Yitel (Chongqing Jiefangbei Hongyadong)

Located near Hongyadong, the hotel is located in a very good spot. Though, at first I had trouble finding where the hotel lobby is. You actually have to go to the third floor for the hotel lobby! Many hotpots around. The service from receptionists are very good. The room sound proofing is good. AirCon is cold. Bed is comfortable and the breakfast has a wide variety of food.

Great location, easy to access and the staff are friendly. But they don’t understand English. Washing machine and dryer worked well.

Rating: Negative stars, if possible. This was, without a doubt, the worst hotel experience I’ve ever had—and I’ve traveled extensively. I stayed here for four nights, and they were so unpleasant that they overshadowed my entire trip to Chongqing. Frankly, I left wondering if staying elsewhere would have completely changed my opinion of the city. The hotel is in an old building, and while its central location is a plus, that’s about the only good thing I can say. First and foremost, this is a smoker-friendly hotel. Despite being assigned non-smoking rooms, every single one reeked of cigarette smoke. The ventilation is poor, and whatever “cleaning” was done daily failed to address the stench. Air circulation was so bad that the air inside the room often felt worse than the air outside. The air conditioning is another major issue. During my April stay, when daytime temperatures were in the 24–27°C range, the AC would shut off at night due to a centralized control system shared with other hotels in the building. Staff advised me to open the windows for ventilation—an unreasonable solution given the street noise and pollution. Why wasn’t this explained at check-in? Over four nights, I had to change rooms three times. If I hadn’t been traveling with extended family who had already booked multiple rooms, I would have checked out after the first night. First room (6th floor): Faced the main road. Traffic noise and constant honking continued well past midnight. The AC was ineffective and, unbeknownst to us, switched to heating mode at night. It took multiple complaints and evidence sent via WeChat before the staff admitted that the system was centrally controlled. Second room (7th floor): Quieter, but the room was hot, stuffy, and filled with the smell of stale cooking oil. Staff provided an air purifier and a fan, but even then, the air quality remained poor. The purifier showed a pollutant level of 78, which only dropped to 55 after an hour—still very unhealthy, especially for my 5-year-old child. Third room (16th floor): We were moved in the middle of the night at 1am. During the move, I got trapped in the elevator because the night staff transporting the fan and purifier failed to properly coil the cord, which got caught in the door and jammed the lift. Completely unacceptable. This final room had much better air quality (pollutant level in the low 20s) and no noticeable odor, but it was a significant downgrade from the originally booked queen room with a view. The window was tiny and barely opened. While the staff were apologetic, I made it clear that the fault lay with hotel management, not them. In summary, DO NOT STAY HERE if: You are traveling with family or children. You are a non-smoker or value clean air and good ventilation. You do not speak Mandarin—communication with staff can be very difficult otherwise. This experience was deeply frustrating, disappointing, and far from the quality one should expect at the price point. Avoid this hotel if you want to enjoy your stay in Chongqing.