Xihai Hotel - Huangshan
 

Would anyone be able to help me with an email or fax number for this hotel? The number listed in the Fodors Guide does not go through.
Does anyone know anything about this area known as Yellow Mountain?

Telephone 0559 558 8987. Fax 0559 558 8988. Although this hotel is Swiss-designed, and popular with tour groups, it's Chinese-run, and there's no guarantee a fax booking will work. There is a guarantee that you'll pay a lot more (up to 100% more) then if you book from abroad than if you just show up. But this is one of those rare cases where the demand nearly matches the supply of rooms, particularly May to October, so you might be advised to call ahead in that period, although there are other hotels of the same standard on the summit from which to choose. Whatever you do, ask for a discount. The equivalent of $120 (rack rate) is far too much to pay for a hotel of this type.

Peter N-H
http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html

Thank you Peter that was a great help. Have been reading all of your advice on China Travel and will take a printout with me. You certainly know China. Thanks again.

A number I have for the Huangshan Xihai Hotel is 559-558-8888 which you might try if the other one doesn't work.

Thank you slowboat 2002 I will try both numbers.

Hi,

I would suggest that you try to book and pay for the room prior to making the trip up Huang Shan. When I went earlier this year, I had made a reservation (not prepaid) on Ctrip.com. Once we reached the top, our hotel miraculously misplaced the reservation. We contacted Ctrip, and they did not help. We then traipsed from hotel to hotel asking for rooms, and were told that they did not have any available. But then we asked, "Not at any price?", the clerks were able to find rooms at twice the normal price. We went back to the original hotel and used the same tactic and we had our rooms. Then we told them that we would only pay the agreed upon reserved price. Which the hotel accepted.

Peter is not exaggerating about demand outstripping supply. Later that evening the hotel lobby was full of people sleeping in it and people could be found sleeping outside as well. This was in April, brrr.

Slug's story provides a perfect example of why Chinese on-line "discount" hotel booking services should be avoided. They make exaggerated claims as to what they can do, misrepresent the situation to look as if they are giving you huge discounts by comparing their price with rack rates no one ever pays, and give you a price you can get for yourself or usually beat. Furthermore, booking through them is no guarantee of their being a room for you, anymore than there would be if you booked with the hotel directly yourself.

"Losing" bookings is commonplace if the hotel shows any signs of filling up, and indeed you'll be lucky to even get a reply to a fax or email. Ordinary Chinese hotels go for the best financial result in the short term, and if someone with cash in hand but no reservation arrives before you do, their money may well be taken. Chinese rarely book ahead, and for those who do there's a very high percentage indeed of no shows, so bookings are not taken very seriously.

The moral of this story is that reception staff will lie to your face when it suits them, that persistence pays off, and that actually the situation would have been little different had Slug just turned up looking for a room. Which is usually the best policy. The best you can do under these sorts of circumstances is to arrive early in the day.

Peter N-H
http://members.axion.net/~pnh/China.html