Shamian Island makes a stay at the White Swan worth your while. The island is a tranquil, pedestrian-friendly oasis with wonderful colonial architecture in the middle of a surging city. Besides the location, the staff at the ammenities at the White Swan make up for the disappointing rooms. I've listed what I liked and didn't like about this property. Pros: *location, location, location *staff consistent with that at five star properties *amazing views of Pearl River, especially enjoyable from pool area *scenic pool area, excellent locker room facilities *pond and waterfall in lobby create relaxing setting *best breakfast buffet anywhere *one pool for serious lap swimmers, one for recreation *toddler area in pool *six elevators meant you never had to wait for one *family friendly Cons: *hard twin beds *room smelled damp and needed a remodel *thin walls mean you hear people talking in adjacent rooms *rest of swimming pool depth 4 1/2 feet at shallowest which was too deep for older children *breakfast is great, but other meals are spendy here

The White Swan is certainly a nice and impressive hotel, but I feel like its best days are far behind. The facilities are outdated, especially the rooms. At first we were debating whether or not this was for a "rustic feel", but I've decided that its simply outdated. Charging for Internet was a big letdown. The breakfast buffet in the lobby was great, though. Also, the pool area looked very nice, though the rain kept us from it. The gym was also more than satisfactory with multiple treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, squash court, etc. Overall, the White Swan isn't a bad place to stay. But, I feel like there are probably better deals elsewhere in the city.

We stayed in the White Swan Hotel for three nights in early May, having been booked there by a Chinese Travel Agent whom we know and trust implicitly. The building is striking and the greetings of the porters as the taxi drives to the door just a touch overwhelming. Details take a little longer. The reception area is just so space consuming that it took me another day to find the internal waterfall, and until the third day to realise that there were a number of places to eat and not just the one that you found for breakfast. I believe those who told me that the White Swan was built to house the party faithful as it has just that sense of scale that totalitarian regimes require. That said, the rooms were just a touch small and somewhat stark although immaculately presented. Do, please, ask for a room with a river view as this moving picture replaces those missing from the walls. And the river reminds you that the hotel is usefully located in central Guangzhou with easy access for tourism and for business, not least because of the inexpensive taxis. The breakfasts were huge and varied and the Cantonese dinner menu interesting, of good quality and well-priced, as opposed to the 'speciality' Chinese restaurant which seemed over-priced. The staff in the restaurant, as in all parts of the hotel, were uniformly helfpul, well-informed, friendly and I saw no one waiting even in the peak hours. For those, who like me, take a somewhat different point of view, the large numbers of Americans staying at the hotel, all sporting Chinese adoptees, was intriguing and, to my mind, something to be pondered.

When I booked into the hotel I was quite impressed by the reception area - very nice indoor waterfall with lots of koi carp. Unfortunately, it all went down hill after that. Firstly, they had virtually no staff on reception so i was waiting for 20 minutes to check in. I booked a king size bedded room, they didn't have any left. I said that wasn't acceptable but they didn't do anything, not even offer an upgrade - the hotel wasn't full, our company is a regular customer and it was 11.30pm so it was hardly going to get a rush of trade. The room was tiny, as was the bathroom, well below par compared to other hotels in this price bracket - it was also very cold - I couldn't work out how to the control the air con. The decor was incredibly dated - very 80s. There was a limited availablilty of English speaking TV channels. The breakfast the next day had a good spread, unfortunately there were a lot of people smoking. The staff were incredibly jobsworth about where we sat, I was down very early and wanted to look out over the river but because I was in a standard room I couldn't, even though the restaurant was practically empty. The bizarre thing about breakfast was there were quite a few families going through the final stages of adoption - so there were a few 'western' families with a new chinese baby / toddler. Good luck to everyone, it's just that I hadn't seen anything like that before. My advice is that if you are on business to stay at the Sheraton in Guandong - the rooms and bathrooms are huge, the service is better and the facilities at the hotel superior. In fact, I think the price is cheaper too! The White Swan seems to trade on past glories and hasn't updated in-line with the competition

We heard that this hotel was fantastic, several people had told us that it was one of the best in the city. Being member of leading hotels we thought that it would be excellent. Wrong! When we arrived the lobby was very nice, the check-in was relatively fast, but then we got to our room, what a dissapointment !! The room was extremely small, the furniture was old, it felt like we were in a Hotel in the 70?s. The bathroom was tiny and it generally looked old. It even smelled old. Maybe back in the days it was a great hotel, but right now, they need to make an extreme makeover. Having stayed at several hotels in Guangzhou, they have never charged for the internet, except on this hotel. Overall it is a bad experience. For the price I paid, I could have stayed at a new hotel with newer facilities. Never again!