Pipaxi Hotel

We arrived at like 9 pm with no water in our room and we're told that there was no where to buy water at the hotel. I trecked up the road in the dark and bought water, only to return to the hotel to find a sign for a lobby convenience shop that was simply closed early that night. Awesome. The toilet in the room ran the whole time we were there and constantly spilled water all over the floor. The "fix" from the staff was to mop up the water 1 time and leave the drain open the whole time. Not to fix the toilet. Our room was quite unkept- moldy bathroom and shower- dirty and falling apart. The breakfast was not good. The location was great- 10 min walk to the park entrance- but I would not choose this hotel if I were to return. There have to be better budget options in a similar location.

We recently stayed at Pipaxi Hotel mostly as a cost saving trip. Knowing that what we'd get into staying at a budget hotel in China we did not expect much but a room and shower. We were totally surprised by our stay. Sure, it's not the Ritz, and the hotel could use a bit of a refresh here and there, but everything about the hotel surprised me. First the staff reached out to me directly and offered a driver service from the airport for 200 RMB. Knowing that English would be limited in that region I welcomed it. Our flight was delayed over 2 hours, and it was great to see our driver still waiting for us at the airport with my name on a sign. Poor guy had waited almost 4 hours for us, but he was still warm and welcoming with his limited English. Once we arrived, they had our room key ready for us, and check in was a breeze. Still very limited English, but with a little pantomime and a calculator, everything went smooth. The room was larger than I had expected and the bathroom clean. But the view was SPECTACULAR. I couldn't believe we were nestled in the amazing landscape. One of the quieter entrances to the park is only a 15 minute walk away, and I can tell you not having to find a taxi to get back was so nice. When we checked out, we had a late flight and had planned to tour the park for a few hours before departing. We had asked if we could leave our bags at the front desk and the hotel manager graciously let us keep the room free of charge until we departed for the airport so we could nap and shower. He even arranged the driver to take us back. Like I said, you can't expect a 5 star hotel room for a 3 star price, but what they offered was great and the service was top notch. Staff and convenience to the park were definite perks. Breakfast buffet is included, but it is a Chinese breakfast. The staff kindly brought us fried eggs, which I don't believe is on the normal menu but they took a little pity on us westerners not accustomed to eating rice, noodles, and cabbage for breakfast. I totally recommend this hotel for value, service, and convenience.

We selected this hotel as it is located close to the South Entrance of the Zhangjiajie Forest Park. We had some problems in finding this hotel as the name is written only in Chinese and the people on the street did not understand English. After check-in which took us for a while we found out that the room was not provided with soap or shampoo in the bathroom. The odour from the toilet was so strong that we had to close it all the time. There was no tea (or the facility for making tea/coffee) in the room. We acknowledged that the room and the beds were clean. The picture of the hotel with the mountains was misleading as we booked the room with mountain view and we didn't see any mountains Breakfast was intended mainly for local tourists. No tea (coffee is rarely provided in budget hotels in China) was available, although hot water was provided. Only fried rice, fried noodle together with some fried vegetables and tufu were available. We moved out the next day to find another nearby hotel with better quality and cost of less than half of what we paid at Pipaxi.

We stayed at Pipaxi 2 seperate nights in different rooms before and after our visit to the nearby park. It is evident that the hotel has a good locations and builds.on that. The rooms were ok at the most. Lots of stains everywhere and fungi in both bathrooms. Breakfast was, as stated in earlier reviews asian and not western.

This hotel is located by the southern entrance to Zhangjiajie Forest Park. It's about a 15 minute walk to the ticket counters at the entrance. The taxi drivers in the area will all tell you to go to Pipaxi Hotel because foreign and national dignitaries have gone and stayed there, but the staff tell me this is not true for recent years. The hotel itself is infested with bugs, there's mosquitoes in the rooms, courtyard, and basically everywhere. There are bugs about two-inches long that creep around the hallways, and its rather scary. The friendliness of the staff really did make up for the overall poor experience with the room environment (room 2117). The shower in the room was excellent. The water was always hot, and the water came out at a very high pressure, easily washing away a day's sweat. Soap is provided only in bar form, and the towels can be slightly uncomfortable. The A/C needs to be kept on at all times to dehumidify the room, otherwise your pillows and sheets will be wet in the morning due to the humidity of the environment. The staff were willing to negotiate prices of the rooms at the front desk, so tell them you saw XX price online, and say that you want that price. They matched it for me, and it saves them money. There are posted prices, but they are way over the price you should expect to pay (around 200 RMB per night or less for a standard room). To get to the city centre, take the bus. There's this bus that comes during the day, and takes you to the South Train Station in town near McDonald's and the bus station for 10 RMB per head. Don't get fooled by the cars that tell you that there's no bus. Ask the staff, and tell them that you want the 10 RMB bus. The bus has no marked stops. You have to stand on the street opposite the hotel and wave your hand when it comes. WiFi was not password protected, and is run off a loose infrastructure of routers hanging from door frames. It's not fast at all, and I found that using a 4G or 3G connection was actually much quicker. Breakfast vouchers were included, but it was just congee and some small eats. Not exactly enough to fill you up for a whole day's hike. There's a store next to the lobby area that sells essentials.

Hotel is only a 5 minute walk to the main entrance of ZJJ park. Staff is very friendly and have free tea and coffee at the bar. Rooms are comfortable and good size. Staff was very helpful giving advice for the park. All necessary signs and maps are in English an have English speaking staff.

We picked it for the location. The rooms are very good and the area is nice. Breakfast was not good at all. Very little selection and only Chinese. Everything is served in big stainless steel pots and huge spoons. To me it felt like an army cantine. My girlfriend felt it was like a refugee camp. No English was spoken there. There are some good restaurants nearby. Most have a similar menu. The big plus is that it is walking distance to the entry of the park. Good for an early start. You take the bus near the train station and they will drop you here for 10RMB.

The Pipaxi Hotel used to be the accommodation of choice for the country's political bigwigs when they visit the ZJJ forest park. It is located about 300m outside the Southern entrance of the ZJJ forest park, which provide a quiet and pleasant environment for the hotel. The rooms are showing signs of aging but are still very clean and well-appointed, and the gardens are well-manicured. Staff are very polite and helpful, even if they do not speak English. The restaurant serves some tasty food as well. This Pipaxi Hotel, located just outside the Southern entrance of the ZJJ forest park, should not be confused with another hotel bearing the same name in ZJJ city (where the railway station and airport are). The former is not shown on Google Maps while the latter is. The difference is a 40 min taxi ride (~ 130 Y) from ZJJ city. You can also take the public bus from just outside the Hotel to the ZJJ city terminus @ 10Y (No buses after 5.30pm). If you're going self-guided to ZJJ to soak in the quietude of the park and it surroundings, then Pipaxi is a good place to stay. However, plan your trek carefully so that you'll reach the Eastern entrance before 5 pm to catch the last bus or taxi to the city from there. Once you're aware of these arrangements, you won't be so intimidated to get a local tour guide that you don't really want. Other attractions such as Tianmenshan are accessible from ZJJ city, and considering the 3-hour queue alone to take the cable car up to Tianmenshan mountain, it doesn't matter much whether you came from the city or the Hotel.

In photos Pipaxi looks quite luxurious and absolutely huge with all kinds of services. It was a big hotel and the location was beautiful, but it felt really quiet and once you explored the room there were all kinds of little things in need of repair (all lights were not working, some lights switches just fell off from the wall, bathroom mirror had some weird stains, as did the curtains etc). Some of the staff members were friendly and helped the best they could when we had questions, but some of them basically ran away if we opened our mouths.. So not much English spoken. The breakfast was Chinese style, but not really our cup of tea. The restaurant wasn't open in the evening, but there are many restaurants around in the village. We didn't find the language barrier a problem in the restaurants, they had either english translations in the menus or picture menus, plus usually were friendly and smiling service :) The location is good, just 10 minutes walk from the South entrance, though probably a hotel near the Wulingyan entrance would have been even handier (there were more hiking tracks on that direction in my opinion and the buses in and around the park were a bit confusing to use sometimes). All in all, our stay of 4 nights was OK; the room was kept clean and you could get a very good night's sleep there because it was so quiet around :)