We stayed at the Daocheng Jifeng Hot Springs Resort Hotel from Days 08 to 10: our fourth hotel so far this trip, and also the only one so far that has all the trappings of a modern 4 star establishment. As in, as nice as the previous three hotels are, those were small boutique hotels that lacked the range of amenities that spoiled travelers like us have come to hope for everywhere we go. :D
Our comments:
From the looks of it, the hotel occupies a very large compound with multiple separate blocks. But as this was low season, several blocks were closed and not in operation. But at its peak, I suspect the hotel has the capacity of at least several hundred rooms.
We stayed in what looks like the main block with a large dining room and also a separate banquet hall. The reception counter was staffed at most hours that we checked [not the Shangri-La Mubuo hotel], and check-in was painless. We were in two adjacent rooms, both of which were very large with shower stalls, a large sink, a huge 65″ TV, and plenty of space for luggage too. Each room was also equipped with an oxygen machine to provide supplemental O₂ to the room. The toilet seat was also electronically warmed and auto-flush, though there was no bidet built into it.
Room cleanliness was great, and the decor and styling felt modern with good use of technologies, including voice assistants, electronically drawn curtains, and central control of lighting and so on. The room air-conditioning unit was also capable of heating, though against the sub-zero temperatures at night, it struggled to keep the room warm and mostly settled at 20°C room temperatures.
The room supplies mineral water bottles, and if you need more — or hot water — there is a multi-function water dispenser at the lobby.
There were a few challenges though. Firstly, the laundromat was in an adjacent block about 50m away, and the block was not otherwise in operation. Such a walk normally wouldn’t be an issue, but in sub-zero temperatures, walking that short distance to do laundry required us to fully dress up. Secondly, the hotel breakfast was meh. There was a reasonable range, but some of the items all looked sad, and the wife had doubts whether the food was really fresh or recycled from somewhere. In any case, there were still enough staples to fill our tummies for the two morning BFs we had, so it was still all good.
In all, we liked this hotel. If nothing else, as lovely as the previous three accommodations were and the hospitality warm, we missed modern amenities, and this hotel had them.