Traders Hotel and other Beijing, China Hotel/Accommodation Reviews

Usual Shangri-La standards and service.
Excellent location in China World/Guo Mao complex.
Dining rooms are expensive but good quality food.

Unique Qualities: In the summer you can eat and drink out on the terrace between the hotel and the China World Hotel. It can get windy and you are overlooked by two 37-storey office block, two hotels, and two 30-storey appartment blocks. Private it is not.
Ice rink in China World Centre.
No pool (there is one in the adjacent China World Hotel)
Subway station within 50 metres without having to cross a road.
China World and Kerry Centre shopping centres are within 1 minute's walk.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$80-120  » Currency Converter
Phone: +86 (10) 6505 2277
Address: 1 Jianguomenwai Avenue, 100004 Beijing
Directions: In China World complex, on the central east third ring road.
Website: http://www.shangri-la.com/eng/hotel/5/

The Fragrant Hills Hotel is one of Beijing's hotel tragedies: so much potential, yet so run down, poorly managed and unappealing.
The hotel *is* worth visiting to see the gardens and the architecture (it was designed by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei and is reputed to be one of his favourite works). The gardens are neo-classic Chinese style and there is a guided walkway with explanations in English.
The hotel, though, has seen better days, and unless the 'under new management' signs appear, it is unlikely to see them again.
During SARS last year, they quoted the rack rate (which was higher than the discounted rate being offered if you telephoned really top places like the St regis or China World!!!), and they wouldn't budge until another guest chipped in and berated the receptionist for trying to rip me off (Thank you, Mr Zhang of Dalian!)
The rooms are "usual locally-managed China 4-star": grubby, grimy, stained, smelly, everything worn and tired out; missing lightbulbs, poor lighting everywhere, over-staffed by under-employed, witless, clueless, "Mei you"-chanting staff who prefer hanging around with their mates to doing anything for a paying guest.
The coffee shop refused to hand out more than one menu to a table of four people at a table, served cold coffee (despite explicit request for "yibei *rede* kafei"), then waited until we had ordered everything on the menu (I really do mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g) before saying that they didn't know what they had because the chef had gone home. ("When will the chef be back?" we asked. "September maybe").
I was verbally abused by drunken guests at the tiny, seedy bar-cum-karaoke hovel on one of the upper floors. ("Mei you bar" said the receptionist).

Unique Qualities: Other than the fabulous gardens and the stunning architecture (love it or hate it, the design is striking), there is little to recommend this dump.
One final indignity is that because the hotel is technically inside the Fragrant Hills Park, taxis and vehicles struggle to get past the aggressive, unthinking guards at the entrance barrier. I had to walk - with my bags - half a kilometre down the road to get a taxi to leave.
This hotel makes Fawlty Towers look like The Bangkok Mandarin Oriental.

As a last comment, I telephoned the Beijing Tourist Complaint Hoteline. The lady at the other end of the line was friendly and helpful, but her comment was funny: "Oh everyone complains about this hotel!"

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$80-120  » Currency Converter
Phone: 62591166
Address: Fragrant Hills Park, Haidian district
Directions: Use the south gate of the park.
Website: http:/www.xsfd.com

I have NOT stayed at this hotel, but have visited it several times for a coffee. The staf have always been friendly and helpful.

The hotel is 3-star and is based around aold hutongs, very close to the Bell and Drum Towers in one of the older parts of Beijing. It is in an excellent location for the main sites of Beijing.

Unique Qualities: It was formerly the home of a Qing Minister of Posts, and more recently the home of the notorious Kang Sheng.

It is like staying in a private house or a museum, with covered corridors winding through little gardens and clusters of bamboo.

Rooms apparently have TV, minibar, etc.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$40-80  » Currency Converter
Phone: 0106403229
Address: 24 Xiaoshiqiao Hutong, Jiugulou Dajie
Directions: Xicheng district, west of the Bell Tower.
Website: www.bbgh.com.cn
Other Contact: bbgh@bbgh.com.cn

The Airport Garden Hotel is simply poor value for money. While "good value" and "airport hotel" are phrases rarely seen in the same sentence, Beijing's Airport Garden Hotel was particularly bad.
It didn't help that their agent got our booking wrong, but they then insisted it was entirely our fault. We were able there and then to prove this not to be the case. We were simply amazed that even if it *had* been our fault, the manager and the staff were totally unwilling to make any effort whatsoever to solve the problem. (Note that this was not a language problem: we live in Beijing and can comunicate well in Chinese!)
It all went downhill from there!
The room walls are very thin and we were kept awake by the conversations in the room next door. When these people had a shower at 3am, the roar of water in the pipes woke us all up.
A pipe was leaking in the bathroom, so the floor was constantly flooded. I solved the problem, but feel that as this pipe had obviously been leaking for some time (months? years?) that it shouldn't have been left to a guest to solve. ("Oh they all leak on the ground floor" said the receptionist cheerily!)
There is no Western dining room - and this is a stated requirement of three star hotels in China. Not a big issue, but further indication of the low standards here.
Note that part of the hotel is based on an open lobby concept, with bedrooms leading off landings above the lobby. On the top floor is the Karaoke Room. In the late evening, every time the door opened, very loud karaoke music blasted out. Fortunately our room was not in this area.
The doormen were surly, uncommunicative and unhelpful.

Unique Qualities: Let me see. Hmmm. Unique characteristics? Plenty.
We wouldn't stay here again, because we were badly treated. It is really rare to have a bad experience at a 3 star hotel in China, but then this hotel shouldn't have 3 stars anyway because some of the required facilities are not in place for 3 stars!

There are alternative hotels in this area, including the Sino-Swiss which is much more expensive, but - quite frankly - I'd pay twice as much to avoid the hassle we faced.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$20-40  » Currency Converter
Phone: 010 6456 2990
Address: Capital Intl Airport Beijing Beijing Be 100621
Directions: By the first tollbooth turnoff from the airport on the Expressway.

For a hotel with one of the best French restaurants in China, a three-night stay at the Jianguo was pretty disappointing.
The room was small and the plumbing was so bad that I actually used a colleagues room at the St Regis Hotel for my showers! Yes...the water supply was so bad that it oscillated from cold to scorching hot regularly and without warning.
The room (in the 'tower' building) was on the 9th floor and was reached by long grim corridors.
The room had all the usual amenities, including kettle and coffee/tea. One consolation was free broadband (so why, exactly does last week's stay...the Regal East Asia in Shanghai...feel the need to charge RMB120 per hour?)
Room service at the Jianguo was quick and efficient, but it couldn't make up for the poor bathrooms and dreadful water supply.
The cafe at the Jianguo (and Justines) remains as good as ever, but I wouldn't stay here again.

Unique Qualities: Ground floor 'inner' rooms look out onto a small pool with fountains, which is nice..each of these rooms has a tiny terrace with really cheap and nasty plastic chairs. These are so naff, but is a sign of the times and indicative of the lack of "style"of this hotel.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: about average
Prices: US$80-120  » Currency Converter
Phone: 010 6500 2233
Address: 5 Jianguomenwai Avenue, Beijing 100020
Directions: Close to the Silk Market. If coming from the west, best to get out of taxis opposite the Silk Market and crossing the street by the subway to avoid a long trip up to the Guo Mao intersectiion and back again.
Website: www.jianguohotel.com

Having lived in Beijing for a number of years, I had stayed in relatively few hotels in the city - usually only when late night events prevented my getting home.
I have known the public areas of the Kerry Centre for almost 5 years now and have always liked their restaurants and facilities, and so was pleased to be booked in there for this trip.

The rooms live up to the standards and expectations set by the public areas. The rooms are just great - sparklingly fresh and clean and comfort. Too many hotels put too much naff opulence into their decoration and facilities, but the Kerry Centre is simply classy. It's luxurious without ever having to make anything obviously luxurious.

Great rooms, great service, great location, great facilities. You pay a high price for it (anywhere between RMB1800 and 2600 per night which is very expensive for China) but quite frankly, it is fully deserved.

Unique Qualities: This is one of my very few (perhaps the only hotel I have given a "Great Experience" rating because, quite simply, it richly deserves it.

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Theme: Hotel
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$120-180  » Currency Converter
Address: Guanghua Lu
Directions: Close to CBD on East Third Ring Road