Quarantine Diary Day 15.5: A Complete Turnaround in Fortunes at the Tian Lin Hotel!
After departing the Homeinn Selected hotel, it took less than 15 minutes to get to our +7 hotel. The bus was pretty full, with one person in each set of two seats. While on the bus, one of the people in my WeChat group gave us the name of the hotel we were going to, the 田林宾馆 Tian Lin Hotel. I think we all checked up the hotel online at the same time, and all got this sinking feeling.
The pictures looked like a typical, 3-star Chinese hotel from 20 years ago. The type of hotel I’d spent many a night before. The logo on the front of the hotel reinforced this image.
We arrived at 12:35am. At least the lobby was bright and spacious, and at least felt like a hotel. The HomeInn Selected, on the other hand, just kind of felt makeshift, like the front door was really a back door.
I was one of the first people to check in. Rooms here were 450 RMB per night, or 50 RMB more than the Homeinn. Perhaps at other times of day, there might be a choice, but since we were arriving so late, we just took what was assigned. The first person in the other line got a room that cost something different from the person in front of me (didn’t hear if it was more or less, and how it compared with the room I got), but the clerk told him that there were no more rooms available at whatever cost the person in front of me paid. So basically there was no choice.
Meals, at 100 RMB per day, were optional, as they allowed food delivery 3 times a day! Most people in front of me declined meal service, and after hesitating, I also declined. I had had too many bad memories from the Homeinn of overcooked vegetables and gloopy sauce. They took 4000 RMB as deposit.
I was glad when I saw the room key folder say that I had a room on the 9th floor. Hopefully I’d get a better view.
I went up to my floor, and was so impressed by how clean and well lit the hallway was! The carpet was that deep, plush kind that was so plush it made it hard to roll my suitcases over it.
And I was super excited to open the door to my room. It looked newly renovated, nothing at all like the old picture I had seen online.
I immediately noticed that the hotel REALLY stocked us up well for our 7 days. It was as if they were expecting us to stay for several weeks! While the Homeinn Selected gave us 2 rolls of toilet paper when we checked in for the 2 weeks, here, besides the roll already in the bathroom, we got 5 more toilet rolls. There were also 24 bottles of water in the upper shelf (Homeinn actually gave 24 bottles), and 2 more bottles on the lower shelf. 4 packs of tissues. And 7 Lipton black tea bags and 7 Lipton green tea bags, I guess one of each for each morning we’d be at the hotel.
The bathroom was so spacious, compared to the tiny Homeinn. And clean! No gross grout.
I noticed the fixtures were Kohler - a welcome site after the broken shower in the Homeinn, which looked nice from a distance but was actually made of cheap painted plastic.
This bathroom was the kind that you can see through to the bedroom. It closes with mini-blinds (on the inside of the shower!), but leaving it open allows natural light into the bathroom (and makes the overall room feel more spacious). I’m glad I’m staying here alone!
The bathroom, too, was overflowing with amenities. Five bars of soap! Almost one bar for each day we’d be here.
And look at how many other amenities there are! 6 toothbrushes, 5 toothpastes, 6 shower caps, 5 combs, 2 disposal bags, 6 shampoos, 6 conditioners, and 6 bath foams!
And I appreciated the attention to detail, like folding and arranging the hand towels to spell out the hotel name.
The one amenity that’s shockingly missing, given that this is a Chinese hotel and they over-delivered on every other amenity, were slippers! And that’s one area where I was glad about with Homeinn - they gave two pairs of slippers at check-in, and I saved one pair “just in case.” So now I’m wearing my grey Homeinn slippers.
After settling in, I had second thoughts about declining meal service. Delivery only occurs 7:45-8:15, 11:30-12, and 17:30-18:00, so you have to order in time for the delivery to come to your door. I didn’t want to bother with calculating delivery times or paying extra to schedule delivery in advance, and spending the time searching for food. Working in an office where we order food delivery everyday for lunch, I know how time consuming that is for me, since I’m someone who loves poring over menus of different restaurants before selecting the restaurant, and then looking at each menu item in detail. I can spend an hour doing that! So I called the front desk and asked them to add in the 100 RMB/day meal plan. The tough part about the decision was that you have to commit to the meal plan for the whole stay; you can’t turn it on and off. I got to bed this evening at 3am, so we’ll see how it is in just a few short hours!
