Doubletree Beijing {CHN}
 

I found an upcoming Beijing Doubletree property that was coming up as a new property. The property info page was showing up with info on the hotel, even though you couldn't book a reservation from it. Now I cannot pull it up on the Hilton website. I need to get an email address off of the hotel's home page. Does anyone know how I can get it to show up?

Doubletree Beijing {CHN}
 

I stayed at the Doubletree Beijing for 2 nights in December 2008 with reward points (stretcher rates). Here is my short impression of the property.

The location is not that good, nothing really in walking distance. Taxis are inexpensive in Beijing so you can get to pretty much anywhere for a couple of dollars. But traffic in the morning or evening can be really bad.

We got an upgrade to a 2 room suite with a small kitchen. The room and bathroom was quite nice and more modern style. Both rooms had larger flat screen TV's.

Breakfast was comped (full buffet) in the restaurant downstairs. Food was good with larger selection of western and asian food with an omelet station.

We ate twice at the Chinese restaurant and the food and service were quite good. Pricing was reasonable, I only remember the Beijing duck for 188 RMB which isn't bad for a hotel.

How far away is this hotel from things? Tianmen Square? Forbidden City etc? I am going to China in a few weeks time. Should I stay at this hotel or choose another hotel more downtown?

Too far away to walk and taxi rides can get really nasty in rush hour. With no traffic 15 minutes in taxi. Forbidden city and Tianmen Square are really the same.
I would stay at the new Hilton if you want to stick with Hilton. From there you can even walk if needed.

Thank you for the fast reply. I have been to China mulitple times so I know about rush hour :) 15 minutes in a taxi sounds ok. Is there a subway station nearby?

I stayed at this property in August for 9 nights while at the Olympics. So nice someone got upgraded, because their rooms are super tiny! I do remember lots of traffic getting to TS and the Forbidden City and every across town ride being at least 30 mins to go a short distance because of traffic, but it being super cheap. I don't remember there being any subway station near by. We always took taxis.

I do remember though that we were totally ripped off getting to the hotel from the airport. We were charged 400RMB - and we didn't know this was so much more than what is the norm from a regular metered taxi so watch out for that.

Also the head concierge at this property will want to arrange transportation for you to go to the Great Wall, and will want to charge something like 800RMB. Don't be fooled.... you can negotiate with a driver for much less. Maybe we are naive and that is the way it works there, but those were the two times we had to be careful with the taxi situation. Enjoy!

I'm staying at the Hilton Wangfujing tomorrow for a while. I'll let you know what it's like and how close to the sites etc when I return.....plus whether any of the 'problems' have been resolved......

I was upgraded to a suite. Really nice room. Small Kitchen. Nice Couches. Great Bed - great view. Lounge is great. Everyone speaks English well. Nothing but good things about the hotel.

The only downside which has nothing to do with the hotel itself is the location. If you're not doing business in financial district ... its not really conveniently located - esp. if you're looking to do night life in the Chaoyang district.

In terms of location, the original Hilton near Dong San Huan is the best.

Hotel says it should be 100RMB or so, does that sound right?

Doing an award ticket "layover" here for one night to see the great wall and such, couldn't pass up on only 10k HH points per room (need two rooms), though it's a bit farther from the airport and stuff.

Depends on traffic, 100 sounds about right, maybe a bit more. Make sure you get into the taxi line and use the metered taxis. Never had a single issue with them (except issues around them not finding our rented apartment).

You could also be adventurous and use the airport express and then the subway but taxis are cheap enough so personally I would not do it.

Also recommend taxis... paid some 110 RMB few months ago from Airport to DoubleTree... no issues finding the hotel... the problem with airport express is taxis are harder to fetch at the final airport express station...

I booked an award stay and there was a "service charge" added. Service Charges:
• There is a 18.66 CNY Service Charge.

I've seen resort fees added but never a service charge to a free stay. Anyone else had any experience?

Stay at this hotel on point last month. There was no service fee, zero balance.

Ditto.

Lounge was pretty good, comfortable enough rooms (though small), decent bed, linens, bath, etc. though it's getting some updating which it could use. As Diamond on a points stay, I only got a higher room and Lounge access, not Executive level and not a bigger room, though I saw they were renovating some of the rooms on the same floor as the executive lounge.

Better selection for the free breakfast in the main dining in the lobby, but it's much busier, especially with groups there like during my visit - the lounge is much quieter and less crowded, also relatively pretty nice.

Tip: at the lounge they can make you eggs and omelets of your choosing, just ask.