Lakeview Xuanwu Hotel

This was a good hotel at a reasonable price - we took the superior room for RMB 457 and it was clean, well furnished and a reasonable size with a large window and in a good location (close to the lake, a few minutes walk from plenty of restaurants, right next to the metro). Though we didn't have a lake view (only the deluxe rooms on higher floors do apparently - this wasn't very clear from the website), we could see across to the Xuan Wu Gate. Service was overall very good - excellent level of English but of couple bugs.
1. On arrival we were immediately told the room we had booked was very small and had no view, we should pay 100 RMB more to upgrade. We didn't and on seeing the room there was absolutely no need to.
2. Take a swimming cap - you can't use the pool without one ad they'll charge you 33 RMB to buy one from them. We bought them from the market for 5 RMB each!

For business or pleasure trips, most people invest the time seeking the best deal you can get on the internet for the best hotel you can afford. Well, you will never know what is lurking in your room.



I am in Nanjing for the weekend. Staying at the Lakeview Hotel with a fantastic view of the Xuan Wu Lake. Lakeview is a recently renovated hotel probably built in the late 1980s. They have done a remarkable job refurbishing the building and the rooms are really not too bad. Even got upgraded to the mini executive suite.



The first evening was uneventful.but wait!



Second night. I turned in after about 11:30 PM. Nothing abnormal. Nothing to raise any concerns. At 12:15 AM, approximately 45 minutes after I turned in, I was wakened up by what sounded like noise from upstairs. Sounds which I can only described with words as shifting, jumping, scratching and hustling.I cursed the upstairs neighbor for being really, well, un-neighborly. But then this is CHINA . Tried to get back to sleep but I couldn't. The noises persisted. Now manifesting itself with a vengeance!!



I got up from bed to survey the room and turned on the bed side lamp. A 25W low intensity variety (now, don't forget the room is a mini suite). The 25W lamp didn't do a whole lot of good lighting up the room but just enough to see the contents (and movements) in the bed room.



Noises stopped!!



I sat at the edge of my bed in a half-asleep mode. Intending to give it another minute or so before inserting myself back in the comfort of my bed. Then! There!! The noises reintroduced itself. I woke up with a complete startle. I am awake now!! The noises are very close by. Not through a concrete flooring as I have previously envisioned. Got up from the edge of the bed and began walking around the room. Nosies continued. Coming from the windows behind the drawn curtains. Well, I thought, it could be the intense rain drops hitting the panes of glass. Afterall, Nanjing has been raining the whole day. NO. It is not rain drop! It is more lively and has no rhythm to it. Just shifting, jumping, scratching and hustling.



With my weapon (a plastic Duracell flashlight) in hand, I proceeded to open the curtain a bit to confirm if my mind is playing tricks on me. There it was a RAT. Oh my God, I thought. A rat in my room. This would explain the shifting, jumping, scratching and hustling. I hustled back to the phone next to my bed and called housekeeping. What do I do now? Attempting to catching the damn rodent my myself? Wait for the cavalier to show up? What?? What??? What????



No more than 30 second after placing the call, the critter crawled out from behind the curtain. NO, it was not a rat. It glared at me. Straight at my direction as if I just eat out on him (no punt intended here). It has the look of a rodent but has wings. YES! It was a damn BAT. Red eyes, ears and wings! The works! Upon presenting itself, it began to checkout the mini suite by doing no less than twenty low flying sorties. On a few passes, it actually buzzed by my head. I began to think it was in his attack mode. The bat was quick agile and hated the light apparently and therefore seeking a darker spot of which there were none. By this time I had every light bulb in the room on overtime. Finally, the critter landed next to my can of diet coke. By now, I realized the critter is B-I-G-G-E-R than the can of diet coke!!!



After 5 minutes of battling with the vampire the cavalier arrived. It was captured after another 10 minutes of, screaming, prodding, running, and finally military maneuvers.



Moral of the story here.

A good hotel in general. The receptionists were very efficient for both check-in and check-out. I booked a single room for 500 yuan. Unexpectedly, I could see Xuanwu Lake from my window. One perk I appreciated was that swimming pool access was free of charge, but one thing I have to complain about is the fact that my room was noisy in the early hours of the morning because of all the public buses running in front of the hotel. On the plus side, the service staff noticed our large amount of luggage and offered to check it for us, free of charge, while we go visit the Sun Yat-Sen mausoleum, and this after we'd already checked out. I think those little gestures go a long way...

The bed in my room was small and the bathtub had a creepy, wizened look to it that made me feel a little paranoid when I was having a shower. Bizarre.

Furnishings in the room were a bit on the old side, but the view of Xuanwu Lake was pretty nice...

不错的老五星酒店，地处玄武湖旁，交通方便，酒店设施也很不错，旁边的南京国际广场也值得一逛！

酒店整体感觉很好，交通方便，对面就是玄武湖，可以随时去散步。

环境，舒适度很有5星的感觉，电梯的插卡入住也是特色。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

为了开个小会，想找个大点的房间，从携程上看房间有35平米，结果进去以后发现就卫生间宽敞了。

酒店的位置跟周边环境都比较满意，但房间的隔音比较差，外面过道上人走动跟说话的声音在房间里很清楚。