Hotel Tricks

The key hack to having a seamless stay is in managing your shuttle transfers perfectly. As soon as you land and have your bags, call the hotel for your pick-up. More importantly, upon checking in, you must immediately book your shuttle back to the airport for the next day. The front desk will ask for your flight time and will schedule you on a shuttle (usually 2-2.5 hours before your flight), which is what makes leaving the country so stress-free.

Recommend having a translation app (Baidu Translate or Google Translate) ready on your phone. The hotel staff are helpful but their English is not very good. Being able to show them a written translation of “what time is breakfast?” or “my wifi is not working” will instantly solve any potential problems in the future! Also, have your booking confirmation and passport ready for a smooth check-in as is standard in China.

Plan your meals accordingly as the hotel is in an isolated location. Most convenient for you is to have dinner at the on-site restaurant which typically serves simple local Chinese cuisine adequate and convenient for a night's stay. A smart tip would be to have a big meal at the airport before heading to the hotel since there's much more variety of food at the airport (including KFC, Starbucks, many noodle shops). You can also buy snacks and drinks from a convenience store in the airport terminal to bring to your room.

In summary, the best way to use this hotel is for what it was designed as a clean, quiet, comfortable place to sleep between flights. Do not book it as a base from which to try exploring Kunming. The city's main points of interest, such as the Stone Forest or Dianchi Lake, are very far away. View the hotel as a "transit tool" and not a holiday destination you will be very happy with the experience. Modern clean rooms with comfortable beds that are often reported as being far superior to what you would find in many other budget airport hotels good value for a good night's sleep.