They give you a good upgrade, probably from "cheapest category" to Club or so.
The newer IC, not yet open, in the north of Beijing is far away from the sights. The Financial Street IC is better, but also quite a bit away on third ring road. There is a subway station next to the hotel that takes you to Qianmen (close to "Forbidden City"). Otherwise taxis cost around 3 Euro and up to 90 minutes in rushhour, 15 minutes during night, to go there. It's not very far away from Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) though.

If you need to be closer to the city center or don't want to take a taxi or subway ride, pick another hotel - the (ex Crowne Plaza) Wangfujing Road, the Regent, the Grand Hyatt, the two Novotels. HI are also not very centrally located, best would probably be the "Temple of Heaven", which is close to the Temple of Heaven but quite a bit to the Forbidden City.
The HI Downtown is next to the IC Financial Street, so be aware.

HI Central Plaza is a 15 min taxi ride from downtown and there is no subway.
HI Chang'an is very far away
CP Chang'an is far away with a subway station about 30 min walk.
HI Lido is far away from city center with no subway, but relatively close to the airport.


Hope that helps, regards