It is not very central, maybe km away from popular places. Where do you need to go in Shantou? This is helpful! I stayed at Meritus once. It was central and there are places to hang out at night.
Beds are often hard in Chinese hotels, yes. It is a Chinese preference. You will need to go for 5 star international brands to have a guarantee for softer beds. I would not call Meritius very central, but at least it is a couple of km closer to most central places.
Sure there are good areas outside the city center as well. With your requirements I would rather go for a hotel which has reviews. I read a Chinese review for the Christal and it says hard beds as well Do you have a few hotels to recommend that is central at Shantou? We stayed at Meritius before, there is nothing near it, except a mall with Walmart, when we asked where can we go, everybody suggested Wal-Mart, not a pleasant experience.
The hotel itself is very good, but huge restaurant was always empty, sub-standard food, it was a city with wide boulevards but no car and no people, except Walmart; very strange, any hours of the day but no people and few cars.
Meritius was running wild with prostitutes at night, in the lobby, in elevators and all public areas, openly soliciting business, I was asked repeatedly multiple times each time I went out and back, I avoided going out of my room at night. Long distance buses stop in front of Meritius, if you take buses inside Guangdong, they are convenient. Night Market is not far by taxi, that is a big night market with very friendly people. It is not a classy area, I did not see any hotel there. Just returned from a 3 nights stay.
