Agreed, and it is even nicer now that the US Embassy has moved out, the security checkpoints on those side streets have been removed, and you can walk down them freely instead of sticking to Guanghua Lu. But...if one wants or needs to come and go from this conference more than one round-trip per day, walking Kerry-St. Regis is a little far. I also like the Grand Millenium as it is right next to a new subway stop, which is quite handy for buzzing around Beijing when you don't want to sit fuming in traffic in a taxi.