I think the Front Office Manager might be telling you 'porky pies' - this is China after all - foreign hotels don't choose to do what they want to do - they follow strict protocols.

My personal experience about getting RMB in China:

If I needed any larger amount (>2000�) or so, I'd get Traveller Checks (yes, really!) - at least in the past. My bank always run some "free of commission" offers where they cut their 1% commission. Exchange rate in Bank of China for Traveller Checks used to be considerable better than for cash. Nowadays, they've enhanced the Traveller Checks, and it's much more tricky to get them here, so I've stopped using them. Might be your country still has them available..

Exchanging cash for local currency, I've never done it. Better to use ATM imho. I get a commission-free card, where there are no extra costs (German DKB card) - very easy to use, and while it's prepaid, I'm getting even some interest on any money I'm having on it (used to be almost 2%, but they've cut it down more and more, now it's 0.9%, still better than having the money on the regular account, though..) - so it's like a saving account which you can access world wide.

No matter which country I'm going, I'm always trying to have "good shape" bills. Euro are of higher quality than Dollar bills, so usually don't break down so quickly in general, and seem to be more trusted nowadays (especially bigger bills)