Scholars Hotel (Hangzhou West Lake Wulin Square Zhejiang University)

So nice clean hotel with helpful staff

The hotel manager’s outrageously disrespectful, unprofessional conduct forced me to cut my stay short, where her abrasive attitude makes you feel like an inconvenience rather than a valued guest. When I approached her to extend my stay, the manager sighed extremely deeply with an utterly irritated, rude attitude, as if she viewed the guest as a nuisance. She refused to greet me against standard etiquette protocol and spoke down to me in a condescending, curt, infantilizing manner. Whenever the manager processed my payment for extending my stay four times, her attitude was exceedingly standoffish, cold and transactional. While other hotel staff show hospitality, it’s ridiculous how she just passes back your card with zero eye contact as if she couldn’t bother to engage with guests further. I’ve never seen another manager so lacking in basic etiquette and professionalism. After residing three weeks, I proposed a room change due to a cigar smell disrupting my sleep. The manager said no vacancies available for the room then. She said they’d notify me if the guest moves out and they’d reserve the room for me. Two days later in the morning, the cleaning lady said the original guest in the room I requested already checked out and that a new guest ALREADY moved there that morning without me being notified at all, despite the manager falsely guaranteeing so earlier. This cleaner displayed the guest system on her phone, where she showed me evidence of the new guest’s name and time she checked in that morning between 9-11:30am. The manager failed to reserve the room properly or possibly knowingly allocated the new guest to the room I requested instead of any vacant room. What’s outrageous is when I later spoke with her, she revealed a disgusting lack of integrity where she lied to my face and told me the original guest had “extended their stay”. The concrete evidence in the cleaner’s phone showed a NEW guest checked in that morning. The manager’s immediate resort to lying reveals an appalling lack of character, which suggests a possible habit in lying to guests to avoid accountability. The glaring inconsistency in these staff’s stories and the manager’s dishonesty are an absolute joke and stain on the hotel’s image. The manager later lashed out at me with an extremely demeaning temper tantrum in front of other guests. Never have I seen a manager raise their voice and embarrass the guest in public. She snapped at me in Chinese saying "How on earth are you supposed to if you don’t even take the card”. The guests nearby noticed her excessive rude attitude and glared at her uncomfortably. Why does this manager think it's acceptable to scold a guest so disrespectfully? Did nobody teach this manager manners? Most hotels here provide flexible discount rates for guests who extend beyond two weeks, yet she never once offered discount on the rate I was first charged, not even breakfast, despite my stay over a month. The lack of hospitality comes off exploitative and inconsiderate of guest welfare. Despite initially planning a longer stay due to delayed flight, the manager’s excessive mistreatment forced me to relocate. This wasn’t a one-time inconvenience. It forced me to transport all my luggage earlier than my planned schedule, secure new accommodation at short notice, delay important work arrangements negatively impacted by this disruption, which caused unnecessary stress, hassle and tangible loss. The absolute minimum expectation when you book a hotel is respect and hospitality, not to feel unwelcome and humiliated. Given the extreme disruption and disrespect I experienced as a return guest, a hotel that values guests would have compensated for the damages caused. Until too management addresses this misconduct that forces guests out the hotel, it’s not worth the financial or emotional risk. No guest should pay premium rates when there are far better hotels nearby, only to be mistreated by such a pathetically incompetent manager.

Excellent hotel and a very good breakfast.