My wife and I spent a weekend at this hotel, as part of a short trip around China. It was further out of town than I expected, but that was my own fault for not checking.

The welcome and the general ambiance were very good. As the name suggests, the hotel is a showplace for modern art, which extends into the extensive surrounding park.

The room was comfortable and very well appointed, with a beautiful view over the park. The restaurant is particularly good -- it's clear that the chef is aiming for a high standard.

If there's a criticism, it's that the staff, although very willing, are still training to be up to the standard of the hotel. However, one notable exception was Jeff, an assistant manager on the hospitality desk. He was charming, knowledgeable, and very anxious to show us around. He left us with a very good impression.

All in all, recommended for a relaxing stay, although slightly too far out of town for intensive tourism.

We stayed at this hotel as part of an extended tour of China booked through a tour operator.

We were due to stay at Sheraton but were told after we arrived at the airport that the hotel smelt of paint following renovations and that company had moved us to this hotel. It was the first time the hotel in this resort (Paradise) had been used. We were warned not to compare rooms as each one of the 49 rooms would be very different. We were also told that it was considerably more expensive than the Sheraton.

We eventually arrived in the dark and the coach driver had to find a staff member to direct us to the building. It immediately became obvious that we were going to be staying at a special place.

We were rapidly given our room key and found our room. On entering my husband and I roared with laughter. Can you imagine a room that looked like a troglodyte cave? This was exactly was our room appeared to be. It had two double beds with moulded built in bedside tables. The desk and seating areas were also moulded and the bathroom efficiently equipped.

Breakfast on the first morning was in a slightly crowded room/bar with food individually prepared. On the second morning, breakfast was served buffet style in a newly opened dining room.

This resort consists of two hotels and we ate our farewell dinner in the second one which was equally impressive and larger.

The grounds of this resort are a huge area of parkland and lakes surrounded by the hills for which Guilin is so famous. The owner invites world famous artists and sculptors etc to visit and create works of art which are then left and sited in and around the buildings and grounds. Staff drove us around in a buggy to view these. A man was working on a huge slab of granite and workshops exist on site for classes in various related subjects.

When viewing the hotel from the outside, the shape resembles a pyramid with grass covered roofs to ground level, making it hardly visable in the environment..

This was a wonderful resort and everyone in the part felt they could stayed longer and unwound. Spa, swimming pool and other facilities are on site.

THERE ARE 2 HOTELS IN THE SAME AREA (HOMA SUTRA & RELAIS & CHATEAUX)

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE R&L PROPERTY.

MY TRAVEL STYLE: If possible, I try to stay away from business and strongly prefer resorts that resemble the Four Seasons, Aman, and Oberoi but try to find similar properties at lower cost. I seek out the “wow” experiences and I encourage you to view hotels I have stayed at and their respective reviews (by clicking on my name).

LOCATION: Excellent. In a park surrounded by art sculptures and 360 views of karst formations, all while listening to the piped in soft music of the parks many speakers. About 30 to 45 minutes to either Yangshuo or Guilin (halfway between the two towns).

BEST WAY TO GET THERE: A taxi from Guilin town (not airport) costs about 100 Yuan without using the meter. Hotel taxi from this hotel to Yangshuo costs 250 Yuan.

TYPE OF ROOM: Deluxe (cave)

BED/SHEETS/PILLOW: Near perfection. Bed is soft (nearly unheard of in China) with excellent high quality linens, down comforter, and excellent down pillows.

LIGHTING: Great. Tons of light in both bedroom and bathroom. Our cave bedroom had lighting in which you could turn off the main lights and leave on just the blue lights to make the cave walls blue and to resemble the color of ice.

BATHROOM/SHOWER: Shower has very strong water pressure and consistently hot water if desired. Would have preferred something other than a shower curtain although it is very clean and fits into the décor of the room. Bathroom has unique pebble flooring and walls that really adds to the design.

TOILETRIES: Very nice. Oatmeal soap is a nice touch.

CLEANLINESS: Common areas, room, and bathroom is exceptionally clean.

A/C: At first the A/C didn’t work well until we lowered it to the lowest temperature setting (about 5 degrees Celsius).

CLOSET SPACE: 2 separate closets with no drawers. Usually I don’t like when there are no closet doors such as in this room, but to keep with the cave design, it worked well.

QUIET/MORNING LIGHT: Our room was very quiet and all morning sunlight could be blocked using the curtains.

FOOD: Breakfast (no additional charge) is ordered off a menu and includes eggs, toasts, breads, choice of 4 exotic juices, choice of about 4 cereals. Simple but good. Lattes, espressos, etc. are available for additional cost (Coffee is no charge). We had lunch that consisted of a slightly better than average hamburger and a bowl of soup that was good. The relais and chateaux restaurant (Lotus) is opening end of April.

TV/INTERNET: TV in room is a good size for the room and offers about 5 English channels including HBO, CNN, & BBC. No DVD player in room. Internet is available in room via cable but the server was down during our stay. There are 2 computers that are available for guests near the lobby at no charge.

SERVICE: Staff is very pleasant. We didn’t ask any special requests so can’t comment too much here. Check-in was a breeze and we were surprised that staff we hadn’t met before knew our room number and names.

COMMON AREA: Spectacular. Pool is open seasonally and was closed during our stay. The art park is incredible and the hotel lobby is beautiful, but not really a place to hang out. The restaurant is spectacular and would make a good place for a drink later in the evening.

ROOM & CITY TIPS:

We walked over to the HOMA Sutra hotel which is actually outside the park but at the very entrance. Lobby there was very nice as well but not a “wow” lobby like the R&C property. They have their own restaurant and spa (spa has same prices as R&C) if you like having more options. The Don Quixote restaurant is not attached to the hotel but is in the park and is only available to large groups. The outdoor dining area is excellent since it is surrounded by karsts and nice trees. The cave or lakeside dining would be a good thing to organized (24 hour advance booking required). The cave is spectacular and worth the price they charge just for the unique location alone. I definitely recommend staying at the R&C HOMA as it is guaranteed to be a unique and memorable experience.

As many people say, this place must be seen to be believed. And, even then, you won't quite believe it.

I have been to Guilin many times (I have business in nearby Lipu), so I had gone by the sign for this property a few times before and been intrigued. So, I insisted that my local friend take me there.

The beauty, layout and architecture are stunning. But, there was something else. As we were sitting at dinner in one of the restaurants, our group realized one thing. The contrast between the ancient and old outside the grounds, the old hills and the utterly modern park and hotel we were in was so great as to move into the sublime--an experience of art (being art) that I have never quite known before. Along the lines of being in a nice warm cabin with a fire going while an intense snow storm raged outside. Unbelievable by itself.

Now, I have been to Guilin and Yangshuo many times, so I didn't feel I was missing out on a "Chinese" experience. If your trip includes other Chinese cities and you want something quite different, this is the place to stay. There is nothing like it in China. If you feel you need the quaint Chinese experience, then, you might opt for something else.

HOMA is a great looking hotel, very modern and tastefully done. Rooms are very comfortable and fancy with a great view. The reds would be the distance as it is very far from Guilin and the staff needs to be little more smart. They are not bad people but little slow in understanding your requirement. Its more of a resort to relax and admire the nature but not good for a tourist.

Really a terrible experience even though the hotel concept, environmental location are outstanding. management is really poor and not able to manage such a facility as far as hotelery is concerned.

I initially booked in May 07their Relais & Chateaux hotel, supposed to be opened in June, they confirmed it. One week before my arrival I receive a mail (got by change since I was travelling in Tibet) informing me that the R&S was not ready yet, proposing a JS in the HOMA. At that point I had no chance to change my plans, so accepted. Once arrived the room the proposed was different from the actual one. They told me it's the best room of the hotel, but actually an average 3 starts one, or less. After 2 days I have been onformed that the hotel would have have been closed, yeas, closed, the day after for unplanned maintenance opartions of aircon, so they proposed to move to the branch normally used by the general manager/owner to host friends/family members. Everything is embedded n a wonderful park, full of modern art masterpieces, the Homa, the R&S, the friends/family building, restaurants, etc....Actually the new suit was acceptable, 3+ stars room. Once I tried to ask why they didn't propose the new room when arived, why the air con maintenance was not planned ahead, etc...no answer. Actualy staff tried to make their best, but poorely trained, their english is really basic and it's been really a pain to communicate.

Then, even though the location is wonderful, the position is not!. The hotel is 40km far from Gulin, non possibility to catch a taxi. The only alternatives are to take the hotel car (unbelievaby expensive) or the public bus (5 yaun), if one accepts to spend more than 1 hour travelling with ducks, chickens, and sometimes bigs!.......More, is one decides to use their cars with driver for sightseeing, i.e. long distance ones, well be prepared to make one of your worst experience on the road, they are not actually able to drive a car and the experience is really dangerous and not recommended.

Actually I do not understand how R&S has provided the licence to that poor management and property!

Bottom line, I strongly recommend to make another choice in Guilin, Sheraton is a valid and up to standard alternative.

I had heard about Yuzi Paradise from an article in an airline magazine, and the photos looked amazing. Their website is also a great sales tool, so I booked directly with them.

The hotel is set in a modern art park and beautiful surroundings. The setting is definitely stunning and unlike anything else I have seen in China (or anywhere else for that matter) The art park is definitely worth the visit, but I dont think I would have paid RMB80 to go in it, if I wasn't staying at the hotel. I wished they would have labeled the individual pieces, but it was fun to ride around the park anyway. Entrance to the park is free if you are a guest of the hotel, but that's where anything free ends. Even to use one of their (disappointing) bicycles to ride around the park, they charged RMB10 per hour (for comparison, bikes in Yangshou rent out for RMB 20 for the full day and for that price you get a pretty decent mountain bike, versus the wobbly rusty fold-able type bike at Yuzi)

We were very disappointed by the service. They do try hard, but most staff's English was so poor and they had no concept of international standard service that I was really left wondering who they cater to. I can only imagine it is the bus loads of unsuspecting tour tourists. While we didnt see any on our stay, the huge bus-parking lot right outside the hotel made me think this is what keeps the hotel going.

There is a common saying in China: The "hardware" is great, but the "software" leaves a lot to be desired. And that definitely applies to Yuzi. Great architecture, wonderful modern art inside the hotel and in the park, but service not up to what one would expect from a Relais-Chateau classified hotel.

However, if you are not demanding on service (or a little more patient than my husband was!) I would recommend staying for one night and day. Don't make this hotel your stop for visiting Yangshou and the Li River area because it is remote. If you are flying in to Guilin, stay overnight to enjoy the art park, the spa (we didnt have time to experience it, but it did look quite good) and the beautiful surroundings, but then head out to stay closer to Yangshou itself for the rest of your stay.

Avoid trying to book anything with the hotel. Their rates are outrageous and they are completely incompetent. I wished I had known about the local tour operators in Yangshou itself that could have organized activities without the 50% surcharge that Yuzi charges. Trying to get tickets to the nightshow was a disaster. After three different requests to the hotel to organize the tickets (and their assurances that they had), we left empty handed for Yangshou. I had to convince the hotel driver to take us to the ticket booth directly. And even then, he refused to let us pay the face value, insisting we pay him the hotel surcharge (on orders from someone from the hotel who he was on the phone with). Luckily the nice ticket booth lady was on my side to say that, since the hotel had not bought the tickets themselves, we should not be subject to any ridiculous surcharge.

Also, because they are so remote, you may be stuck paying the RMB 600 for a hotel car to get you to the hotel and back out again. Given that we paid RMB 900 for the standard room, the transportation fees felt a little outrageous, but then again, you are a captive guest!!

The free WIFI is a plus, and while the rooms were Ikea-ish, they were entirely adequate.

Yangshou was a delight. Head into town and definitely get yourself a guide for the day. They will approach you as you hit West Street. Dont pay more than RMB 80 for a day's tour and dont be surprised if, after negotiating with the fluent speaking tour guide that approaches you, she introduces you to her "sister" and says she will be your actual guide! Rent bikes and follow your guide for a tour of the countryside, including rafting downstream with bikes on the back of a bamboo raft. It was really the highlight of our stay in the Guilin-Yangshou area. The Impression Sanjie Liu night show (the one we had such a challenge getting tickets for) in Yangshou is a must - it is the most amazing light show I have ever seen, and gave us a good taste of what to expect from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics (same director).

We were looking for a hotel in Guilin or Yangshuo, the 2 most convenient bases for a trip on the Li River. The other hotels didn't seem very inspiring, being either boring chain type hotels or low end backpacker hostels. Thanks to Trip Advisor we discovered the Hotel of Modern Art, inside Yuzi Paradise - a park full of modern art. It's set in a remote rural location about 30 mins drive from both Yangshuo and Guilin.

The HOMA attracted me because having seen their website it looked like nothing I had ever seen before! I had to stay here. I was not disappointed! We arrived late at night, after an hour's drive from Guilin airport. The next morning we were delighted to wake up and find ourselves right in the middle of the most stunning scenery. So much nicer than staying in the middle of Guilin city itself which is an unattractive, medium sized Chinese city.

There are actually two hotels within Yuzi paradise, HOMA 1 and HOMA 2. I'm not entirely sure which one we stayed in, the other pyramid shaped one was closed for refurb (it also has a pool). Although from the outside our hotel doesn't look particularly interesting it's stunning on the inside with modern art everywhere and well designed, comfortable rooms.

Double rooms start at 1080RMB (+15%) and go up to a deluxe suite at 2080RMB per night. There also 2 stunning executive suites at 4080 and 5080RMB per night.

Staying in the middle of the Chinese countryside in a luxury hotel was surreal! Perhaps due to the Chinese management and the remote location the staff, whilst very attentive and hard working were somewhat inexperienced and mystified at dealing with Western customers. For example, they had bizarrely separated the breakfast areas into two different rooms for "Western Breakfast" and "Chinese Breakfast". In the Western Breakfast area we were served a combined continental and cooked breakfast in a strict order. First came juice, then a tiny portion of cereal, then fruit, then cooked breakfast, then bread, then coffee! At first we were bemused, then we learned just to speak up and take charge - and took breakfast in the order we wanted to eat it! I would have much preferred a combined buffet style breakfast with a wide choice of Chinese and Western options, but someone clearly thought "No, this is how foreign devils want to have their breakfast"! No matter... it added to the unique atmosphere.

Whilst the service was somewhat unorthodox the quality of the food was superlative. I enjoyed every meal, and there was a good choice of "Western" dishes and Asian dishes. It was all very good indeed. The prices were also ridiculously low.

Other facilities in the hotel included free wireless internet access, very low priced Spa with massages and other treatments available. Also, you can ask to take lunch or dinner as a picnic in the middle of the remote wilderness part of the park - and you will be taken there by golf cart. You can also ask just for a tour of the remote areas on golf buggy too, which might include a *private* tour of caves - the largest and most impressive I've seen. There was no charge made for these tours, neither for the guided tour of the adjacent art-park!

I would have no hesitation in recommending this unique hotel to anyone - for a memorable few days in the Chinese countryside I don't think you'll find anything better.

We stayed in the new hotel building. The old one was being renovated. I found the room to be adequate but somewhat poorly designed and shabbily constructed. The room itself is spacious but the bathroom is tiny. So small that an attempt was made to make it seem larger by making one of the walls glass, with curtains provided in case guests ever need privacy. Some noise or smell from the bathroom will slip pass the gaps around the sliding glass door to the rest of the room. Thank goodness we didn't get a stomach bug during our stay. Also a result of the smallness of the bathroom is that the electrical receptacles are so close to the shower I was afraid I'd be electrocuted. While one doesn't go to Guilin or Yangshuo to watch TV, I find the 17" flat screen too small to see from the bed, and the awkward cabinet around it makes it even harder to see and difficult for the remote control signal to reach. I was also disappointed that the room faces a parking lot and doesn't have a view of the park.

That said, the rest of the building is great and, since construction wasn't finished, will probably only improve. The whimsical sculptures and artwork do its name justice. The spa area is especially well done and I would encourage guests to at least get a foot massage. There is a full day spa package on offer that we were tempted to try but, sadly, didn't have time for.

I find the staff service friendly and efficient. There is always at least one english speaker at the front desk and one at the restaurant. There is a tour guide/tourist agent on staff who can arrange activities for guests although prices offered are not as competitive as those offered in Yangshuo. We arranged all of our activities, which includes a spectacular hot air balloon ride, through the Panda agency off West Street and found the prices to be lower and the service just as good.

Much has been said about the grounds around the hotel and I can only concur. There is a playground that, I think, appeals to kids of any age (even ones in their 30s like us). The hotel is, however, very inconveniently located. It's about halfway between Guilin and Yangshuo. It took us 45 minutes to get to and from Yangshuo. Yuzi Paradise is great for a couple of relaxing days strolling among sculptures and being pampered, but it's not a place one can stagger back to after a half day of exhausting rock climbing or a night of drunken debauchery on West Street.

This would be THE most spectacular place I have ever stayed in. Not only is the hotel and surrounding buildings breathtakingly stunning and architecturally a marvel inside and out, but it all has been set in a park in the most breathtakingly stunning country I have ever seen. This place has to be seen to be believed. The staff can be a little inexperienced and not always fluent in English, however are very friendly and really do try hard to please.This is a small price to pay for the experience of being able to be in such a beautiful place. There are 2 hotel buildings, the oldest is 12 months old where we stayed and were told was the better of the 2. The 2nd building newly opened, with a spa and massage we had no time to try.A car, driver, and guide can be hired for a small price for a full day (or more) sight-seeing. Suggested sites: 1/2 day boat trip on the River Li Yangshuo. Very touristy but don't be put off - it's magnificent. Night time "Spectacular" show on the river which in fact IS spectacular. We only stayed 2 days, but sorry it wasn't at least 3 days to go further afield. The hotel is 40 minutes from the airport, so is best to organise a transfer by the hotel.