Minshan Hotel

Excellent premium hotel in Chengdu in a terrific location. As non-Chinese travellers and no ability in speaking Chinese, this hotel was a good match for us. Some of the hotel staff spoke excellent English; most of the customer service staff spoke some English. They were very helpful in most cases, helped us get around town by writing locations in Chinese, and the breakfast buffet (included) is high quality. The rooms are very clean, nicely appointed, and very comfortable. While there might be less expensive places to stay in Chengdu, our rate was under $150 (US) per night including a first-rate breakfast (Chinese and Western) easily worth $25. per person in any big city hotel, anywhere. My only complaints: the doorman put us in a cab to go to the Panda Research Center that cost twice as much as it should have (always use the meter instead of a negotiated price); and second complaint is that the hotel is not up to speed to help foreign visitors with travel/tour arrangements. We were not able to find anyone in the hotel to help us locate local tour operators for day-trips. Though this is a Chinese hotel, it is such high caliber that we would expect they would know how to connect travellers with commonly visited sites. As it turns out there are visitor travel offices right next door! But these two complaints are not really related to the quality of the hotel, just cautions for travellers. Bottom line -- I'd absolutely stay here again.