Ramada Pearl Hotel Guangzhou - Guangzhou, China     

I've stayed here a number of times as a client is walking distance away . If you get a regular room this hotel is pretty decent, has good food, gym, nice outdoor pool etc However twice now i have been 'upgraded' to a suite - if this happens to you don't take it. The suites are actually their serviced apartments which are very dated, pretty bare and much lower standard than their regular rooms though very spacious. There isn't much around the area so come here if it is near somewhere specific otherwise stick to some of the other hotels more central to GZ.

We were in Guangzhou for only three nights and this hotel was recommended by a family friend who live on Ersha Island, across from the hotel. This hotel is okay for the business traveler. Has a nice gym, outdoor and indoor pool. Massage and salon. Buffet breakfast with western and asian fares. The dim sum restaurant is good and staff were friendly and fast. The rooms were a good size and have a nice view of the city, we were facing the river (asked for this view) otherwise you'll be looking at building on the other side. Bathrooms were average, but it was always clean. Slippers were provided, beds were okay for hotel standard. The concierge was of no help, he didn't know the what time the gym cloese and told us 11 p.m. but we couldn't access the door to the gym after 9 p.m. Another time we asked the concierge (different people each time) to write down the place and address we want to go for the cab (see language confusion below), we didn't know what she wrote down, but we ended up not where we want to be and the cab driver refused to take us to our designation because we showed him what the concierge wrote. There was major confusion with the language, we speak okay cantonese and Guangzhou is "Canton" so we thought we can get by without any problems, wrong!! Most hotel staff speaks Mandarin and we end up speaking English with a little cantonese. This hotel is not close to anything exciting, you have to take a cab to go places. Cab rides are cheap. Make sure you grab a few cards to from the Concierge's desk before you leave, just give the cab driver the card so they can bring you back, because there is another Ramada in town. Public transportation was confusing and try not to take the older cabs because you'll be smelling the fumes from the exhaust. Actually, you needs cards for any place you go, so write or have someone write down where you going with the address in chinese, if you know a landmark, that maybe best. Because if you don't speak their language, they drop you off anyplace. This is large (like LA) and you need to drive to go to most places. Remember walk don't run across the street. Traffic is crazy, motorbikes, cars, cabs, and bikes everywhere. I dont' know if I will go back to Guangzhou or this hotel.