Huaweida Hotel

“Great and big room !”

Huaweida is a lovely hotel. Its bedroom is big and comfortable. It is also located in Tianhe commercial/shopping district so it is rather convenient if you're looking for malls and restaurants. Some of the receptionists also understand little English (quite a good standard for a local Chinese hot... more

Huaweida is a lovely hotel. Its bedroom is big and comfortable. It is also located in Tianhe commercial/shopping district so it is rather convenient if you're looking for malls and restaurants. Some of the receptionists also understand little English (quite a good standard for a local Chinese hotel) Go to the rear entrance of the hotel and you can find small restaurants, small shops and also a Tomato convenience store across the street. The hotel does not provide you with mineral water, so it's rather convenient to know that there is a minimarket just across the street. Cons: The bathroom is rather small. The hotel is not located near any MTR station ... so you have to find a taxi to go anywhere unless you are familiar with Guangzhou bus system. It's not hard to find a taxi in front of the hotel because you will find one in a few seconds. But it is HARD to find an empty taxi during rush hour (8-10am and 16-18pm). I had to wait for one hour to find a taxi before I finally decided to take an illegal transportation to travel in rush hour. It is almost impossible to find any available taxi during those hour. So you better prepare yourself. Overall I'm quite satisfied with Huaweida ... but just remember to not travel during rush hour because you will stuck for hours just to find a taxi to go back to or from the hotel.

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“Canton Fair trip”

I booked this hotel as it was very near to the Canton fair and the hotel provided the free shuttle bus from hotel to the fair and back to hotel in the afternoon. There is a McDonald's restaurant at the back of the hotel. Also its easy to get the taxi to go to airport. Only thing i not liked at al... more

I booked this hotel as it was very near to the Canton fair and the hotel provided the free shuttle bus from hotel to the fair and back to hotel in the afternoon. There is a McDonald's restaurant at the back of the hotel. Also its easy to get the taxi to go to airport. Only thing i not liked at all was the mattress as it is so hard, can't sleep well after days of work. staff are friendly as they also help me to arrange the taxi back to airport.

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“Hardest Beds In The World - 1st Prize”

Hua Wei Da (Huaweida) Hotel, 499 Huangpu Da Dao X1, Guangzhou Of the thousands of hotels I have stayed in, the Huweida Hotel takes a clear first prize for the 'Hardest Bed in the World'. Judging from the other patron's comments, they are all the same. The top criteria for a good hotel is a good ... more

Hua Wei Da (Huaweida) Hotel, 499 Huangpu Da Dao X1, Guangzhou Of the thousands of hotels I have stayed in, the Huweida Hotel takes a clear first prize for the 'Hardest Bed in the World'. Judging from the other patron's comments, they are all the same. The top criteria for a good hotel is a good bed - that's the reason you stay there - to get a good night's sleep. So, unless you like sleeping on a blanket covered, granite slab you will need to look elsewhere. I stayed for five nights for the Canton Fair so all the other hotels were booked and changing wasn't an option. The hotel is in an excellent location, only 10 mins by the free hotel shuttle bus to the fair and near a busy restaurant/shopping area. There is a convenience store located in the building as well as a McDonalds (if you like that). Metro stops are locate an easy 20 min walk north (Gangding) and south (Tacun). Despite having a prominent currency exchange chart, the hotel doesn't change money - they can't understand the need to take it down (it does look good by the way). There are several banks nearby to change money but be prepared for along wait and only during normal business hours. There are also ATMs nearby. If you are going to the Fair, use the bank facilities there near 9.1 as they are much faster. The hotel is undergoing refurbishment so you need to ask for a new floor as the older rooms are very tired and many things (such as the room safe and some lights) are not working. Their focus is clearly aimed at the Chinese domestic market and there were only a few other westerners in the hotel during the stay. The price of the rooms doubles during the Fairs, which could be a surprise if you are not informed. Breakfast was included in my tariff and you will find a wide enough range of good quality, fresh Asian food. It is a challenge to find the breakfast room as there are no signs and it is up a separate flight of stairs from the foyer. The 'Bleak Tea' demonstrates the lack of English by breakfast room staff. There is normally only one person on duty at the main lobby counter who has good English. The rest panic when asked a question and run off to find the one person who can speak English. Good WiFi in the lobby - ask the staff for the password, but you will have to fight for one of the 6 seats available. WiFi in the room is a joke; the router is in the corridor and so in the room it only works within 1m of the door - not a comfortable place to sit for a half-hour Skype call. It is very limited in bandwidth and drops out regularly as users come onto the network. I changed rooms 4 times with the first two days until I ended up on a new floor and everything in the room worked. The 'new' rooms are nicely fitted out (with the exception of the concrete bed!). Airconditioning works very well although the fan speed doesn't change when it is adjusted. If you want to dry clothes, you will need to leave the window open as nothing dries in the bathroom or in the closed room. There are no English channels (surprise, surprise) on the TV and none of the mini-bar fridges worked in any of the four rooms I tried. The rooms are quite large by Asian standards and includes three chairs. Modern, well equipped bathroom, good hanging space and a room safe (check that it works before you unpack). Go for a higher floor to block out the street noise at night. Some interesting extras in the room such as the packet of condoms (makes you wonder a bit about the type of clientele) and having to pay for the packets of tea and coffee. I found the floor staff very friendly and helpful, but the language barrier is a real issue for complex problems, such the electronic room key suddenly deciding not to work. Overall, the hotel has nearly all the ingredients for success; however it fails the primary test of allowing a good night's sleep. If you like a super hard bed, go for it, but otherwise go somewhere else where they cater more for western standards. I will never stay there again and would never recommend.

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