I stayed twice at this hotel in December (total of 3 nights). Here is a short summary of the stays :
1. Location is very good, right off the main road but in a side road which still confuses taxi drivers how to get there. It also confused my brother in law when he picked us up at the airport. There are restaurants near in the mall (5th and 6th floor) and plenty of other options in the area. We had hot pot in the mall and Beijing duck in a restaurant pretty close to the hotel.
2. Rooms are well sized, I am Diamond but I didn't notice a difference in the rooms between the 15th floor Executive Rooms and 9th floor (my parents in law stayed on the 9th floor for 2 nights). The rooms are open to the bathroom though which the sink being the room seperator can be good or bad. Our toddler was busy watching us washing instead of sleeping :-). The shower is very good with a rain shower on top and 2 shower heads with ample water supply. The temperature control is a pain though and the rooms are way too hot. Air conditioning didn't work (winter) and when we complained we were told to turn it completely off and open the windows which helped some. My room on the second stay had a similar problem but not as bad.
You can hear some construction noise though if you are on that side. They do start relative early.
3. Executive lounge is quite nice and on the 16th floor. I had once breakfast there which was quite good including omlet station. I also tried the afternoon tea and one happy hour. Afternoon tea had nice choices of cake, happy hour food was quite limited but ok for quick bite. They did setup a wonton soup station though with a cook behind it. Lounge personal is very nice and helpful and even sent out some free faxes (Beijing area code) for me. Wireless in the lounge is free and it also did work on the 15th floor (actually just writing via wireless from the room). During happy hour alcohol looked quite limited but I wanted only a beer anyway (Bud Light or Tsingtao was available).
4. Fitness area had 7 cardio options and 2 weight benches and 2 more machines for upper body work out and 1 leg press. It was completely empty when I was there and I got the guy doing some personal training for me for free
. He also did show me the pool which had water inside and is supposed to open in around 1 or 2 month. The pool looks very nice but has no steam rooms or sauna area. There is an outdoor deck but I decided to skip that tour with only my sweaty gym clothes and freezing temperatures.
5. Restaurant : I did not eat at the hotel except for breakfast. Breakfast buffet is Asian and US fare and is on the 5th floor at Vasca. Pricing seems to be very expensive but we got it included in our room rates (50% off deal made this hotel a very good deal). The price shown on the bill I signed at the restaurant was 240 RMB including tax which I find obscene for breakfast and I would probably just go out to a local restaurant if it wouldn't be included. If you have lounge access the breakfast up there is smaller but still plenty of options and no reason for paying.
6. I did get a free Wine (Chile, Dancing flame Cab) for being Diamond but didn't drink it.
The hotel felt very empty, I was the only one at breakfast at 8am and then only 2 more groups showed up. I would recommend the hotel for location and the rooms are quite nice (if you can work around the temperature problem). I usually stay at the Crowne Plaza in that area on the executive level. I would say the rooms are comparable and the lounge offerings are comparable too. The regular rooms at the Crowne Plaza are not that good though and the regular rooms at the Hilton are the same as the ones on the executive level.