Review Sofitel Beijing Central




This hotel is a former W and has rebranded to Sofitel around mid-2019. It is located along the 2nd ring road East of Beijing. You don’t really feel with Accor here. There’s not even a Sofitel big letters sign on the building, just the usual small signs at the entrance door. That’s clearly the type of hotel that can change brand almost overnight. This being said, It’s a nice hotel and I had a good stay despite a few minor problems.

The location is convenient as not so far from the historical heart of Beijing and there is a metro station 5 min walking from the hotel. Of course, and this is a warning for all readers here, China has changed a lot during the last years and with the pandemic : cash has totally disappeared, even for very low amounts. Usual credit cards (Visa, mastercard, Amex) are barely accepted so it is mandatory to use Alipay or WeChat from your phone for every action of the daily life, particularly for payments but also for taking tickets, ride shares, renting a bike, etc. I believe only Alipay is accessible to foreigners and you can link a foreign visa in Alipay very easily. Once you understand how it works, your life gets easy. If you don’t have this or if you loose, break your phone or be out of battery, your life becomes instantly hard. Visa card is accepted at the Sofitel.

Most of the staff were nice, but sometimes a bit robotic and there is always a language barrier. Very few staff members have sufficient English skills to communicate with foreigners. But, translations apps on phones are of great help and allowed to solve my issues easily.



The main lobby is certainly chic but is a bit dark and cold to my taste. At the back of it, there is the bar open until 9 pm (yes, I know…that’s early) where you can redeem the drink voucher given at check-in. The voucher is valid for 2 if double occupancy.






The hotel was full during my stay (4 nights) with a lot of kids everywhere. I have to say that most of them behave well but the number of children who were there just made it a bit hard sometimes, particularly at breakfast. No welcome letter was given.



I had booked a Luxury/king room and was upgraded to a “Magnifique Family room”. It’s a corner room of 60m2 offering great views.








View from room (1/3)

View from room (2/3)

View from room (3/3)

There is an isolated part of the room for suitcases, hanging and store your clothes. The safety box is there too.


Several very comfy armchairs and one table that can be used as a desk. Minibar contains free soft drinks. Plenty of water, replenished daily. There was just a kettle for tea and instant coffee. That type of room should have an espresso machine IMO. There were some worn parts but nothing too bad.



The welcome amenity was placed on the 2nd day and consisted in fruits (no apple ) and some madeleines.


The bed was very comfortable and the mattress could be adjusted (with a remote control) to different positions (flat for sleeping, and various angles for reading or resting). There was no turndown service.

The bathroom is totally part of the room as you can see on pictures, with a round bathtub. You can isolate the bathroom with a big curtain separating the room in 2. There is also a walk-in shower. Products are in bulk (Lanvin). The best bathrobes and slippers were provided in this hotel.



There is an indoor pool on the 3rd floor, which I didn’t try : lack of time but also, I was fearing that it would be crowded with many kids around shouting as always in a pool.



The club Millésime is indicated in the lift to be on the ground floor but it’s on the top floor (25th). This lounge is basically used only for the evening cocktail time (from 6 to 8 pm). You can have tea and soft drinks at the lobby bar during the day. No check-in/out and no breakfast in the lounge, unfortunately. The club is relatively small and has 2 adjacent smaller rooms with few seating. Alcoholic drinks were limited to one white, one red wine, quite decent I should say, and vodka and gin. The canapés selection was not too bad and there were 3 warm options, changing every day (not always to my taste but obviously to the taste of Chinese people).











Dining

There are 2 restaurants in the hotel

• One at level 2. This is the « fancy »restaurant. I wanted to try it the 1st evening, but it was deserted so I abandoned the idea as I truly hate this situation.
• one at level -1 (but which receives daylight) where you have breakfast and where they propose a buffet for dinner during the weekends.

Breakfast was free for me as Diamond member. Breakfast buffet was « acceptable ». I mean, I have seen much better but also much worse. The place was unfortunately like a zoo in the morning, crowded and lot of kids shouting around + a few not well behaved parents (but those were exceptions). I had the dinner buffet once. There were a lot of choice, but unfortunately most of the warm food was in fact cold. Note that guest hotels have a special discount for the dinner buffet and you pay only about 20€. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of this restaurant.

I had room service once, but also it was cold/semi-cold.

I obtained a late checkout at 16:00 (they proposed 14:00 and to 16 and they accepted).

Overall, a rather good Sofitel

PROS

• good hard product with nice and large rooms
• Good status recognition
• Good location (for tourism), easily accessible from PEK airport (PKX is much further away).
• Has a lounge and this lounge is OK.
• Nice staff always trying to help with special mention to housekeeping staff

Points for improvement

• some worn parts & few cleanliness issues in the room
• Cold food at buffet and room service
• Need espresso machines in room.