I spent one night here and thank God, that was enough for me.

I ended up in an older building and maybe that was the issue. But I recall staying here a few years ago and recall I was in the same "dated" building back then too.

The bed was hard. Pillows hard. The room rate was average for those hotels that are supposedly "the best" in China. I didn't eat breakfast which was part of the rate, but it didn't look like anyone was eating either, as there were only a few people in there at prime breakfast time during the middle of the week (7-7:30a). But worst of all, this is one of the hotels that turn off the actual AC when it hits a certain date and my room was hot and was an uncomfortale night.

Service was typical of a Chinese hotel, you can't open a door for yourself, and if you are pulling a bag, they have to run over to help you, which then ends up costing you more time as you wait for your bag to come up to your room or get pulled out of storage once your ride to work shows up.

Room service was quick, but the food I had terrible. However, I did eat lunch at the buffet restaurant with collegues the next day after I checked out and the food selection was outstanding and food quality really darn good. I wish I would have investigated that option vs room service, but they would have had to cart me down to the new building in a golf cart as they said, which I just wanted to chill and not "travel around" after flight delays and the Chinese traffic jams...

Would I stay there again, I may. But from what I hear, you need to request the "newest building" to get a much nicer room. I also think I will look at oher options too, as these older hotels in China "used" to be top of the line, but a little make up here and there don't turn a 70 year old into a 21 year old, if you know what I mean.

We spent 4 nights with our two young children. We stayed in the new building (Haiyu). The hotel is a big complex made of various buildings, some villas, and it is beside a park; overall it is very nice. We had breakfast in the open air beside the garden/park every morning, dined twice in two different restaurants (once the buffet in the Haiyu building, once in the Chinese restaurant). Overall a perfect stay; very committed and helpful staff, almost all fluent in English. They helped us with multiple things we had to do/wanted to visit and listened to our comments/feedback. Perfect cleaning and attention to details in our room. The main building is brand new, decorated with taste. The buffet breakfast is amazing, definitely satisfying from Asian to European tastes. Buffet dinner was also excellent as well as the Chinese restaurant in another building. The price/quality ratio was excellent as well (we booked via internet). Drawback: it is very convenient from the airport but it takes 15-20 minutes to go downtown and taxis are not always ready at the door. Considering that taxis are cheap it is not a big deal if you are not in a hurry. We tried the swimming pool which was in a nice setting but unfortunately the water was too cold (warming was due to start a couple of days later).

I stayed 5 nights at the Xiamen Mandarin Hotel on a business trip. The room was very spacious, very modern and really comfortable with a large bed and a huge bathroom. The location of the hotel is outside the city and it takes a long time - 25-30 minute drive - to get to the city centre. But don't count on the hotel's culinary skills - the food is quite a bad experience and most of it - except for the breakfast - tastes a little hidden...

My partner and I booked a four night stay at the Mandarin Hotel in Xiamen for ourselves and his family - eight people in four rooms. I used a Chinese web agent and decided on the Mandarin as it was a reasonably priced five star option and included breakfast.

The hotel was quite a way out of the town but the rooms were comfortable, clean and well fitted. On checking in we were advised that breakfast was served from another building in the grounds - this was a bit of a pain, but transport was supplied.

After a good night's sleep we all met in the foyer for transport to breakfast but was advised that they didn't have a driver to take us to the other building! After fifteen minutes and a bit of a fuss, they did find someone.

When we arrived for breakfast we were advised that the restaurant was at the top of a long flight of stairs. When we explained that two of the group were well into their eighties and couldn't climb the stairs, they simply kept pointing to the stairs. After another fuss, they showed us to the lift that went to the restaurant - why this took so long we will never know.

When we arrived in the restaurant we were asked for our room numbers, which we gave and proceeded to the buffet. The selection was quite good - a bit strange - but, generally, ok. We then started selecting our food when we noticed that we were being followed by a waitress who was watching us suspiciously. After a few minutes she went off to get a young man in a suit who started jabbering at us in a torrent of Mandarin and waving his hands about. When we managed to get him to speak English he aggressively demanded our room numbers again . We explained that we had given these to the waitress when we took our table, but he just kept demanding them in a loud and exitable manner.

After a right barney, we managed to understand that he was accusing us of trying to 'steal' four breakfasts. I explained that our rooms incleded breakfasts but he wouldn't stop shouting! Finally we managed to understand that he was saying that only 'one' breakfast was supplied per room and the second had to be paid for! As I had gone to so much trouble to ensure that breakfasts were included, I explained that this was not correct and refused to sign for four breakfasts.

The drama continued with the young man and the waitress pursuing us to the outside of the building where we took our transport back to the other building and the argument continued at the reception desk. I explained that five star hotels either supplied breakfast with a room for both occupants, or didn't supply any at all. Logic and common sense got me nowhere and, finally, I advised them we were checking-out after our pre-arranged meeting in town.

When we returned at noon, I was pursued for over twenty minutes by rather sweet a Front Office Manager who kept promising 'surprises and presents' if we stayed. After being pursued up to our room with more pleadings, we managed to pack our bags and went down to pay.

Then they stated that one room had a 'broken soap box' and another had a 'seal broken on bottle of mineral water' which they demanded payment for! I explained that after all their promises of surprises and presents, this final drama was totally misplaced! Eventually they dropped their claims!

Finally we got away and left the rather bizarre Mandarin to its own devices!