Editor Pick
Lhasa Hotel: The Former Holiday Inn
- June 27, 2006
- Rated 3 of 5 by
kwasiak from Tucson, Arizona
Yes, it really was once owned and managed by the Holiday Inn chain. And, yes, they really do promote it by calling it the Former Holiday Inn. I do not know if it is because they want guests to return that stayed there when it actually was the Holiday Inn, or they just use the name to give it a recognizable chain name bringing in new guests that expect that it has remained up to Holiday Inn standards. Maybe, it is a combination of both reasons, but as far as I am concerned it is not a Holiday Inn and is not as great as one would expect a hotel of that standard to be. That being said it is still a great hotel and does have customer service, just do not expect it to be quite up to the standards one can expect from most Holiday Inns and most American chains similar to the Holiday Inn.
The Tibet hotel has some nice outdoor fountain areas and a pool area. Unfortunately, the pool was drained despite it supposedly being the warm season when the pool is open. The one fountain was filled one day, drained the next morning, full again at night, and then yet again was drained when we left. They sure were wasting water making up their mind if the weather was right for having a fountain going. What did not make sense was the other one was not fussed with at all. I thought maybe they were doing maintenance on the one, but it turned out they were not.
The room was not too bad. Plenty of room for two of us to unpack our suitcases. Also, adequate for five of us to play cards on the small table and sit on beds. The bathroom was obviously old and not well taken care of. The toilet did not always flush and there were rust stains everywhere. The staff was overall friendly, but I did get irritated at the lady who came for laundry every morning. She always knocked then automatically opened the door. The last day we put our "do not disturb" sign up, but she did the same thing while we were dressing. Sorry, but I do not enjoy having strangers come into my hotel room while I am in it, especially when I am dressing. The hotel is overall okay if you just do not end up with the one maid that does this. I heard from other people in my group staying on other floors that they did not have this problem.
From journal Experiencing Buddhism-12,000 Feet Above Sea Level