Stay Report - 10/26 - 10/29
Location: The hotel is well located for touring Beijing. It's on Dong'anmen Street about a mile and a quarter east of the Forbidden City. A block away is Wangfujin Street which is a large pedestrian mall with several indoor malls off it and a famous night market which is a great place for dinner (as long as you like food on a stick). You can walk to numerous good restaurants as well as several hotels with great dining (the Regent, the Peninsula) and it's very close to several Metro stops (the closest is Dengshikou on the 5 line, 400 meters away). The airport is 40 minutes in light traffic and costs about $20 (104 Yuan) for a cab.
Hotel: The hotel itself is a 12 story highrise with gold paneling that makes it distinctive in this city. The vast lobby has a concierge located in a sitting room, bar and two restaurants one of which is a high end French restaurant with 2 Michelin Stars. A lower level has an indoor pool, gym and spa. There is no street parking in this area. Staff to a person are extremely helpful, friendly and all speak impressive English. My lone knock is that the bartender served me an Old Fashioned with a cube of brown sugar in it (?). The hotel staff were also helpful booking a ticket for the Forbidden City for me and arranging cabs when I needed them.
Check In: I arrived at 4 PM and was checked in by a very helpful agent who informed me I'd been upgraded to a King Premier room, I would receive a 250 Yuan welcome drink and 15% off at the restaurants or spas if I so chose.
Room: One of the top five greatest rooms I've ever stayed in. An entry hallway held two closets and a safe and led to a bathroom with two sinks, stand up shower, huge tub that easily accommodated my 6'1 frame, separate toilet area with another sink, massive bedroom with sitting area by the window, large work space and a very comfortable bed and large TV. I had mentioned to the hotel it was my birthday and they decorated my bed with rose petal hearts (a little odd as I was solo but great gesture) and delivered me a cake. There were US style outlets near each bed, a tablet that controlled the curtains, lights and temperature, Nespresso machine and mini bar. I will say the Wifi was pretty spotty and worked badly during the mid-afternoons but that may just be China.
Breakfast: Breakfast was a full western and eastern buffet in the restaurant. All eggs were cooked to order and you could have everything from steak and scrambled eggs as I enjoyed to Eggs Benedict, waffles, pancakes etc. plus an extensive selection of breads, fruits, meats and cheeses, smoked fish and on the eastern side they had noodles, dumplings and lots of other options. It's an incredible breakfast and service was amazing.
My rate was about $300 a day but it was absolutely worth it, especially as the Conrad has a worse location in my opinion. I'd gladly come back.