Zibo - Accomodation

Once again Barbara didn't want to be bothered with finding accommodation when we got there. I went on line and only came up with 3 options. We chose Hotel Ibis. It was the cheapest hotel we have stayed in and turned out to be the best hotel we have stayed in.

The Hotel is located downtown. It is about 15 minutes drive from the Train station.

When we arrived we were greeted by the FOM and the Hotel Manager. All the staff were Chinese but all spoke English - some better than others. The Hotel Manager wanted to know our purpose for the visit. We told him that we were here to see the sights. We had a list of things to see. He had a look at the list and he said that we would never see everything we wanted to see in the 2 days we had booked our accommodation.

The Hotel Manager advised that we would be better of having a driver. He quoted us Y300 per day. We agreed to this. He wrote an itinerary for us. Booked the driver. The service was unbelievable.

We hadn't booked breakfast based on past experience. We were informed that the breakfast was international. We gave it a go on our first day and it was international. For Y15 it was an easy and convenient breakfast.

The next morning the driver arrived at 9 am as booked. The Hotel staff spoke with him in Chinese and off we went. We would never have found the sights travelling by bus.

That afternoon we decided that we would stay an extra night. We discussed this with the Hotel staff and everything was taken care of. We also asked if the driver could be booked for the following day.

After coming home that night we confirmed that the driver had been booked and we were advised that everything was in order. It was such a great experience that now when we go anywhere we will be checking to see if there is an Ibis. I'm positive a lot of hotels around the world could learn a thing or two from this hotel.