Furama Hotel Dalian, Dalian

The Furama has two towers, with the western supposedly nicer (and pricier) than the eastern. We've stayed in the eastern tower twice, for over 18 days total in July2004 and Jan2005 at about US$100 per night including taxes. Service everywhere was reasonable, front desk, room service, staff in hallways, although the standard of english is not stellar. Probably 5% of guests are Caucasian, the rest Asian faces (largely japanese?). The one-bed rooms are great, roomy with a desk and chaise longue loveseat thingy. The two bed rooms don't feel as roomy. Nicely appointed marble bathroom, good closets, although there are always those signs of mainland workmanship. It was all getting renovated a floor at a time, so presumably it'll be even nicer now. Internet access (not wireless yet) on your laptop in the room works ok, very slow to US websites including yahoo mail. US$10 per day (US$1 per 10 mins maxing at $10 ???, so if you're really quick it could be less than US$10) Room service is pretty fast and friendly and runs all night, and the prices are great compared to the US (eg hamburger for $5, noodles for $4, beer for $2) There is a functional if cold healthclub (even spinning classes!) in which local ladies do ballet, and you can play squash, lift weights or use various fairly up-to-date running machines. The male side of the spa seems to have ten staff for every customer, so enjoy having someone fetch your shoes while someone else dries your back for you. The hot tub is enormous and TOO hot. There are several restaurants, western, chinese, korean, japanese, all pretty good and cheap again, compared to the room cost. The hotel's right next door to the shangri-la, and in the center of business areas. If you're not here for business though, there might be better locations, like near Xinghai Square. The one thing that seemed a bit expensive was the business center, which also has a travel agent.