our stay, we had multiple problems with the safe - it kept running out of batteries to operate closing/opening. The one amenity I wish came w/ the room was free internet access. Overall though this famous hotel lived up to our expectations and we enjoyed being guests there.