Harbin Bremen Inn: A Review

Location: Harbin, China

Visited: 01/2010

Rating: 2 / 5

For a hotel with such a great location, you'd think it'd be easy to give the Harbin Bremen Inn a good rating. Unfortunately, there are just too many negatives to justify anything over a 2 / 5, and frankly even a rating of 2 is rather generous.

Upon entering the Harbin Bremen Inn in mid-January I instantly noticed Christmas music playing, and dusty old Christmas decorations up. They looked as though they had been there since last Christmas. I immediately forgave to poor décor, glad to be indoors and out of the cold...I also figured that they'd come down within the next couple days to reveal something more in-tune with the current season. After staying for nearly a week, I realized that I was wrong. Still, lingering Christmas décor is not the reason for the 2 / 5 rating, although it was a bit creepy. For an Inn located as close to many of Harbin's ice exhibitions, and so popular with foreigners, it was shocking to find that there wasn't a single front desk agent that could speak English. My knowledge of Mandarin is basic, so I was able to get by, but in many cases is was a huge affair to set anything up. Even checking in was a mess of confusion. The front desk agents just kept looking at each other in a very confused manner as I continually pushed my reservation paper toward them for viewing. They were unable to read the reservation, and I had to jump through hoops to prove I had a reservation in the first place.

The front desk agents were also extremely unwilling to aid my friends and I in anything we did. They didn't want to write the address for the hotel in Chinese (so that if we had to take a cab we could provide the driver with something visible instead of using my often flawed Mandarin). At the end of our visit they also refused to get us a cab to the airport. We kept asking, and their answer was that it was too difficult due to the time of day (rush hour). Of course, I was extremely offended. If it was difficult for a resident of the city, it would be nearly impossible for a foreigner! After some arguing, a girl finally agreed to escort us outside and try to find a cab. She looked around, waved, and then began walking inside. I took the opportunity to ask her to try harder, she refused. At this point my friend got angry and demanded that she find a cab immediately. In the face of two very angry people and an ever-rising voice range, she stepped into the street and finally hailed a cab, and very quickly as well. In short, guest service at the Harbin Bremen Inn is severely lacking...severely!

This lack in service extended to the area of room cleanliness as well. There were times when we'd come back in after a long day of sightseeing only to find that our beds were made, but that nothing else was clean or replaced. I was quite disgusted upon entering the room to find a stain on the comforter of my bed, four days later, it was still there...gross!

My next complaint is with the rooms themselves. Aside from the gaudy gold décor, dirty linens and towels, dingy and torn curtains, and disgusting carpeting, the room walls were paper thin. We had the misfortune of being placed right next to a room of children whose parents made the wise decision of getting them their own room. I found out why that was a wise decision rather quickly...no one around them was getting any sleep, and that included my friend and I. As if children aren't loud enough in a room with decent sound dampers, these paper thin walls allowed us to hear every single word, scream, laugh, and sigh that was made. When they children went to bed, we were finally able to sleep, but when they awoke at 6:00 am, we did too. Not exactly ideal conditions. Far from them, in fact. My friend was so upset by the lack of sleep she was able to get; at one point we were ready to get a new room in a new hotel. We ended up sticking it out, but our sleep definitely suffered.

Another downside was the hotel's amenities. As mentioned earlier, there is a severe lack of care to cleanliness that is at best disturbing. However, it doesn't stop there. The internet is broadband and a cable must be rented from the front desk. From there, connection is sketchy at best. Sometimes it works well, and other times it doesn't work at all. Additionally, the café and bar that are advertised on both the hotel website, and in the book on the hotel found in each room, were never open while we were there. Harbin's busiest time of year was when we were there, during the Harbin Ice Festival, so you'd think they'll pull out all the stops for their guests. Instead, it seems as though they were too lazy to open the actual café, and in turn charged 10 Yuan for a cup of mediocre coffee brewed in a massive vat. At least the close proximity to restaurants and coffee shops allowed us to grab coffee or tea fairly easily.

As it seemed to me, the only upside to the Harbin Bremen Inn is that it is so near to restaurants, shops, and coffee shops. It's even close to cute little snack stands selling Boba tea and candied fruit served on a stick. If you're there for the Harbin Ice Festival you're right in the middle of some of the best exhibits. The shopping street two blocks down is lined with elaborate ice sculptures, the nearby river freezes over offering a variety of activities for the ice lover and is only about five minutes away. Additionally, Disney's ice park opens during the festival and features an international ice sculpting festival, castles made of ice, and tons of other great features all made with ice, and it too is only about 5 minutes away. However, despite this fantastic location, the hotel is simply too dirty, outdated, and apathetic to convince me to stay there again. This one huge upside simply cannot outweigh the frustrations of its downsides, not by a long shot. If you're looking for a place to stay during the Ice Festival, there are a ton of other hotels nearby that probably offer better service, a cleaner environment, and a more satisfying experience to enhance the wonders that a winter Harbin has to offer.