We were looking for an inexpensive hotel inside the old city walls. I didn't want to spend a lot on a room, because I didn't plan on spending much time there. The Xian City Hotel is a three-star, but that's maybe not the same as a three-star in the U.S. This hotel did seem to be up to Western standards and they are used to dealing with westerners. Most of the employees do not speak English, however.
My big complaint is it looked as though no one had EVER cleaned the buttons on the bedside console. Also since they do not seem to have decent carpet cleaner in China, the carpet was stained. Other than that, however, the rooms were clean and up to western standards. The beds were even soft -- the mattresses in China are usually unbelievably hard. We had two deluxe rooms at Y260 ($32) per night per room. It is located about 1.5 city blocks south of the Bell Tower, a little past the Bell Tower Hotel. The entrance is actually in an alley, but don't let that scare you.
Our rooms included Chinese breakfast, which consisted of a buffet of congee, fruit, steamed buns, and some kind of unidentified pastry which tasted as unappetizing as it looked. But don't go to the city hotel because of their breakfast, go there because the rooms are a good value for the money.
If you have more money to spend, I would recommend the Bell Tower Hotel, because it's a 4 star, looks very nice and is sort of at the center of everything.