Universal Hotel Urumqi

We requested all 5-star hotels for our trip to Xinjiang, and this was our first stop. It’s not quite a 5-star but it’s not a bad place for one night in Urumqi. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The hotel was not luxurious, but clean and comfortable. The entire hotel was fairly quiet so having a good nights of sleep wasn’t too difficult. Our first room was a smoking room, which they moved us to a non-smoking room right away and sent a plate of local fruits to our new room, which was a really nice gesture. The room was decent in size and the bed was comfortable, unfortunately the linens and bedding were quite worn and needed to be replaced. The location is next to the medical school and the art museum, other than that it’s not really good for a short stay tourists. Traffic was horrible and the evening was very hot and sunny (until about 10/30 at night), so it wasn’t possible to walk to even drive to any of the attractions. Its breakfast was excellent with plenty of choices and freshly made choices. We had just stayed at a Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental hotels where the breakfasts were incredible, but I actually prefer the breakfast here.

Stayed a night during our trip to Xinjiang. Lobby is very impressive with the super high ceiling. Rooms are spacious and comfortable but my big complaint is the bathroom which is clear walls. No privacy and the worst part is that when someone goes to the toilet in the middle of night, the bathroom light also lots up the room waking up others. Breakfast array was very impressive.

Best locations. Easy access from every where and subway stations. Near library and night market. Best services. Comfortable and clean rooms. Everything was well organized. Complete amenities in the room. Very good breakfast with many variations of foods. Recommended for all families.

We were extremely tired upon arrival. The problems compounded our exhaustion: no bell boy service, no air conditioning rendering the room blistering hot (they told us to open the windows and now we can hear all the street and construction noise at 2:00 am in the morning), and the electricity goes in and out. Not sure I would recommend it.