I was kind of wondering - for CNY 12k-16k per month - that equates roughly to CNY 400-600 per day.

I'm thinking you could stay in a 4-5 star hotel (or move from hotel to hotel) for that amount, negotiate a discount for long-term stay, and rack up frequent flyer miles and room upgrades. The Intercontinental hotel out on the edge of town, but next to scenic Lake Dianchi has enough restaurants to keep you busy for a month, before palate boredom sets in.

As you're here for business, the hotel is a sensational environment for business meetings. As a long-term guest - you MAY be able to negotiate freebies, heavy discounts, or other things.

As you'll be packing on the weight with sedentary hotel lifestyle - you can hit the hotel gym and pool gratis as guests.

Also - as long-term guests - I believe you're eligible (negotiable) for free buffet breakfasts, and whatever else you can negotiate - ESPECIALLY if you pre-pay (use a credit card, just in case they renege on the freebies).

The Hilton hotel recently (dunno for sure, haven't checked myself) opened about an hour away from town by the second (and in my personal opinion, significantly NICER) lake, Fuxian Lake. So, when you get tired of the Intercontinental, pop over to the Hilton for those "down" weeks, when you need to compile, analyze, etc the information you've gathered.

The Hilton is roughly 60-90 minutes from downtown Kunming (not including the time required to exit Kunming during rush hours).

Green Lake has a boutique hotel VERY close to the downtown area - but still in the Green Lake area - bit noisy and stinky because of heavy traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours - but aside from that - you'll have access to a plethora of restaurants and an open air farmer's market a few kilometers away.

One drawback - catching taxis around town is torture, so either learn how to use the online taxi apps (the concierges at the 5-star hotels can help with that) or get a private driver (recommended) with a car. The hotel MAY be able to provide recommendations for contract drivers with cars.

Get a COUPLE of referrals, in case your driver is an asshole (it happens).

So instead of going for the short-term rental - you MIGHT want to go the hotel/boutique hotel route - unless you love shopping for groceries and cooking at home.

Many restaurants near green lake MAY provide delivery service (for a fee - but you'll need someone to help you order if your language skills suck).

You also MAY want to opt for bi-lingual assistant for the duration of your time. The BEST students for this are the university Tourism students.

I've interviewed hundreds of students with various alleged English skills and the tourism students usually have (for Yunnan) spectacular English language communication skills. They may NOT be conversant in the specific lingos of specialized markets - but if you spend enough time with them - they can get up to speed remarkably quickly.

Good luck with your investment due diligence and beware frauds soliciting free gifts to "introduce" you to key government officials, contracts and other fraudulent corruption laced manure.

Best piece of advice is probably Haali's: stay in a hotel when you arrive, THEN look around - Kunming is not a town where you want to make long-term arrangements before you see how the place is - frankly I don't think anyplace is.

Wa,You could live in the Hotel with your wife with such a big budget.

Could do, but then there'd be that bubble thing.

living in hotels long term is dismal

If I choose the hotel option...any opinions on the best option for a nice 4 or 5 star that is in a good location? Walking/Cycling distance to food, shopping, etc? I know that some of the hotels may be far out. Thank you to all who are taking the time to respond and help me out! I appreciate it.

Green Lake Hotel is very central, and pretty nice. Might be above your budget, but if you negotiated a discount, it could be viable. The brand new Sofitel is set to open in December, but its on the south side of the city centre.

Grand Park Hotel - I think it's managed by a Singaporean company, but can't remember. Both the Green Lake (Chinese government owned & operated) and the Grand Park are in the Green Lake area, with excellent proximity to restaurants, grocery shopping (fruit), and nightlife, if you're into the night life.

Both hotels are listed in gokm's LISTINGS section, including phone numbers.

You can try online booking - but for the kind of long-term stay you're proposing - best to negotiate with the hotel manager directly.

As the Green Lake Hotel is government owned and staffed, negotiation efforts might be akin to chatting with a rock.

For the Grand Park - you MAY want to contact their home/corporate office to negotiate long-term stay.

Sort of down the street from the main gate of the Yunnan University is a boutique hotel, which I've been meaning to go take a look at, so can't comment on the quality of rooms, service, or pricing...but it IS in Green Lake, so it probably won't be ... budget (budget service perhaps, but definitely NOT budget priced - high rent area).

Also - both hotels are in the vicinity of the Yunnan University - Green Lake Campus. If you get tired of restaurant food - you can pop over to the islamic and regular cafeterias for some crappy cafeteria food - but you'll need to get a pre-paid card from the cashier's office across the way from the canteens - only open M-F.

The MBA/EMBA schools are also on campus - so if you're looking for networking (EMBA) or mid to senior level management (MBA), you might want to drop by to "expand your network opportunities) - but call first. Terribly annoying to show up during business hours and nobody's there.

Now that you are here for business,I think you could ask help from your business partners in kunming.With such a big budget,not matter you live in hotel or rent a apartment,I believe you could live in comfort.
Best regards

On hotels not mentioned, many older ones have been recently renovated and may have penthouse units. Crowne Plaza on Qing Nian Lu and the Holiday Inn downtown for example. Wyndham on Dainchi Lu is very upscale. Further out the Expo Garden Hotel has a new gym ode shave some units and is in a nice garden area. How big a place do you want? Amenities like heating and air conditioning? Their are many nice villas spotted around the city but some fairly lonely.