My husband and I found the Tibet Hotel to be quite adequate. The room was spacious and very clean, and we had spectacular views of the mountains. We would spend the late afternoon basking in the sun with the windows open to take in the fresh air and sunlight.

The hotel, save for the room, was unheated in October, and this was a bit uncomfortable in the public areas of the hotel as well as the restaurant. The staff really had it rough, for they were all clad in their winter coats and still shivering behind the desk, in the gift shop, in the lobby, etc...

We had a tea in the reception area of the "sauna", not realizing that it was used more for massage and "extras". One could have a sauna in a private room with young beautiful girls, though the menu stated it more humorously in the poor English! Also, we saw a beautiful young woman clad in a red coat and black boots several times in the hotel at different hours and in different areas. We later learned that she was probably one of those who took advantage of the "hourly" rate posted behind the reception area.

The breakfast was quite good, or at least better than expected, although food got cold quickly in the cold restaurant when the morning temperature outside was about 10 degrees C!

The hotel is located several K from town (normally not a long walk, but while the body is adjusting to the altitude and the traffic patterns, too much to attempt), but a 10 Y cab ride anywhere in Lhasa was convenient. Also, right outside of the entrance to the hotel was a delicious tiny Sino-Tibetan restaurant. We enjoyed our first meal in Tibet at this restaurant and the yak meat dish was wonderful. When the lights went out in the restaurant, the staff was quick to provide us with candles atop Lhasa Beer cans! It made the dining experience more authentic!

The Tibet Hotel was a very strange experience indeed, possibly because we went off-season. The rooms are located in a block behind some other outbuildings and it felt like we were intruding most of the time. We seemed to have an entire floor to ourselves and when walking about the hotel surprised the staff who looked like they thought the place was empty. Our room was nice and big but we had problems with our lights that were never fixed. So every night we had to call reception and they would wake up some electrician to come and fix the lights. Then the next day they would be broken again. We saw other people at breakfast where weary travellers debated whether the food on offer was indeed the worst breakfast they'd ever experienced in a hotel.

So I've rated the hotel as 2/5 as the room was nice, although the breakfast and eeriness of the place made the stay a weird one. We stayed as part of a package so I'm not sure how much the rooms cost, but I'm sure it would be too much.