Originally Posted by
moondog
Peninsula started managing the Palace Hotel in Beijing ~10 years ago. While they improved it on the service front, the hard product hasn't changed a great deal.
The Pen SH is a different beast because it was basically built from scratch, but the Bund honestly isn't especially cool.
As for Hangzhou, I always stay on the lake, especially during the peak season.
Interesting.. The Pen Beijing, as far as I know, did a massive renovation just a few years back (2 or 3?) and I thought the hard product was absolutely stunning and felt nearly brand new everywhere (especially the room which was near immaculate, especially compared to the Pen Shanghai which is showing a little age around the edges).I believe it has changed a lot because they halved the number of rooms from the old hotel, no?
I found the Bund architecturally very interesting. I don't think it was peak season yet when I was just in Hangzhou 3 weeks ago because the lake wasn't overly crowded, but I enjoyed staying away from it at Amanfayun. Virtually no traffic to get back and forth and it was nice to get out of the crowds that were there. We ate at the Four Seasons and were happy with our decision not to stay there based on the vibe alone. To each their own I guess! I'll leave more detailed comments on these hotels in the reviews once I get a chance to write them (I just got back home a few hours ago).