Zhang Mansion

Zhang Mansion is a peaceful oasis from the hustle and bustle of the ancient village, its decor and furnishing is fitting with the historic setting but with modern, clean and comfortable amenities. Would definitely stay again and would strongly recommend to others! Hotel manager was very communicative, but you need to have WeChat. They can communicate in English by message with you. The rooms were stunning, service was excellent and the communal areas were beautiful and comfortable. Hotel breakfast was freshly made and they were able to accommodate our requests. Some of the rooms require ascending steep stairs, so if you have accessibility needs it would be best to inform the hotel in advance. Bedrooms are comfortable and cosy. The addition of the tea ceremony area is brilliant. The mattresses and bedding were clean and comfortable. Bathrooms were clean with good pressure hot water. The hotel also put us in touch with a honest and reliable driver that we used for transfers from the bullet train station as well as a trip to Huang Shan (yellow mountain).

Breakfast was included but I asked for a cup of coffee and they told me ¥ 28/cup. The whole night there was a beeping sound to spoil the sleep

Rustic and beautiful traditional house. Comfortable room with nice amenities. Very friendly staff. Highly recommended to stay there to experience this local culture. Simple but delicious breakfast

Overall, I really enjoyed the stay at this hotel. It is very charming, and suits the Hongcun setting so well. The decor is traditional Chinese and so lovely. The staff is wonderful and attentive. The bed is comfortable. The common areas are plentiful. Lovely courtyard outside the room. I am happy with my choice! I would stay here again. The room rate for this hotel is a bit higher than I would expect. Some reasons for this are the pool is not in usable condition, the bathroom is downstairs from the bedroom. The stairs are very steep and a bit precarious to climb and descend. There is no laundry service and not an easy way to do one’s own laundry. All in all I am pleased with my stay at Zhang Mansion.

The hotel is a nice place, old building, and full of old-world charm and character, but it is not without problems? First, the room we were given had some major problems, the biggest issue was a bad damp smell, and upon entering the room for the first time, we notice the 1-meter patch on the wall where the water had penetrated the wall, given the room a bad musky smell and odour, making it impossible to stay in. We contacted the owner, Ms Yang who doesn’t speak a word of English, and contacted trip.com customer service, who contacted her on our behalf to try and resolve the issue. At first Ms Yang said there is no mould and denied there was ever a problem and stated that the building is 300 years old, and this is not a damp problem. She explained that the house was fully booked and there is no way to change rooms and then laughed at us. I explained to her that we have been travelling for over 20 years and have lots of experience, we must have stayed in over three hundred hotels, and we want a refund, and we will go somewhere else that is habitable. She refused to refund, stating that she will lose money, so we tried to compromise further and resolve the matter another way. I asked to change the room, and she insisted she was fully booked, I checked on trip.com and it appeared she was indeed full. She still refused to change the room in any case, even though i could see some rooms were unoccupied at this point, I suspected that the other rooms were in good and habitable shape and not like this one and that she just gave this to us because we are foreigners, perhaps she thought we would not complain about it, perhaps she thought its normal and there are no health problems staying overnight in a room full of mould? It was now certainly clear she does not understand the hospitality business at this point. Further communication with trip.com resulted in agreeing a room change the following day. She agreed to do this reluctantly and again stated she will lose money, well, maybe she should not sell and market mouldy rooms during a busy season. A money grab is clearly what she is looking at here. So, after a bit of hassle, we agreed to stay one night in the mouldy room and move the next day. She showed me the room she would change us to the following day (mentioning it is a higher price room again!) and sure enough, there were no damp problems, no smell in this room. She also offered free fruit, which comes in the room in any case, so not really any kind of offer, let us be serious! Other problems we encountered in brief. First night room: half of lights not working in the bathroom (I counted them) the bathroom tiles were filthy dirty and had black mould on them. The swimming pool was half empty (or half full) The rooms come with toiletries, and I am very surprised everything is plastic, I have stayed in many places at 1 quarter of the price and have gotten bamboo toothbrushes and wooden combs, which are simply much better for the environment. The towels are also old and not soft at all, I suspect they are several years old and had thousands of washes, there is dirt also inside and under the cupboards, again, all small things that are easily rectified. Lastly, the skylight was also not functional For 175 euros a night, this place is of a shocking standard, if it were my establishment, I would fire all the cleaning staff! One room sole for one night’s revenue would pay an entire month salary of an Ayi or cleaning staff! It is simply not up to standard!!! and there is NO EXCUSE for dirty conditions!!! Do not be fooled for the photos, and location, do not let this hotel rip you off, it is not worth the money, and it is ridiculously overpriced for what it is! There are much better places to stay for the money you pay here! This business clearly only cares about its profit margin and nothing else. This place "could" be good if the people who ran it really cared for it instead of looking only at the $$$$. SUCH A SHAME!