LIJIANG JOYFUL BOUTIQUE HOTEL

Our experience at Joyful Hotel in the old town of Lijiang is best described as “Over promise, under deliver”. We only occasionally write reviews, but this one is important as ones expectations of the accommodation is central to the experience of that accommodation, and often the place one is visiting more broadly. Where expectations align, the experience is positive. Where they diverge, the experience can be negative, especially when high expectations are met with poor quality and performance in reality. Firstly, the reviews which say that the accommodation is very easy to find could NOT BE MORE FALSE. The “hotel” (so called), being in the old city, is accessible only on foot. Carrying luggage across cobblestone paths in the rain (the rain was not the hotel’s fault 😊) was extremely difficult. The hotel was at the top of a steep set of stairs. And when you finally arrived, there were still more stairs to get to one’s room. The address itself was difficult to locate (as they can be in China when you’re relying on Google maps) as no one in the vicinity seemed to have heard of the place, and we had asked 4 different people! So something in the reviews that prepared us for the difficultly we were likely to experience finding the hotel would have helped deal with the difficulty of the situation. The hotel itself was not in fact a hotel at all. It turns out the hotel was actually a hostel, but we only discovered this in passing as we were leaving! Had we known it was a hostel, our expectations of the quality of the rooms and the location would have been quite different. In terms of location, the Joyful Hotel (so called) was surround by a series of taverns where live music played from 10.30 am to midnight most days. The same songs played on rotation and you could not avoid hearing them when relaxing in your room. This most likely accounts for the numerous packets of ear plugs in the drawer. Again. Expectations and actuality. If we had know that this accommodation was in a busy entertainment area, we would have made our decision accordingly. If, knowing it’s noisy location, had still decided to stay there, then any discomfort would be on us. Finally, the hotel seems to be rated by users as 5 Star. It was so far below 5 star that it was laughable. It was clearly in dire need of maintenance. There was no bathroom door, just an old curtain. The furniture had long seen better days. The mould in the bathroom needed a good scrub. And the electricals seemed like they were done by a home handyman who was learning on the job. It was more like one or two star than 5 Star. Pictures below demonstrate our point. Overall, the “hotel” was worth closer to $30 night than the $79 we paid. To their credit, they gave us back the payment we made for the second night when we decided we couldn’t stay on, despite having paid in advance under “no refund” conditions. I guess they were hoping for a good review. But as we said, it is important for fellow travellers to tell the truth to one another, so expectations meet actuality. When there is such a large disparity, it does feel like you’ve been duped. And that never feels good. The previous reviews were so extraordinarily positive and unlike the place we visited, that we felt the record needed to be corrected. But more importantly, as a traveller, your enjoyment of any particular hostel, homestay or hotel depends almost entirely to the travellers expectations about the place.

The views at the hotel are amazing and the room is faultless. The real star though is the hotel manager and staff who were so friendly and ensured that we had a great stay. Thank you so much and see you again one day