Lavande Hotel (Changchun Railway Station Square Branch)

The hotel is only a 3-minute walk from Changchun Railway Station. It is very convenient if arriving at that station. The locality has plenty of convenience shops and some restaurants (local food). Check in was efficient, though, like virtually all hotels outside Beijing and Shanghai, only Chinese is spoken. Staff have to use a translation app to handle English. Not sure what they do if some other language. The room was ready and clean on arrival at 2pm. It was reasonably spacious. It did not have a desk, but a 1-metre diameter round table, which could serve as a desk. However, because it was not placed against a wall, there were no power points at the table. There were sufficient power points around the room, however, just not at the table. Lighting was good and temperature control was precise. Unfortunately there was no mini fridge. The bed was a bit too firm for me. There was a proper luggage rack, which was good. The bathroom was reasonably spacious too. All fixtures looked very new. Hot water came through quickly. Water pressure was good, but drainage in the shower might need some maintenance. Almost all food at breakfast were Chinese items. Like many hotels outside of Beijing and Shanghai they don't have much more than sliced bread, butter, jam and yogurt, in terms of western items. Even teaspoons, forks and knives were unavailable. Imagine spreading butter on your sliced bread with chopsticks. The Chinese food dishes, on the other hand, changed daily. Fruit was limited to just one kind (melon) that didn't change daily. The simple fact that nearly 100% of guests are domestic tourists, not foreign tourists, explains the above. Management needs to train their dining room staff to speak softly. It was striking how often staff shouted across the room to other staff and even customers,, creating a noisy atmosphere.

The room is actually great except for the smoke smell - we requested for non smoking room and even got a change of room but the new room still had a lingering smoky smell. Since indoor smoking is allowed at this property, the third hand smoke was inevitable. But breakfast was great - wide variety