Originally Posted by specboi

Recently I had the opportunity to stay at two of the top luxury properties in Beijing, China. The Rosewood Beijing (opened in 2014), and the newly renovated Peninsula Beijing.

All opinions and ratings of this review is based on my personal 1 night stay at the Rosewood Beijing in the Manor Suite with access to their executive lounge, the Manor Club. As well as my 4 night stay in the Grand Premier Suite. Both rooms are the respective hotel’s first price point full suite. This is my first "review" that I've written on Flyertalk, so please excuse any errors, or if the content is too long.

Location:

The Peninsula Beijing is located steps away from the Wangfujin Shopping district, and only a 15min walk away from popular tourist attractions such as Tiananmen Square. This makes the Peninsula ideal for tourists who wants to be close to be within walking distance to much of what the city has to offer. While Wangfujin is more known for its shopping rather than night life (that would be Sanlitun area), there was still places to go and eat late into the night. Many restaurants in the area are open 24 hours. Great when you are waking up at 2am because of jet lag, and don’t want to rely solely on room service.

The Rosewood Beijing is located in the Central business district, while this may be convenient for those traveling on business and perhaps having meetings in the area, it is not ideal if you want to be within walking distance to restaurants, shops or tourist attractions. There was really nothing in the vicinity….I tried talking a stroll around the area at 1am in the morning (again….unable to sleep due to jet lag) and there was nothing open in terms of restaurants or bars etc. Though there is a bar (MEI) that is located inside the hotel that is open until quite late. It is important to note that guests staying in suites as well as club rooms does have access to the hotel’s Jaguar house car within a 3KM radius, so this sort of make up for not having anything within walking distance. Though I’m doubtful the house car will be able to drive you late into the night.

Winner: As a tourist traveler, Peninsula Beijing takes the win for location.

Lobby:

The Peninsula went through a massive renovation recently, and you can certainly tell as soon as you walk into the lobby. It is very bright, with vast high ceilings. The lobby is covered with marble, and jade. It just screams luxury everywhere you look. The lobby is filled with fresh flowers, as well as unique artwork from various artists from all around the world. There is no dedicated check out counter, but rather all the front office staff are accessible in the lobby area and can check you in on their laptops/tablets. The staff are very attentive and always accessible. The lobby was surrounded by luxury designer boutiques such as Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Chanel etc, and a stair case or elevators will take you down to the LL1 and LL2 floor where more luxury boutiques can be found. The lobby also features the signature Peninsula Lobby lounge, where you can have a full meal, or indulge on their delicious pastries, or partake in the famous afternoon tea. The only small opportunity that I noticed here is the lack of a lounge/sitting area besides the lobby restaurant/lounge. I.e. if you have no intentions of ordering food/beverages from the lobby lounge, there is really no rest area if you are waiting for someone.

The Rosewood lobby is a little darker by comparison, there is less natural light shining in on the lobby area. However, the dark wood finishes, along with the high ceiling gives off a sense of modern chic luxury vs the extravagant opulence that you would find in the Peninsula. The hotel did feature a traditional check in/out counter to the side of the lobby. I did not use the area as I was able to take advantage of the in room check in. There was a couple couches right as you enter the lobby where one can relax and wait for a car, or guest if you are visiting. Contrary to the Peninsula, there were no shopping boutiques visible from the hotel lobby. On the opposite side of the check in area was the lobby bar, much smaller than the Peninsula lobby restaurant by comparison, but overall very chic and well laid out.

Winner: I’m personally a fan of natural light and extravagant luxury…so winner for me goes to Peninsula Beijing.

Room:

The recently renovation at Peninsula Beijing pretty much cut the room count in half, and every room is now a suite. The Grand premier suite is considered the first category “full suite” as it has a dining area aside from the sitting area. The room was vary spacious, approx. 800 sqft. It featured a dining room with a round table for 4, as well as a seating area with a 3 seat couch. The TV in the living room was a 55inch Samsung, I do not quite remember the size of the TV in the bedroom, but it would be at least 50inches. Like the Peninsula Hong Kong, and Chicago, everything in room in controlled by various tablets placed in the room. Everything from curtains, lights, room service, house keeping requests etc is all handled electronically. The Tablet is available in multiple languages. The room featured a full bathroom with dual vanities, a soaking tub with tv as well as a stand up shower. There was also a powder room that is connected to the living room. There was a massive in room closet that had its separate entrance, allowing you to get dressed and proceed to leave your room without having to walk through your bedroom/living room. I actually found myself using the 2nd entrance quite a bit. The interior decor are all very luxurious, with lots of usage of marble in the bathroom, as well as living room accents. The room design was modelled after that of a luxurious yacht, and I can say that it was truly a luxurious experience staying in the suite.

The room at the Rosewood was slightly smaller by comparison to the Peninsula, however the room still featured a very spacious seating area with a couch and and 4 single seats. With enough room to seat 7 guests comfortably, the living area was certainly more spacious than that of the Peninsula. However, the Rosewood did not have a dedicated dining area, while it did have a round dining table, it was equipped with 2 office chairs and doubled as a work desk. The TV was slightly smaller compared to the peninsula, but it was still a late model high definition LED TV. The bedroom featured a day bed in addition to the king size bed which I found to be a very nice touch. The bed itself was a littler too firm for my liking, however it was still fairly comfortable. The highlight of the suite at Rosewood would be the bathroom, featuring a double wide soaker tub with soft back rest. The extra width of the bathtub made taking a bath with your significant other a much better experience, and to me is a worthy tradeoff from not having a TV in the bath tub. In addition to the great bathtub, the Rosewood also features a fully heated, automatic, bidet equipped TOTO toilet, which was added an amazing touch to the already well designed bathroom. The crown jewel of the Rosewood Manor Suite (or any Club level room for that matter) actually lies outside of the room, and that would be the Manor Club. Peninsula hotel does not feature a club level or a club lounge, so this is a bit of an unfair comparison. The Manor club is a massive club lounge featuring a pool table, board games and lots of seating space to lounge and relax. The food offering at both the breakfast and dinner cocktail hours are top notch, and premium liquor is offered in lounge as well.

Winner: Based on just room alone, the winner would have to go to the Peninsula Hotel, however once you factor in the access to the Manor Club, along with the nicer bathroom at the Rosewood (in my opinion), the winner here for me would have to be the Rosewood Beijing.
Food and Beverage

At the Peninsula, I was able to try the food and beverage product at the following restaurants: Lobby Lounge, Jing Restaurant - Buffet Breakfast, Huang Ting - Chinese Food. The hotel also features a full service French restaurant at Jing in which I did not try.

Lobby Lounge:
Food Quality: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Ambiance: 5/5
Review:
All I had here was a glass of wine and a cheese platter. The ambiance was fantastic with comfortable seating, as well as live music in the back ground, as well as the vast amount of natural light. The cheese platter itself was nothing to write home about, there was no preserves served with the cheese and the platter did not come with enough crackers. The service piece I found lacking was that when I asked the server for more crackers to go with the soft cheese that was given, I was told that it couldn’t be done. This was of course rectified quickly after speaking with the manager of the lobby lounge.


Breakfast Buffet at Jing:
Food Quality: 3/5
Service: 4/5
Ambiance: 5/5
Review:
Jing is actually the hotel’s french restaurant, but also the location in which the breakfast buffet is served. I received free daily breakfast by booking with my virtuoso agent, hence I had a total of 4 meals here at Jing during breakfast. The food choice is quite lacking as compared to the breakfast buffet at the Rosewood. The quality of the hot food was a little lacking, I found a couple of dishes to be a bit dried out, and some of the under seasoned. The buffet did have a made to order station for noodles, eggs and omelettes. On 3 out of the 4 days, I found my eggs to be overdone, I specifically ask for my eggs to be done over easy with a runny yolk, but on 3 separate days, the yolks was fully cooked. I have to say though, the pastry selection here is top notch! The service was great 3/4 days, there was one day where I had to look for a server to refill my drink. Nothing but great things to say when it came to ambiance, this is a classy french restaurant after all, the table settings were all beautiful, and the seating comfortable.

Huang Ting - Chinese Food
Food Quality: 4.5/5
Service: 5/5
Ambiance: 5/5
Review:
I actually ate here twice, the food quality was top notice, everything was presented in a beautiful manner and also tasted very good. The Peking duck here was one of the best ones I have had in Beijing. The service here is also fantastic, they are very attentive without being intrusive. They offer to split dishes for you, as well as to make the peking duck crepe for you. Both were a nice touch, especially if you want to spend more time talking with your guests rather than trying to get food onto your plate. The ambiance was classic Chinese, but restaurant was not overly loud which made having a conversation much more manageable.


At the Rosewood, I was able to have dinner at the Chinese restaurant on site called Country Kitchen, as well as the breakfast at Bistro B. I did not get a chance to try the French bistro style cuisine at Bistro B. The hotel also featured 2 other Chinese style restaurant, Hot Pot and Cantonese Cuisine, which I did not get a chance to try.

Country Kitchen - Northern Style Chinese Food
Food Quality: 4.5/5
Service: 1/5
Ambiance: 3/5
Review:
The food was good, and the menu featured a lot of comfort food which I liked. However, the service here is NO WHERE near Rosewood standard. The service level is atrocious, from the moment we walked in, the restaurant was fairly empty, yet we were asked by the hostess to wait at the bar for approx. 15min. We were able to visibly spot multiple empty tables, and was confused as to why we had to wait. We were sat at a very small table close to other diners, and the server taking our orders seemed to be quite amateur. After we ordered about 5-6 dishes, it was clear that the table was too small to fit everything, but rather than offering us a bigger table, the server tried to awkwardly fit everything onto the table leaving us with little space to actually eat. We also ordered a Peking duck, but without confirming with us, the server automatically put in an order for 1/2 a duck. It turns out the table beside us also ordered 1/2 a duck….so the chef wheeled the duck out to in front of their table and carved the entire duck. I was quite disappointed/offended that I was unable to witness the carving of my first Peking Duck in Beijing. The couple beside us happens to caucasian while I am of asian decent….I am not sure if that is the reason the chef carved the entire duck in front of them rather than carving a half duck at their table and a half duck at ours.

Bistro B - Breakfast Buffet
Food Quality: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Ambiance: 4/5
Review:
Wow….the selection here is perhaps the second best breakfast buffet I’ve had at a hotel. (The 1st place still goes to the Fairmont Nanjing) There was a vast selection of Chinese and Western hot food options, and all the food was cooked very well. The made to order area featured lots of options, and service was prompt and courteous. The selection of fresh fruits at the Rosewood was also a highlight, all the fruits were super fresh, and at the perfect ripeness. The vast selection of fresh squeezed juices is also worthy of a mention. The service level here is top notch, my water glass never went below half empty, and empty plates were cleared in a prompt but non intrusive manner. The Ambiance is pretty typical of that of a upscale diner, but not quite as extravagant as the Jing restaurant at the Peninsula. Overall the breakfast at the Rosewood is definitely a highlight.


Winner: Both hotels had lots of dining options, however in Beijing there is also a lot of other wonderful dining establishments that does not reside inside luxury hotels. However the one meal that most hotel guest will have in the hotel would be breakfast, and for this reason alone, I pick Rosewood Beijing as the winner here.



Service:

For me, this is the most important part of a luxury hotel stay. Any hotel owner with enough money can renovate a hotel to have an amazing hard product, but it is the service/soft products that truly makes a luxury hotel stand above the rest. The review here is a little skewed as my stay in Peninsula was for 4 nights, while my Rosewood stay was only for 1. Both bookings was made by Renshaw Travel, a Virtuoso travel agency.

When I look at service I look at 2 factors, the ability to anticipate one’s needs as well as the attention to detail in everything. Peninsula nailed it on both fronts. Let’s first talk about the anticipation of needs, during our 1st night, the house keeping staff noticed that I had been drinking a lot of hot tea, and in turn using the Nespresso Machine as a hot water maker, the next day a hot water dispenser was added in our room without anybody requesting for one. A small, but much appreciated gesture. During out first 2 days, the hotel noticed that we were drinking a lot of the complimentary bottled water in our room, as sometimes we would take them out during our excursions. By the 3rd day, we would be getting 10+ bottles of water placed in our rooms every day, including during turndown. The details of the Peninsula staff never cease to amaze me, from wrapping each individual charging cable with Peninsula branded velcro straps, to placing lens cleaners by my night stand for my spectacles. The Peninsula also provides nightly treats as part of its turn down service, many of the pastries given to us each night (which is different every night) is featured on their famous afternoon tea menu. One of the biggest difference makers when it came to service at the Peninsula was a gentleman by the name of Johnny Qin. Johnny is the assistant guest service manager of the hotel, and from the moment I checked in to the hotel, Johnny made himself available to us for all requests. Johnny would greet us by name in the lobby every day, and would check in on our experience whenever he saw us. Johnny took care of our every request, and always did so with a smile on his face. Overall the service level at Peninsula was truly 5 star.

Service at the Rosewood started off a little rocky. We had requested an airport pick up, which includes being greeted right as we get off the plane, usually by an airport VIP greeter who would then escort us past customs and to our hotel car. The VIP greeter assigned to us probably either had a terrible day, or the worst case of RBF. There was not a single smile to be seen during the entire 20min or so that she was with us. It made the experience quite awkward and certainly not enjoyable. Once we actually met up with the driver employed by Rosewood, the experience was fantastic. The driver as friendly, the car was clean and spacious, and was well stocked with chilled Voss water. Upon arrival at the hotel we were greeted by a guest service representative whom escorted us to our rooms and assisted with the Check in process right in the comfort of our own rooms. Joey, the assistant manager of the sales department, also dropped by our room to ensure that we were happy with our room assignment. While I did not use a lot of the hotel’s services, I did book a spa appointment in which I had the change the time 3 times. All of which was handled with grace, and without any sign of annoyance by the hotel staff. I have to point out, every time that I picked up the phone to call anybody at the hotel, I was greeted by my last name, something that I’ve come to expect, but found lacking at the Peninsula Beijing. Overall, my stay at the Rosewood was a little short to truly test the service level when it came to anticipation of needs as well as details, but based on my initial impression, I would say Rosewood would certainly hold their own when it came to the service piece.

Winner: Again slightly biased based on my longer stay at Peninsula, the winner would have to be Peninsula Beijing, for the anticipation of needs, the attention to detail and most importantly because of Johnny’s personalized service.


Conclusion:

In conclusion, both hotels are top notch. When comparing with other properties globally within the same chain, I would say rank the Rosewood Beijing ahead of the Rosewood Vancouver (Hotel Georgia), but I would rank the Peninsula Beijing slightly behind the Peninsula Hong Kong.

Overall, if you are staying in Beijing, you cannot go wrong with either properties. If you are attending meetings in the Central Business District, then the Rosewood might be the better option based on location alone, but if you want to be within walking distance to great food, shopping and major attractions, then I would say Peninsula is the better bet.

Overall for the purpose of my trip, and if I had to choose a winner, then the winner would be………

Peninsula Beijing