Somehow, this hotel claims to be a 5 star establishment. 99 percent of the staff do not speak ANY English. I speak Chinese, and they still are confused by simple requests.

The food is not for foreigners, and the accomodations would barely be called a 3 star hotel in the West.

I would strongly recommend a different hotel such as the Radisson for the same price or the Hyatt for a little more. The exercise equipment is over 10 years old....

Bottomline, avoid this one and save yourself some comfort and convenience.

Stayed 5 days at this hotel, located close to Hangzhou's drawcard the West Lake. Nice big room, free internet with so so connection speed, nice cantonese restaurant, buffet breakfast quite respectable. Paid RMB 720 per night

Since I had not heard of this hotel before my hosts had booked it, I was a little apprehensive about their booking. To my surprise, it turned out to be a very good choice. Although not on the West Lake, it was a robust 45-minute hike away and great for the waist-line, important given the evening banquets to come that week.

The room I was allocated was well sound-proofed, the king-size bed was just right and the pillows soft. The room was impressively large and the 'feng shui' in order. There was even a view of the hills, even if a little haze-covered. I slept very 'soundly on it all.

The staff were very friendly, the breakfasts abundant, the buffet food excellent [as were the specialist Chinese and Japanese restaurants] and the bar 'cosy'. I had a very commendable 'whisky-sour' there.

The pool was a little 'off the track' but immense, with sauna and hamam. The gym was little banal but reasonably equipped. [They might refurbish these facilities in due course, maybe]. All this being said, there was no 'coffee-shop' ,except an inside 'tea-garden'. Also, the shops had ludicrously expensive branded-goods on sale but no Western newspapers or post-cards. The vicinity of the hotel, in addition, did not offer much to see and there was no garden to walk around.

Yet as a business hotel, it worked very well and I would recommend it without hesitation. It's a place you could stay at for a couple of weeks without complaining!

I recently stayed at the World Trade Center Grand Hotel while attending a conference in Hangzhou. I can't say enough nice things about my stay. My room was lovely. The staff was friendly.

The breakfast buffet was large and contained a great variety of food (both Asian and Western).

My room had a nice flat-screen TV that had several channels in English (HBO, Stars, some BBC chanel, and I think one other). There was also a German channel. There was also free in-room internet.

Generally, in China, you shouldn't drink the tapwater, but at this hotel, the bathroom sinks have a second tap that dispenses purified drinking water.

Also, I have heard that most ATMs in China will not recognize VISA and Mastercard credit/debit cards, so you need to be sure to get money at the airport when you arrive. A bonus of the World Trade Center Grand Hotel is that it is next door to a bank that does have an ATM that will recognize VISA and Mastercard. This makes it easy to get cash.