Sorry, it may sound as a spoiled Westerner's complain, but I was greatly disappointed about the XiHai hotel. I live in China, so the culture schock was defintely not there. Yet it was.

It was reffered as having the best service from all 4 star hotels on the top of the mountain. I don't want to know how the service is in the other ones... They claim it as as an international hotel, but nobody speaks English, even the basic. My few words of Chinese would not bring smile to their face either. The waiters in the restaurant were kind, but the 'upper' management personal was unfriendly and unattentive.

The rooms are simply terrible. Somebody had a good sense of humour comparing it with Scandinavian style hotels (it was meant very seriously though, at one of the international travel agencies). The only thing which is comparable is the simplicity. The prices (one can spend a wonderfull night in upper class hotel in Europe), cleannes (the room maid left some snot (sorry!) for the memory on the room wall for us), paper walls (not wall paper!), which wakes you up every 15 minutes starting at 3.30 in the morning as every Chinese group has to see the sunrise and discuss alll the details with the friends from the next hotel, which is an about 1 km distance (at least that is the impression about the noise level when Chinese talk 'normally' standing right in front of your door); no air conditioning at all (be really aware as even on top of the mountain it may be hot as was in our case), - this all made me more tired than the whole hiking and trekking on the day before. On top of that, we got a room with the back side view, which means next building in about 1 m distance from our room window, some Chinese sitting there and starring at us in the room the whole time. I had never been so intimidated !!! Evening programme at the bar let it enjoy all the tourists at the hotel as echoing in between these two buildings with about a meter of distance was worse than sleeping in the disco club.

It was still a very enjoyable hiking and mountains are just gorgeous!!! I would probably agree with the other comment - lower your expectations and be ready for an expensive holiday, which will still probably be worthwile the memories and views of the nature beauty there.

I don't think Xi Hai ----- half as much as the other reviews might lead you to believe.

I agree, the four star rating isn't right. It's a typical three-star hotel in China. Stained carpet. Smelly bathroom. Thin walls. Maybe they got that fourth star because they have BBC World. And it is way overpriced. But you have to expect gouging on top of a mountain. You're paying 8 kuai for water...of course the hotels are going to stick it to you.

If it weren't for the price, the Xi Hai would have been just fine. The staff was nice, the restaurant was decent and once I begged a few sticks of incense from the nice lady in the gift shop, the bathroom didn't smell half as bad. That said, I probably wouldn't recommend it to friends unless they got a great deal.

If you have the time and inclination, look into the Shilin (which seemed newer from the outside at least) or the Beihai (which seemed like the dominant hotel of the bunch, though I'm sure it's a circus every morning at 4 a.m. as everyone heads for sunrise terrace...incidentally you won't escape that pre-dawn noise at the Xi Hai).

Is Xi Hai great? No. But I don't imagine any of the hotels up there are. I say lower your expectations and enjoy the scenery.

Stayed at the Xihai Fandian in late April 2005. The Xihai Fandian is located on top of Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain), which is considered to be the most scenic mountain in China. Huang Shan is located in Anhui Province 280km west of the coastal city of Hangzhou. Huang Shan is indeed very scenic & worth the trip.

The Xihai Fandian is rated by the guidebooks as being of 4* quality, which could not be further from the truth. The rooms resemble the rooms on a cruise ship & are best very basic. The bathroom has an odor problem. I would rate the rooms at 1* or 2* only. The restaurant is quite good. Everything on top of Huang Shan must be carried up on a porter’s back so all prices are a bit higher than normal. While at Huang Shan I heard there is very little difference between a 2* versus a 4* hotel except for the price.

There are only two ways to get to the top of the mountain hike or take the cable car. Needless to say take only enough for your limited stay on top of the mountain. You can hire a porter to carry your pack, but it’s not worth the 2-hour hike up. Save your energy & wait the 2 hours for the cable car. After you get off the cable car you will still need to hike to your hotel (several to choose from). There are many peaks to climb & you’ll need all your energy. The highest peak is just under 6,000 feet.

There are two traditional villages near Huang Shan. UNESCO classifies Xidi and Hongcun along with Huang Shan as world heritage sites. All worth visiting!

Please see my comment dated April 6, 2005 for Shilin hotel.
Xihai hotel should definitely be downgraded below that of Shilin Hotel.

My group of 27 people stayed for one night each at Xihai (March 29, 2005) and Shilin (March 30). We booked a total of 14 rooms. All group members voted unanimously in favor of Shilin.

At Xihai Hotel, the bathrooms were mostly, if not all, unacceptable. The paints on the curtain rod, walls and ceiling in my bathroom were peeling, the bath tub and the rod were rusty, the floor was dirty. My bedroom was OK but can be improved. We compared our rooms and found mostly that the rooms were in the same not too desirable conditions. So there was no need to complain and try to get another room. Some people said it was a zero star hotel, but I would say it is a one star hotel.

I am debating hard whether to rate this hotel as terrible or OK with some problems, but I 'd have to settle with the latter, considering that the dining room service and the other general conditions were not too bad, even though this will bump up their rating to a two star hotel.

I would not recommend this hotel to my friends, unless there are no more rooms in town.