Hotel Recommendations - Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai
 

I'm traveling to Beijing, Xi'an, and Shanghai in November. I'd love to hear some good hotel recommendations.

I'm particularly interested in any "interesting" places v. typical chain hotels that would feel the same as staying in those hotels in a European or US city.

thanks!

Welcome to FT!

When you say interesting, do you mean Chinese hotels?

Welcome to FT!

I've got the same inquiry. ;) I think you're probably referring more to boutique hotels? More traditional Chinese hotels may not be what you're looking for. :eek:

My first Q would be whether you are a member of any hotel frequent stay programs, for obvious reasons.

Shanghai and Beijing are loaded with 5* hotels from international chains that are excellent, but like the OP said, they are probably not too different from 5* international chain hotels in most other places.

One suggestion for Shanghai would be the Ruijin Hotel in the French Concession, which is much more characterful than most of the modern steel and glass towers that abound in Shanghai. All of my experiences in Beijing are the type of 5* hotels you claim to wish to avoid. One thing I will say about Beijing is that traffic is terrible, so location is an issue. Among the deluxe international places in Beijing, I'd say that the Hyatt and the St. Regis have the best locations for proximity to most of the stuff tourists would care about within the city.

In Xi'an, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the Sheraton, and if you have SPG points, it's great value as an SPG cat.2.

D1andonlyDman has some good tips. Hotel location is a big factor.

FWIW, I also stayed at the Sheraton Xian and it was very good. ^

Thanks for the suggestions
 

Thanks for the suggestions ... You're probably right that I don't want a traditional "chinese" hotel. However, I am interested in boutique hotels. I don't need marble bathrooms <g> but I would like to be in interesting neighborhoods.

A good website to "start" your search is: asiatravel.com

Lots of hotels, broken down by area, and discounted price. ;)

Another good website specializing in Asia is www.agoda.com - It's similar to asiatravel.com but I like Agoda's points program for repeat customers better and I think they offer slightly more hotels overall in most cities.

The best thing about Asiatravel.com, IMHO, is that they provide a screen with the hotel's name and address written in the native language, so you can show it to your cab driver. I wish Agoda offered that feature.

I usually stay at the Holiday Inn (Lido), near my office and not nearly as whore-filled as it used to be pre-Olympics, or the new JW Marriott near China Center (very nice, great bar and spa), but both are very Western.

How about the Red Capital Residence? I've been to the Red Capital Club which has pretty good food (very kitschy though!).

Reputedly the residence provides one of Mao's wife's old limos to ride around in.

http://www.redcapitalclub.com.cn/about.html

-C

I was going to suggest that, but then I held back because the thought of staying amongst all that kitsch started to spook me out a bit. Plus, while the food is interesting, it's not exactly the type fair that I'd want to eat multiple times during the course of a day (yeah, I'm a picky eater).

For Shanghai I second the recommendation for the Ruijin Binguan in the French Concession. It's set in gardens, not on one the frantically busy roads so it's a much more relaxed place to stay.

My favorite spot in Shanghai is the boutique hotel 88 Xintiandi. Right in the middle of a great neighborhood with old style charm, but modern restaurants and shopping. Plenty to do within walking distance, but rooms are large and lush, full of vibe.