After a fight to get a room with an exterior window, the rest of my stay was fine. However, I made the booking based on it's proximity to the metro. It turns out that only a couple of the planned 100's of railway stations have actually been opened in Xi'An, and none of them was near my hotel. Luckily taxis are cheap; the city is dead flat, and within the old city walls the hotel is an easy stroll to most of the historic landmarks. At present the Airport and The Terracotta Warriors are still a long hike from the centre of this vast and booming city.
As in almost every Chinese hotel I stayed at during 2 months, there was noisy 24 hour construction work next-door, so always try to get a room on the quietest side, even if it means a few flights of stairs. (most hotels are fairly empty, so they shut down whole wings and elevators etc. to conserve power)