SteveF

I have been trying to book a room in the Hilton Wangfujing for April 2011 for the last few days. Rooms are available, but whenever I get to the payment stage I get an error, so today I phoned reservations to make the booking (and check that I don't already have three reservations). I was then informed that there were no non-smoking rooms available (in any room types), which I said that I find hard to believe this far in advance. She then checked another Beijing Hilton with the same result. Has anyone else had this problem in Beijing?

hungarianhc

How much is that in yuan?

stlgriff

It is just under 100 yuan. We stayed here last week and paid about 85-95 yuan each way.

jpm-indy

I have stayed at this hotel two separate occasions over the past 2 weeks. The hotel itself is quite spectacular. It is centrally located in Beijing and the rooms are very modern and spacious. You can easily walk to many of the big attractions in Beijing from here. The staff is very friendly and helpful. I found the Exec Lounge staff to be top notch. The Concierge is helpful but will nearly always steer you towards the highest price item/service in the area.

Beware of the prostitutes in the area. (Prostitution is illegal in China.) The two major streets bordering the hotel (Jinbao and Wangfujing) are teeming with prositutes as it gets closer to nightfall. They do not appear to approach people in groups but if you are a male traveling alone - pay attention. They almost always start out with - "hey mister do you speak english..." or "I know a place close by that has cheap beer....". But then again maybe this is an issue throughout China.

hfly

uhhh yeah, and much worse elsewhere than Beijing, also you are quite generous as the pitch normally starts with massage and goes downwards from there....

hungarianhc

I am currently at the Hilton Beijing Wanfujing, and I LOVE it. For all those interested, I just wrote up a big blog review with lots of pics. I definitely recommend this place!

Jiatong

I just had the same spectacular treatment on a 2 night weekday stay in August.
All the staff were so very helpful, & the exec lounge has great views to the square and the city.
The concierge even found my friend a free parking spot for 1 day nearby the hotel. The service here is one of the best in China.

dcshungu

I stayed at this property last year, shortly after it opened and, everything considered, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had staying any Hilton property worldwide. There was just a little bit of higher touch of class in the way even ordinary things were handled (service) or looked (rooms, EL, restaurants)...I highly recommend it if you are going to be in Beijing for any reason, as its location just within walking distance of many of this ancient city's main attractions (Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square) would guarantee a wonderful experience. If you are into shopping then welcome to Wangfujing, Beijing's Times Square, Fifth Avenue, and Park Avenue in one!

closecover

When we booked our three night award stay reservation at the Wangfujing, Nor1 reared its ugly head. There was no complimentary upgrade option. As a Diamond member, I have chosen a space available upgrade and continental breakfast as our VIP benefit.

Will we get upgraded to an executive room? If not, will we have access to the executive lounge? Can I rely on the executive lounge access policy for Diamonds at this hotel? Should I play chicken with the Hilton/Nor1 folks if we are interested in more than just the standard Hilton room? Or should I avoid the risk of having to beg/cajole the front desk after 15+ hours of non-stop traveling and surrender to Nor1 if we are interested in more than the standard room? The two least expensive options for Nor1 are executive room and a "King lifestyle suite"; each of them cost 299 yuan per night.

I'm sorry to pepper the community with so many questions. We have gotten burned too often at North American Hilton branded properties that do not follow the stated protocol for the treatment of Diamond members.

Thank you.

Jiatong

I am not sure about DM traeatment, But this is a great proprty, & good lounge with really good hospitality staff at the front desk & the lounge. try calling the hotel, ( at your expected BJ arrival time) & ask about DM treatment a couple days prior to arrival.

DWNewman

My wife and I stayed here during it's "soft" opening period - Right after the Olympics, and before the Exec lounge was finished. I must say it was one of the best hotel stays we have ever had!! My wife was there with her bright red mobility scooter, and everyone at the hotel was amazed to see her riding all over Beijing.

And now, my pitch to anyone going there in the near future -
We purchased a cane for my wife while we were there -
Nothing elaborate, but special for us.
It was in one of the little shops along Wangfujing - a really cluttered smallish place. The cane was a wooden one, with a dragon head as the handle. The dragon had a black ball (marble, "pearl") in it;s mouth. It was my first venture into bartering price, and even tho my wife was ooh-ing and ahh-ing over it, I got it for under $10 US.

Problem is she has now lost it, and I would very much like to replace it for her.
If anyone happens to be around, and could send me a PM to work out details, I would appreciate the help. I would LOVE to just fly over and find a new one, but that is a little "over the top"

Thanks for any assistance, haven't been able to find one like it searching the web.

Dennis

omegadeal

YGPM

trueblu

I'll be staying here for a couple of nights next week. I'm flying in on the AA flight, which gets in around midnight, so I guess that I'll be at the hotel around 01:00 at the earliest.

When booking, I was given the option of guaranteeing a room by credit card, if planning on arriving late -- which I did (however, latest option was midnight, which I selected). However, the 'upcoming reservations' info there is nothing about late check-in, in fact, it has the usual check-in info.

Should I contact the hotel manager/ front desk, or will all be well?

thanks,

tb

omegadeal

I don't think you'll have any problems as most flights from the US are getting in during the late evening.

On a side note, I checked in this week after spending some time in Shanghai and won't repeat all of the accurate reviews posted so far. Overall it is a nice place, upscale, and in a good location. The lounge is excellent and I received a nice upgrade to a lifestyle suite (luck of the draw, I guess).

To add to the existing reviews, I don't see any signs of ongoing construction in the hotel, so it appears all of that has been completed. There is some noise from construction to a building across the street, but that subsided around 6PM or so. Internet is 120RMB per day or 720RMB for a week (The plan actually says 3RMB per minute with a max of 120RMB for the full day), and there is a nice Irish pub / restaurant (Molly Malone's) a few blocks away if you've grown tired of traditional Chinese food and need a break.

Overall I really like the place and it is a bargain at a cat5 given it could likely make the W=A portfolio.

trueblu

I just completed two short stays here. Booked cheapest room, was upgraded to king executive room (not suite) both times, with access to the executive lounge (am HH gold). My first stay was upon arrival in BJ – from the AA flight that gets in at midnight. As outlined in an earlier post, I was concerned with regards to securing a room. I had e-mailed the hotel a couple of days before my arrival, and they confirmed that a room (upgraded) would be made available. Check-in was friendly and seamless, and I went up to my room -- noone offered to take my luggage, which was fine by me.

The room is fairly large – the design is v. modern in feel – the bathroom is ‘open plan’, with two small separate cubicles for the toilet and shower, with separate bath in the open area. A small touch, but I particularly liked the silk curtains. There is an extensive minibar which I did not use, an iron/board hidden in a nifty secret cabinet, and plenty of space for luggage and clothes. Both rooms I stayed in had printers – but in the second, there was no usb cable for me to attach it to my computer. It’s possible that there was bluetooth or wireless connectivity, but since all buttons were in Chinese characters, and random pressing of buttons didn’t do anything, I’m not sure. There is wired, but no wireless in the rooms (except in my first room, I was directly beneath the lounge, so could use their wireless signal). This is a major flaw in an otherwise v. well designed room, since one can’t, e.g. use one’s laptop in bed. There is a largeish flatscreen tv (and one for the bath aswell), lots of Chinese and a few English tv channels, and a dvd library one can borrow from at the front desk. On my second stay, the room also had a welcome gift of macaroons, chocolates and a small vase with two lilies – a nice touch. The view from either room was v. nondescript. The shower is amazing – v. powerful double shower head, and the option of ‘rainfall’ from the ceiling – although no way I could figure to have both at the same time. Going from the sublime to the ridiculous, or rather mundane. The toilet paper is awful. I thought it was possibly a China thing -- but a stay at a one star hotel on the same trip had better offerings. It just made the management look cheap in an otherwise upscale hotel.

I checked out the pool area, but didn’t use it. It is on the 6th floor next to the spa – indoors, but with glass walls and roof, and looked v. nice. The lounge is a reasonable size. The complementary breakfast is here. This was fairly substantial, with both western and Chinese offerings, although the food selection did not seem to vary. I don’t drink, so I didn’t check out the booze selection. One evening I managed to check out the ‘cocktail hour’ – which involved various small bites/plates. It was rather cute, if not terribly substantial. The lounge is open 06:00 to 23:00, but e.g. because I was checking out v. early to catch my flight on my last stay, they arranged a ‘breakfast box’ to take with me to eat from in the taxi, which I very much appreciated. The staff are v. friendly – in the lounge and throughout the hotel. However, there is the issue of ‘face’. I asked the concierge on my first morning a rather difficult task – to book a table (for one) at Da Dong for that evening. He informed me that they are difficult to get into, but said that he should be able get a table for 18:30. I went down to the lobby at 17:50 to enquire about directions etc (having been out most of the day) – a different concierge was there. He could find no sign of the reservation or attempt at making one, and the only table available was in 10 minutes (which I took – review in China section). The original concierge showed up, and eventually explained that had not been able to secure a table for the time he had suggested – I didn’t mind that at all. I minded that no message was left for me to that effect. It was as if it was easier to pretend that the original interaction had never happened than to admit failure.

The location is v. convenient – it is slap bang in middle of Dongcheng, but then again, so are many, many other hotels. One can walk easily to the Forbidden city etc., and there are two subway stations each within a 10 minute walk.

Overall, I really enjoyed my stay here. The hotel has a very nice vibe, and the staff were v. friendly. It is not cheap by Beijing standards, but by international standards for world class cities the rates are reasonable.

tb