HUA Hotel (gulou jishuitan Subway Station)

Good location, very nice staff, and a comfortable hotel room for the price. My original room had a stale cigarette smell, but staff changed my room very quickly without any issues. The staff were extremely helpful and answered all my questions using a translator app and WeChat. As a first-time foreign visitor to Beijing, I really appreciated their patience and friendliness. Housekeeping replaced towels daily and provided new water bottles. Big thanks to all the staff for the great service 👏🏻👏🏻 The hotel is near Jishuitan Station (Lines 2 and 19), which made getting around easy. There’s also a bus stop right in front of the subway station. Xihai Lake is right behind the hotel and accessible through the back door — a calm and beautiful area to walk around and one of the highlights of my stay. Hutongs and the Shichahai scenic area are within walking distance. Food options are available on the next street, including a great Muslim restaurant with breakfast options. I also tried zha jiang mian at the restaurant right next door. A few things to note: food smells from the restaurant sometimes reached the lobby or slightly into the room. I also occasionally smelled cigarette smoke in the hallway near other rooms. The shower temperature control was a bit sensitive, and the showerhead leaked slightly from the side, but everything still worked fine overall. The room walls also had some visible creasing in the wallpaper, though there were no humidity issues on the wall.

I booked this hotel for the convenient access to the metro station, which was perfect for me. The hotel has direct access to a park with a lake, so an evening stroll to calm down was very easy. Unfortunately the room I was in had water damage on a wall and the silicone lining around the sink was pretty nasty with mould or dirt. The ventilation system doesn’t seem to keep up with the moisture from the bathroom. However, the silicone should be an easy fix as it seems to be just the wrong product used. The staff was very friendly but asked me to open my suitcase, especially to see if I carry a drone.