White Lotus - Boutique Hotel

This is a charming hotel, ideally located in more of a residential area however that's not to say there is no shortage of places to eat and drink. Owing to a delayed flight in Beijing we didn't arrive till 02:30 but the management responded to the booking chat facility, while still in Beijing, straight away to say it wouldn't be a problem. A quick call on arrival to the phone number on the front door and a sleepy member of staff opened up and booked us in. The hotel is located down a short alleyway, probably 25m from the main road, big glass frontage immediately into the lobby that doubles as the breakfast area. The hotel is no more than 3 meters wide and set over 5 floors, some achievement to make the most of the available space. The scenic lift only goes to the 4th floor so if your on the 5th there's a spiral staircase to negotiate adjacent to the lift. The rooms are small, very small, we stayed at the hotel twice as we had a week or so in Hanoi, both times booking a room with a balcony but neither room we stayed in on either the 5th or 2nd floors overlooking the alley had a balcony. Looking at the front of the building none of the rooms had balconies, maybe they're on the back rooms. The hotel management contacted me via the booking agent chat facility to say he rooms without a balcony were slightly bigger and offered us the choice however we were took the rooms we were given. The rooms are clean and beautifully decorated in an Art Deco style and have everything you need for a short stay. However the rooms are very small, a couple of suitcases and carry-on bags take up a lot of the available floor space. There is little privacy in the bathroom, the sliding louvre door barely adequate. Breakfast is prepared in front of you on the lobby/reception desk and a choice of 5 or 6 options on the menu. We stuck mostly with the sausage, egg, pate option as the other options are a little on the spicy side for the British constitution first thing in the morning. Unbeatable for the money, 5 stars.