I stayed at the Renaissance in Xian. Its really far south of the city and would require taxi or 10-15 minutes walk to the metro to get anywhere. There is nothing nearby within walking distance that I found and I walked around for a while looking. The hotel itself was pretty good and I was upgraded to a junior suite which happens to be the largest suite I've ever stayed at(just bathroom itself was larger than most normal rooms). Breakfast is in the restaurant or lounge but since you're doing a status challenge, I don't that is very helpful to you.
I've had hotels stay overlap and never had issue getting credit for them but its usually only for 1 night overlap. Only issue I can see that might come up is you have to check in with your passport and the hotel registers with the local police department. I'm sure about if you were going somewhere else in China and it shows up that you're staying at multiple hotels.