Loved Xian. Took the time to explore the wonderful walled city with bikes to rent on top of the wall 14 kilometers well worth it. The Ibis as stated before is like any other Ibis I have been in. Could not stomach the buffet so a pass on that. Staff were as helpful as they could be with their limited English. No Down sides with the hotel, was as expected, for a good price. We did have some problems with the travel agent attached to the hotel.. Booked a private driver and tour guide who did what they wanted and not what we paid for. We were not shown the local flavour in Xian but only the stops that we could be used at. Silk market, High price Terra Cotta souvenirs. Take the bus trip, cheaper and you will knowingly stop at the same places. Felt very used and disappointed. Cut our tour short with them after Terra Cotta Warriors and went on our own. Lots to see. Hotel is located just within the walls of the old city so if you are a walker can walk to many spots. Hotel very Clean and felt safe.

The no-frills Ibis(a French hotel chain) is located within the Xi'an city walls and no more than a 10min taxi ride to anything. What it offers is a clean, cheap and convenient stay. There's a non-smoking floor and since the building is u-shaped, there are interior-facing rooms for light sleepers.

According to the front desk, all the rooms are the same size, with the only choices being a queen size bed or a queen + a twin, but I took a peek while some rooms were being cleaned and it seemed that the corner rooms were bigger.

In standard Ibis style, only a large towel, hand soap, toilet paper and shampoo are the only amenities provided in the room. Washclothes, toothbrushes, razors, and slippers are available for a few RMB each in the vending machine in the lobby. You can also request a hair dryer from the front desk which you can keep until leaving.

For a budget hotel, there's a surprising number of foreign TV channels (CNN, BBC, TV Monde), free internet access and even a hot water kettle in the room. There are 2 computers with free Internet access available in the lobby for those who didn't bring their laptop, although the Internet access is a little slow. Breakfast buffet isn't gourmet but a deal at RMB 15 with Chinese and Western choices. On-site travel agency is slightly pricier than options outside, but they appear to speak English. There's a 24-hour restaurant right outside the hotel, serving Chinese and Western food and a cigarette/drink stand across the alley that's open until 2am.

I wouldn't recommend it for a romantic getaway, but it's perfect for travellers or business people who need a clean place to stay and don't want to deal with the inconsistencies of budget Chinese chains.

I believe the hotel was a few years old, but it feels and looks brand new. Very clean, staff mopping the floors every 30 mins in the reception, Chinese seem to be obsessed with mopping!! Good location, about 15min walk to the Bell Tower, but if you walk along the city walls, there is plenty to see. Breakfast buffet was Chinese style, but for $2AUS it was very substansial. Room was $26AUS, very, very reasonable and what we would pay 5 times the price for here in Oz. Definatley reccommend to anyone.

Excellent clean rooms, superb pricing and free internet access were the highlights of this hotel.

Though not in the city centre, the hotel is not too far and is an easy and cheap taxi ride (< 10 yuan) or even buses.

Overall, fabulous value for money like any other IBIS. Hardbed, small and clean rooms, and the standard IBIS room decor and fitouts are part of what you expect and get at this place.

The reception desk was helpful as they had one English speaking manager - Simon, and their manager was helpful.

Take the tourist bus from the railway station (take a taxi till there) to the Terracotta warriors - cheap and the best route. On the way back from the Terracotta warriors - stop at the Hot Springs palace - worth a visit.

We wanted to go to the Tang Dynasty dinner show - the hotel would recommend a show at the Sunshine theatre - we took the offer and liked the show. Dont know how this one compares to the Tang Dynasty Palace or the Shaanxi Song & Dance Theatre. But the theatre was good and prices slightly lower than the Tang Dynasty Palace at 400 RMB per head compared to 430 RMB per head. But the hotel mentioned that Sunshine theatre was closer.

On the way from the airport, we took an airport bus to the city centre and then took a taxi. Like in anywhere in China, carry the Hotel name and address in Chinese. We departed by an early morning flight and as the hotel to organize a taxi to the airport. It cost us 130 RMB (usually quoted at 150-200 RMB). Seems like the first bus to the airport leaves at 6 am and our flight took off at 7 am and hence the taxi. It takes 35-45 minutes one way to the airport by taxi.

We stayed at the Ibis Xian for one night on our way from Yangshuo to Beijing spending one day in Xian. The hotel is new, very clean and yes, no personality but after one week in China I think we were craving a hotel with western standards.

Staff was friendly, and eventhough their English was far from perfect, they tried their best to accomodate our requests always with a smile. Breakfast was OK but at 15RMB per person one should not expect smoke salmon and champagne.

I recommend a visit to the restaurant next door, food was good, open 24h and incredibly cheap.

I would definetely go back to this hotel.

The hotel is just down the street from the Hyatt not to far from one of the city wall gates. The room is standard Ibis, small but clean and very western which was a wonderful thing after one week in China. We couldn't believe what a wonderful rate we got. Plus free internet too!

The Hotel Ibis, Xian, was a great find. It is part of the ACCOR group and the Ibis are the cheapest of their range of hotels, but this brilliant little hotel compared in comfort to others we paid four times as much to stay at. It only costs 148RMB a night (about $24 AUD). It is a new building, with very comfortable double beds (at least as comfortable as the "my-Bed"s in the more expensive hotels within the chain. ) Not wonderful views (adjoining residential apartments) but they aren't too close so you don't feel hemmed in at all. Being in operation only 2 months, it didn't actually have the advertised restaurant operating, though they will get in a small line of breakfast items for you if you want (sort of room service). Again, 2 free internet computers in the reception area, yet quite private, so we could keep in touch and make our internet airline bookings and arranged for the tickets to be dropped to us at the hotel reception with no trouble at all. The young managerial staff are helpful, but reticent, so you do have to ask exactly for what you need. Unfortunately, the "non-smoking" floor policy doesn't seem to be enforced, and we noticed local folk quite openly smoking on our floor. This might be a problem in the future, but with the hotel currently being new there are not yet the lingering odours one finds in smoking areas. This Ibis has about 200 rooms. They are all the same. It is as neat and clean as a new pin. There's nothing fancy about the decor; it is functional, clean, and minimal. The small, fully-pre-assembled bathroom (similar to what we find in caravans here) will prove a squeeze for larger folk, and you receive no extra toiletries or little extras such as one recieves as complementary in more expensive hotels, but downstairs is a vending machine where for 1 or 2 RMB you can buy anything you need, from combs to shampoos to toothbrushes and personal items. We ended up staying a third night and because they had only about 30% occupancy we had no trouble achieving our last minute request (due because we couldn't book the Z20 train seats with sufficient advance notice to get a sleeper! )

Location: It is well located near banks (and ATMs), and there are reasonable restaurants just across the road and a pharmacy within 5 minutes walk (which sells essentials such as Johnson's Baby Powder and prickly heat items - all much needed at this time of year! ). It is only about a 10 minutes walk to one of the access points to the Walls of Xian where you hire ancient bikes to get around the 14 klms of somewhat corrugated cobbles, and if a 53 yr old who hasn't ridden a bike any distance for almost 30 years can get around those 14 klms within the 100 minute cheapie time frame (20 RMB), and in the stifling heat of a summer mid-afternoon when the temp hit 38 degrees, then most anyone can manage it! Taxis are cheap and can whisk you off to the Muslim Quarter for 12 RMB where I now know one can pick up better bargains than either Shanghai or Beijing markets! Xian is a charming City. Having said that, I wouldn't try again to buy a ticket from the train station for the overnight trip on the Z20 to Beijing - there's a ticket office about 5 blocks away from the station but it took us a long time and about 7 false leads to find it (and my son speaks excellent Chinese, so it wasn't a case of misunderstanding, but rather of not knowing on the part of local travel agents!). When we visited the Entombed Warriors, we found the directions we'd written down from other tripadvisor members had changed..however, we finally, after about 40 minutes, did locate the 7 RMB bus to the Warriors! My advice is to be warned that what might have been posted and truthful two months ago might, by the time you need it, be quite incorrect information, such is the rapid rate of change in these townsas they relocate railway stations and adjacent bus-stops.

I believe IBIS are rolling out a large number of these "cookie-cutter" type accommodations throughout china in the next year, all with identical decor and facilities, and pricing structure. While they have no personality, they are clean and cheap and tend to be in good locations so while they are new, I would check them out.