Youth Hostels in China

When we booked, we had great expectations as this is a four star hotel and the photos shown on the website were exceptional. However, upon arrival, we were given a nasty surprise.

The 'standard' room assigned to us was located in a separate wing (called professional quarters) from the main hotel building. We felt let down, as it was a far cry from the standard room in the main building. It was also a 200m walk away, and we had to be ferried out to and fro the main building.

Both the 2-storey building and the room was shabby and badly maintained and looked like old communist school/barracks. The furniture show much obvious signs of wear and tear. The kettle wasn't working, and they had to change it twice before they found one that was working. The light fittings were dim, wardrobe doors were falling off its hinges. A strange and unpleasant odour emits from the bathroom gutter even though the bathroom appeared to have been cleaned. We assume they were facing a sewage problem because this wing is actually an old building and they only gave the building a facelift to blend in with the main building. Needless to say, we had to carry our numerous heavy luggages up one floor.

When we spoke to the duty manager to sound out our unhappiness, she explained that the room assigned was due to the price we paid through travellerspoint and suggested that we feedback to travellerspoint accordingly. She also explained that the rooms in the professional quarters are usually meant for longer term guests with tight budgets such as students and staff of the art institute. In this case we fail to see how these guests with 'tight budgets' can pay the not exactly cheap price of RMB320.00 per night. We had thought that the lower price offered were due to early booking for low season. We were also shown the standard room in the main building, and it was beautiful, with expensive and tasteful wooden furniture, with rich persian carpets, and patchwork quilts as currently advertised over the website.

We definitely felt ripped off, and would like an explanation from travellerpoint as to why such a crummy substandard room was offered over the website.

I'm a 66 year old American business man who has worked on Hainan Island in the past. My stay at Twinstar was nice. It is quaint, quiet, and close to most required necessities. Able to walk 1 block and dine at 4-5 star hotels and not pay their room rates. KFC/Pizza Hut only 5-6 blocks away when you desire less formal food. Used Twinstar Hostel as a base of operation as I traveled throughout the island. Supervised wood framed construction site near Foushon Oil fields in 2012. Twinstar provides a nice service at reasonable price and friendly staff.