Personally, I find the Statesman Suite to be underwhelming: small, boring furnishings, but I like the hotel, staff, breakfasts, location is OK.

I believe this is the textbook DEFINITION of:
To each, their "own". ;) :D

Dave

SPG Gold upgrade?
 

I'm visiting the SR next month and am envious of all you Platinum members. What are the chances for a lowly Gold to be upgraded? I'm staying on points and obviously wasn't upgraded on booking. Is there a strategy? Should I email in advance of arrival to request an UG? or just take my chances upon check in? Thanks for any advice. Looking forward to staying at the SR in any event, having read all the posts.

I'm not a fan of the e-mail the hotel prior to arrival to plead for an upgrade tactic. If a higher category room is really important, I would book it to be sure you get it. Otherwise, I'm partial to casually asking, "Do you happen to have any upgrades available?" at check-in. My first stay at this property isn't until December so I can't comment on it specifically, but maybe there are some Golds who have stayed there that can share their experiences with you.

And welcome to FT. Let us know how your stay goes when you get back.

Location is good if you want to visit places on the No. 1 subway line (like the Forbidden City or the Silk Market).

I thought the Statesman Suite was fine. Furnishings are definitely not that exciting, but the room itself was still fairly impressive IMO, especially the foyer and bathroom.

As for the hotel generally, the breakfast buffet was easily the best one I've had in Asia (though it's likely there are better elsewhere). Diverse offerings, lots of fresh juices, and the pastries appeared to be freshly baked instead of delivered from elsewhere.

The bowling alley is pretty fun too...my suspicion is that it's rarely used by guests. We wanted to play at 8:30 pm and the lanes were "closed" but opened per our request. Great to have the alley all to ourselves, and the price (while potentially expensive for China) is about equivalent to what you'd pay per game in the U.S. for bowling, except that the shoe rental is included!

Overall, nothing about the stay blew me away, but I'd recommend the hotel highly.

Does anyone know if the breakfast buffet is complimentary for Golds?

Also are these restaurants close to the hotel?
Da Dong
Xiheyaju
Huangcheng Lao Ma
Can you walk to any of them?

I am staying 3 nights in October, looking forward to it.

I was at the St Regis Beijing last year while I was still Gold and was upgraded (don't recall to what room type); I was very pleased with the room and service.

To the poster that asked about breakfast - when I stayed as Gold I do not believe that breakfast was included.

Enjoy the stay (I'll actually be back there at the end of October myself.)

Da Dong has 3 locations, the closest one to the hotel is on Jin Bao Street, which is probably a 20-30min walk

My wife and I just returned from a 3-night stay at the St. Regis Beijing. I used my 25% redemption discount so it was only 9,000 points per night. The property exudes luxury everywhere you look, yet somehow feels comfortable at the same time. We were upgraded to a Statesman suite, which is not excessively large, but very comfortable with separate living room and bedroom as well as a large foyer with additional closet space. The bathroom had separate bath and shower and the aforementioned Toto Washlet. The shower pressure is unprecedented, though the drain struggled to keep up and we had to call to have engineering work on it.

Breakfast is complimentary for Plats and absolutely amazing. Six juices, smoked fish and meats, eggs cooked to order, a large fruit spread, dim sum, a huge spread of fresh baked breads and pastries...etc. I can't say enough about the breakfast. I even had a lambchop grilled to order.

We had dinner in the Chinese restaurant one night and it was excellent. We had three dishes and a couple of bottles of water and it came to about $60 USD including service, though the water was painfully overpriced and constituted about $20. Service was exceptional.

Room service is reasonable as they charge the same prices and service fees as the restaurants. We had another meal from the Chinese restaurant in our room and drank the complimentary in-room bottled water.

We looked for the lounge that was mentioned upthread, but only found the business center on the 18th floor. I'm not sure if it was previously the lounge or we were just looking in the wrong place.

I would definitely return.

Stayed at the SR Beijing in July 2010. Got a huge suite upgrade, and my friends traveling with me got upgraded to a diplomat suite as well. The staff was extremely accommodating and professional and I would stay here again in a heartbeat. They go above and beyond for platinums...and their guests.

Yes, there is a lounge combined with the business centre at the top floor. The attendants will happily service you complimentary snacks and coffee/tea/soft drinks upon request. I found this to be very convenient.

The butler will happily serve you complimentary coffee and water in your room. I found this to be very convenient too.

The main bar on the ground floor (I do not remember it's name) is closed off for two hours around 6PM to serve it's platinum guests. Here you can order anything off the bar for free: beer, wine, drinks, etc... They also serve canapes and finger food during these hours. You can also pay a fee (I think it was around 150 yuan per person) to attend this even if you do not have platinum status. I found this to be very nice and convenient. It was a more pleasant feeling to sit in a real bar than in a boring lounge.

I did like the Statesman suite, and it's colour scheme.

The location is good as well, it's not that far from the metro station, but I found it more convenient to use cabs, as they were plentiful and very cheap. I found the drivers to be honest as well. One amusing detail - your driver will probably open his window like every 10th metre to spit, hehe. I took a cab to the Beijing North Station (to get to the Great Wall by train - recommended!!!) on the other side of the city, and this trip cost me no more than 25 yuan. That's about 4 USD :)

A very nice hotel. Will definately stay here again next time I am going to Beijing.

Not my experience at all. In fact, I think the average wait for a taxi during my stay was something like an hour during dinner time.

Overall I really did not like this property. The whole time I was there I was wishing I was at one of the Hyatts.

We agree to disagree then :p

I did not experience any such problems. But I don't speak for everyone, just myself and my own experiences.

Since my office is across the street from the St. Regis, I am qualified to weigh in on the cab issue. Although I've never waited an hour, getting taxis around dinner time can be quite a challenge, especially if it is cold and/or raining.

The same thing has happened to me. Did you get a non-smoking room in the end?

I contacted the hotel directly and they changed the booking to show non-smoking on the booking but when I click through to the rate details page it still shows smoking statesman suite. :confused: