Dali Geothermal Paradise Hotel

Upon first checking in, the reception staff allocated four rooms to us together which were old, dirty, and smelly, even though we had booked the £76 Jiuqi Palace Deluxe Tub Twin/Double Rooms, so of course we expected for the rooms to be really nice, just like what was shown in the photos on Trip.com. However, we think that they thought that they could scam us and give us the cheaper rooms instead, as they looked nothing like what they showed in the photographs on Trip.com. The hot spring tub outside hadn’t even been cleaned for several weeks, the inside of the room was very dusty and the towels were old and discoloured. Having complained about the rooms, they then drove us to the location where the more expensive rooms were located (via an electric car), which we had booked anyway, but requested that we pay them an additional £5 per person per room. We had no choice but to pay the additional fees for the other rooms, as we had already travelled an hour and 18 minutes from the train station to get to the hotel. Although the more expensive rooms were a lot nicer than the rooms they had originally allocated to us, the hot water from the taps and hot spring smelt like rotten eggs and drainage. It didn’t seem right but they were adamant that the smell was normal for a hot spring hotel. The locks to the doors facing our courtyard area where our private hot spring was located, didn’t lock properly, so we had to push two chairs against the door before we went to sleep, in case an intruder tried to break in. We won’t be coming back here, as the hotel is very dated, the hot water smells dodgy, and the hotel staff tried to scam us, and give us cheaper rooms instead of the expensive rooms we had paid for.

We originally booked the juiqi deluxe tub double bedroom for the night expecting the room as it was in the photos. This was not the case, the room we received had a musty smell, age was clearly visible and it was not as described in the photos. It was clear it was a room below expectations. Upon speaking with the reception staff it was said that there are better looking rooms within the juiqi type rooms similar to the photos but those were fully booked. The hotel didn’t inform us of this prior to our arrival and we were left with an inadequate room unfit for purpose. They should not have made those rooms available if they were fully booked. We expressed our concerns with the reception staff and they allowed us to view another room instead which was the lakeside tongyuan which were fit for purpose. We paid the extra difference and stayed there for the night but the experience to get to that spot wasted what should have been valuable family time. For anyone looking to stay here, as long as you get the room as described your experience will be enjoyable.