We had a great four days at Yuzi Paradise, which is so hard to describe. It is a modern, boutique hotel between Guilin and Yangshou situated in a park full of modern art scultpures. It is a rather remote spot, better for R&R or a weekned trip than as a jumping off point.

We liked the rooms and enjoyed strolling the grounds, eating at their restaurant, and doing art projects at their "Atelier." However, the front desk had VERY limited English. It was difficult to explain preferences and ask for advice on daily activities. There was one very competent and fluent woman who worked behing the scenes, so we ended up talking to her to book anything. Yangshou is an hour away and you have to pay steep prices to get anywhere, as you are isolated in the hotel, an hour from anything.

We observed many families with children that had a great time, lounging by the pool and having fun.

We had two great massages at Yuzi and would recommend the Chinese masseuses.

This is a great hotel, that with more training and English practice, could turn into a first rate hotel.

Really a terrible experience even though the hotel concept, environmental location are outstanding. management is really poor and not able to manage such a facility as far as hotelery is concerned.
I initially booked in May 07their Relais & Chateaux hotel, supposed to be opened in June, they confirmed it. One week before my arrival I receive a mail (got by change since I was travelling in Tibet) informing me that the R&S was not ready yet, proposing a JS in the HOMA. At that point I had no chance to change my plans, so accepted. Once arrived the room the proposed was different from the actual one. They told me it's the best room of the hotel, but actually an average 3 starts one, or less. After 2 days I have been onformed that the hotel would have have been closed, yeas, closed, the day after for unplanned maintenance opartions of aircon, so they proposed to move to the branch normally used by the general manager/owner to host friends/family members. Everything is embedded n a wonderful park, full of modern art masterpieces, the Homa, the R&S, the friends/family building, restaurants, etc....Actually the new suit was acceptable, 3+ stars room. Once I tried to ask why they didn't propose the new room when arived, why the air con maintenance was not planned ahead, etc...no answer. Actualy staff tried to make their best, but poorely trained, their english is really basic and it's been really a pain to communicate.
Then, even though the location is wonderful, the position is not!. The hotel is 40km far from Gulin, non possibility to catch a taxi. The only alternatives are to take the hotel car (unbelievaby expensive) or the public bus (5 yaun), if one accepts to spend more than 1 hour travelling with ducks, chickens, and sometimes bigs!.......More, is one decides to use their cars with driver for sightseeing, i.e. long distance ones, well be prepared to make one of your worst experience on the road, they are not actually able to drive a car and the experience is really dangerous and not recommended.

Actually I do not understand how R&S has provided the licence to that poor management and property!

Bottom line, I strongly recommend to make another choice in Guilin, Sheraton is a valid and up to standard alternative.

When I organized my trip to Guilin, I thought to stay in the Relais-Chateau in Yuzi. Unfortunately I found out that there are two hotels in Yuzi: the HOMA 1 and the HOMA2 (Relais-Chateau). As the HOMA 2 was not open yet, I had to stay in the HOMA 1. It is a very nice 4-star hotel with a very modern, trendy Design-Decor. The rooms are nicely decorated, very modern. Only negative point: between the rooms at the window, there is a space of about 3 centimeters, this means you can hear every single noise from your neighbours...
The staff is extremely friendly and helpful, but you have to be aware that almost nobody (except of the VIP manager) speaks english, so you have to try hard with the few chinese words you might speak. But they are smiling all the time, and this is so nice you forget the language issues.
The food in the hotel restaurant is good; but the separate chinese restaurant is disappointing, the food is not good (on top, there is no air-condition, and with a temparature of 37° celsius a difficult experience...)
But what the most exciting part is in Yuzi, is the location: in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by small mountains, a very idillic place. And there is a large parc with modern art: all kind of sculptures, so you walk through the parc and look at the beautiful art and enjoy the fantastic surroundings....very relaxing, like in paradise. You can also walk outside the parc, in the middle of nowhere and you walk along rice fields, small villages etc - China at its best! One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen - not the most luxurious (this might change once the Relais-Chateau is open), but worth the long trip, the nature around is just georgous!
I strongly recommed to stay in this place and enjoy the landscape here - it is much better than the Ly River Cruise (a nice experience, but very very touristy).

I had heard about Yuzi Paradise from an article in an airline magazine, and the photos looked amazing. Their website is also a great sales tool, so I booked directly with them.
The hotel is set in a modern art park and beautiful surroundings. The setting is definitely stunning and unlike anything else I have seen in China (or anywhere else for that matter) The art park is definitely worth the visit, but I dont think I would have paid RMB80 to go in it, if I wasn't staying at the hotel. I wished they would have labeled the individual pieces, but it was fun to ride around the park anyway. Entrance to the park is free if you are a guest of the hotel, but that's where anything free ends. Even to use one of their (disappointing) bicycles to ride around the park, they charged RMB10 per hour (for comparison, bikes in Yangshou rent out for RMB 20 for the full day and for that price you get a pretty decent mountain bike, versus the wobbly rusty fold-able type bike at Yuzi)
We were very disappointed by the service. They do try hard, but most staff's English was so poor and they had no concept of international standard service that I was really left wondering who they cater to. I can only imagine it is the bus loads of unsuspecting tour tourists. While we didnt see any on our stay, the huge bus-parking lot right outside the hotel made me think this is what keeps the hotel going.
There is a common saying in China: The "hardware" is great, but the "software" leaves a lot to be desired. And that definitely applies to Yuzi. Great architecture, wonderful modern art inside the hotel and in the park, but service not up to what one would expect from a Relais-Chateau classified hotel.
However, if you are not demanding on service (or a little more patient than my husband was!) I would recommend staying for one night and day. Don't make this hotel your stop for visiting Yangshou and the Li River area because it is remote. If you are flying in to Guilin, stay overnight to enjoy the art park, the spa (we didnt have time to experience it, but it did look quite good) and the beautiful surroundings, but then head out to stay closer to Yangshou itself for the rest of your stay.
Avoid trying to book anything with the hotel. Their rates are outrageous and they are completely incompetent. I wished I had known about the local tour operators in Yangshou itself that could have organized activities without the 50% surcharge that Yuzi charges. Trying to get tickets to the nightshow was a disaster. After three different requests to the hotel to organize the tickets (and their assurances that they had), we left empty handed for Yangshou. I had to convince the hotel driver to take us to the ticket booth directly. And even then, he refused to let us pay the face value, insisting we pay him the hotel surcharge (on orders from someone from the hotel who he was on the phone with). Luckily the nice ticket booth lady was on my side to say that, since the hotel had not bought the tickets themselves, we should not be subject to any ridiculous surcharge.
Also, because they are so remote, you may be stuck paying the RMB 600 for a hotel car to get you to the hotel and back out again. Given that we paid RMB 900 for the standard room, the transportation fees felt a little outrageous, but then again, you are a captive guest!!
The free WIFI is a plus, and while the rooms were Ikea-ish, they were entirely adequate.
Yangshou was a delight. Head into town and definitely get yourself a guide for the day. They will approach you as you hit West Street. Dont pay more than RMB 80 for a day's tour and dont be surprised if, after negotiating with the fluent speaking tour guide that approaches you, she introduces you to her "sister" and says she will be your actual guide! Rent bikes and follow your guide for a tour of the countryside, including rafting downstream with bikes on the back of a bamboo raft. It was really the highlight of our stay in the Guilin-Yangshou area. The Impression Sanjie Liu night show (the one we had such a challenge getting tickets for) in Yangshou is a must - it is the most amazing light show I have ever seen, and gave us a good taste of what to expect from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics (same director).