This is a strange hotel. It is built atop a "shopping centre", i.e., a five-storey bazaar (which offers, among other things, a great choice of bathroom fixtures!) and has no direct street access. You go down a long traffic ramp and then you end up on a crowded street with nothing in the way of restaurants or shopping. And despite the Grand Mercure label, this is still far from being an international hotel. Some of the staff speak English (almost none speak Uyghur), but turning in some laundry turned into a routine Monty Python could not have dreamed up. The lobby lounge does not exist, nor does the roof garden. And they don't believe in credit or credit cards. They swiped my card for 500 RMB when I checked in. When that ran out, they came and locked up the minibar (which I had no intention of using anyway) and refused to let me charge anything to my room. Cash only from then on.
On the plus side, the breakfast was very good and the rooms are large and very pleasant.