karenkay

we've been staying at the wang hu/lakeview, but the breakfast buffet is just icky and the staff isn't as friendly as it once was, so it's time to move on.

yes, the shangri-la is FABULOUS, but it's also expensive and we were hoping for something in between. any suggestions?

dawei

(i)
http://hangzhou.regency.hyatt.com/

I stayed here a few months ago, faboulous location, nice hotel, amazing food (their chinese resteraunt was easily putting out some of the best food in China). Probably expensive but I dont know. They also were just opening when I was there and were having a few growing pains (rec room not yet open, etc.)..... Overall I (and I hate to admit this) prefer it to the Shangri-la.

(ii)
You could also look into the overseas chinese hotel, its a great location. I have not stayed there since their renovation so i dont know how it is now, but I used to stay there for about RMB 180/night (the breakfast buffet was indeed ickky though). I walked by post renovation, and it looked ok -- but it was showing its age before the renovation.

http://english.ctrip.com/destination...?resource=1962


(iii)
I have allways wanted to stay here:

http://english.ctrip.com/supermarket...pDate=2005-7-4

but haven't had the chance.

(iv) While I have stayed here:

http://english.ctrip.com/supermarket...pDate=2005-7-4

I don't recomend it.

moondog

i love the shangri-la and have found that it's not too expensive if you play the management well. there's a y580 rate that they occasionally advertise in the english publications in shanghai/beijing. if you reference that rate, there's a good chance they'll honor it if they're not heavily booked, even if they haven't run the promotion in a while.

pegasus8228

wow, if you got that rate definitely go for the shang.....it is the best one.
..... a top hotel with a resort setting

i was GC Elite and they once gave me a 1000 sq feet ft villa suite (but the furniture was rather old there )

there are a few other lake side hotels, sofitel, xihu binguan. but they are not much cheaper than shang i suspect.

karenkay

thanks for the tips, guys...we're going to be at the hyatt for RMB 850 a night...did get the shangri-la to negotiate, thanks to moondog, and they did better than i thought they would, but they couldn't beat the hyatt rate (and i'd forgotten we're going over national day week. oops!) also, i'll get hyatt points this way, etc.

last time we were in hangzhou walking around westlake we saw the hotel going up, so it'll be fun to stay there. ^

pegasus8228

national day is close to mid-autumn usually......check the calendar and see if you are there during full moon (15th of lunar calendar), if so, go to see the biggest tidal blow-hole in qiantang river (some people had mistaken some old video from the tide with the tsunami last christmas)