Mengka Holiday Inn

When we pulled up to a Mengka Holiday Inn, covered in a dusting of fresh, crisp snow, my partner and I exchanged excited glances. Coming into the lobby, we were greeted with a warm, friendly smile and an easy check-in experience - something that can be difficult to obtain as a foreigner in China these days. Climbing up the spiral staircase to our room, we felt as though we had struck gold. Wow! We opened the door, before walking into a beautiful, tastefully decorated room with a huge bathtub! The pictures on trip do the room no justice (nor do mine)! The location was a little difficult if you have no car but the gentleman on the desk kindly offered us a ride to the nearest bar, excellent! It was when we returned that problems began to arise. We had noticed that the toilet didn’t flush earlier, but this didn’t seem a massive problem. However, we now realised that both the shower and the bath had no hot water. Suddenly, the lights went out. The electricity had gone down. This meant that we had no heating and no hot water in -3 temperatures. It took until around 2am for the electricity to be restored but the heater was inadequate for the room size. The electricity flashed on and off again in the morning. We left for another hotel the next morning after a restless, cold night. Without these issues, I would consider this hotel to be an utter gem. The staff are kind and accommodating and the amount of windows in the room means that a lot of natural lights gets in, including the sunrise - through the window by the bath. Perhaps during summertime these problem are less common, and there were enough positives to warrant a return, but if you do book, make sure to check if there is hot water and that the electricity is working because if not, it’s just not worth it.