skywalkerLAX

Alright folks the long awaited day of truth came and the W opened up (at least partially).

I was there this weekend and had a first hand look, want to give you a run down of the property and then we can fill in the details as operation progresses.

The new W Beijing Chang'an is in the Chaoyang District & was set to open OCT 1 but that got pushed back (respectively they offered that people can stay but on soft-soft-soft opening basis and the charges were waived or alternative offered at the St Regis at Special Rate). I decided not to stay but stop by to have a look anyhow as reference.

Access: In Chaoyang not far from the St Regis (about 15 min walk for those familiar with the area). Jiangoumen Subway Station. Spotting the hotel is easy but actually reaching it by car is a different story and depends much on the communication skills between yourself and the driver. Be prepared to call the hotel to have them give the driver some directions.

Lobby: A nice, spacious area with many design elements (I felt it even went beyond the average W level) that are somewhat feng shui influenced. There is a bar adjacent to the lobby as well with plenty of seating available.

Rooms: This is where it gets interesting. I found the rooms to be overall nice, even the Standard room. The bathroom is curtained off from the main room though so if this is not your thing... The Twin Room had a fix glass wall installation though - no curtain. Same with the suites. The Fantastic Suite has a nice layout incl a large table and a relaxation chair but is lacking a couch - that's a bit of a negative if you care for it (I myself love a couch in the room). The Marvelous Suite lives up to it's name, very nice incl a large couch as well. All rooms I saw had circular bathtubs (except the Twin which was regular format). Seems like the construction staff made some blunders as usual in china and they did not leave the protective foil on the items until the end. As a result many items have a lot of scratches and dings already even before the first guest moved in. I heard a lot of these items will be replaced. Unfortunately I also have to tell you that the owner/investor was stingy and only allowed for regular American Standard toilets to be installed, not Toto or Panasonic brand as usual. That looks totally out of place IMHO and nobody at the hotel is really happy with that decision.

F&B: A Scene Bar is opening sometime soon (maybe 2 months from now) on the top level. It's not rooftop as it is indoors - more of a lounge. It will be exciting to see how that turns out. The Kitchen Table in the basement had a breathtaking design and is adjacent to a small courtyard (outdoor).

Facilities: Gym is very large and equipped with Technogym items. The Spa has quiet a high number of treatment rooms.

Staff: From what I experienced the staff is friendly and the management very professional / competent as well as interested in providing guest service. Can't say anything about day to day operations as I said, it's not in swing yet and I didn't stay there longer than the 2 hours site visit.

Rate: About 2200 CNY++ or 6000 SPG + 110$. Steep! I would probably wait until everything runs smoothly before paying such a high rate or I might regret it.

Cheers!

moondog

Location is the only aspect of this property upon which I'm able to opine at this stage, and on that note, I say:

-it might be close to the St. Regis as the crow flies, but being on the wrong side of Chang'an Jie is a significant disadvantage (e.g. not unlike the Marriott City Wall)
-"Chaoyang" isn't an especially helpful location descriptor because of its odd shape and enormous (when compared to Dongcheng, Xicheng, etc) size; most people prefer more specific reference points like neighborhoods, landmarks, and transit hubs
-on a slightly related note, "Chang'an Jie" itself can be a source of confusion because its official name changes every km or so to reflect the specific section's position with respect to gates/bridges (many Beijing streets use this naming convention; Chang'an Jie just happens to be the most famous)

I can't envision the high rates holding unless there is serious upward movement in the market at large.

lcpteck

No Toto automatic toilets? What a drag...

skywalkerLAX

That won't happen, especially with the economical and political developments in China (Anti Graft) and the strong currency disadvantage for overseas visitors.

I see this rate going towards 1600-1700 CNY in the foreseeable future.

skywalkerLAX

The rates for December are now down to 1,288 CNY across the board.

TRAVELSIG

I noticed this rate as well.

Will be interesting to see how this hotel turns out. A lot of competition in BJ at the moment.

lcpteck

Instant Awards added to wiki.

Expensive Wheels, maybe should get an Uber instead?

VCP stands for Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin.

Fly Me To The Moon

Just checked in for a two-night stay. I have mixed feelings about the hotel.

Prior to check in, I already had a "discussion" via email with the hotel about room assignments. They informed me that suites were not available until 01 Jan 2015, so I would not be entitled to an upgrade. I then told them that, per my Platinum benefits, then I would still be entitled upon availability at check-in to a "Cool Corner Room", up from the base Wonderful room. I then noticed on my booking that I had been upgraded to a Spectacular room, and only at check in did I finally get the corner room.

My room rate was CNY 1,288/night x 2 nights, for which the hotel already got my credit card details as guarantee. When checking in, the attendant put another CNY 8,000 on my credit card to guarantee the incidentals. I was appalled by this, not because my card didn't have the credit limit (I hardly use that card anyway), but just because of the high amount. I inquired about this, and the attendant and guest relations manager said that this was hotel policy. She hoped "I could understand". I just told her, "no I do not understand and you must have wild parties at this hotel for guests to rack up so much incidental charges on a two-night stay!!!" I left it at that.

The few people I have interacted with so far seem hesitant and inexperienced. They are trying hard to do their job, but you can tell that they are probably still under training and are not familiar with many things.

The room decor is nice, but the quality of the furnishings are definitely sub-par. Much better at the W properties in Taipei and Hong Kong, for example.

I also have not been able to find any booklet in the room to describe the hotel facilities, etc. All I can find is the standard hotel stationery and a photocopied in-room dining menu. I called Whatever/Whenever to inquire about this, and the nice lady said that the booklet was still under preparation so they do not have any other in-room information for guests at this time.

Will try out the F&B options tonight and also for breakfast tomorrow. So far, Kitchen Table on B1, Yen on 2/F, and W Lounge on the 1/F are open. Will report back here if anything noteworthy.

I must say that I have been underwhelmed by this hotel in the 2 hours that I have been here. I thought W hotels never go through soft openings, but even if they did, this hotel seems ill-prepared to open.

lcpteck

Thanks for the report Fly Me To The Moon.

Do you know if they have a Club Lounge like what W Guangzhou have? Or do they intend to have one?

Fly Me To The Moon

Definitely sure that W Beijing does not have a lounge like W Guangzhou does. Not sure whether they will intend to have one; will inquire tomorrow.

Just got back from dinner at Yen. Got there at 6:30pm, and the entire restaurant was empty. When I left at 8:00pm, saw guests at two other tables. Seemed like a quiet night.

My dinner time was quite annoying. Most of the "small" tables (i.e. those for 1-2 people) are located at an area of the restaurant which has a translucent glass wall which overlooks the W Lounge on the floor below. Actually, the W Lounge's ceiling is quite high, so all of the strobe lights and other lights of changing colors are hung at the same level where the Yen's translucent wall is. If I sat with my back facing this wall, I would constantly be flooded with background light of changing reds, yellows, blues, etc. Then, I went to sit at the other side of the table to face the translucent wall, and that was worse. The occasionally flashing strobe lights and darks and brights were extremely uncomfortable on my eyes.

The restaurant menu is presented on a Samsung tablet (do not know what model this is), but it was VERY SLOW to flip through the pages. It probably took 5-6 swipes of my finger to flip through EACH page, as the tablet was not very responsive. I guess I am used to the speed of my new iPad. The original text size of the menu is too small to read, and pinching to enlarge the text was almost useless because the resolution of the enlarged text was so bad (i.e. try enlarging a low-resolution file) as to make it almost unreadable. Yes, I do need to wear glasses, but that really wasn't the issue....

The restaurant is way overpriced. Although the food was tasty, it was not worth it, in my opinion. I had "drunken chicken" as appetizer; this was CNY 78+15%. It was served in a martini glass (a small one!), and the bottom half of the glass was filled with pickled carrots and radishes. Only had 4-5 small pieces of de-boned chicken on top.

I then ordered a "Lion's Head", and what came was shockingly small. The single meatball (about the size a little larger than a golf ball) sat in a clear soup broth, accompanied by a single piece of baby bok choy. This set me back another CNY 78+15%.

Finally, I finished with a seafood rice in a lobster broth. Two pieces of squid, two small scallops, and two shrimps. All sitting on top of some steamed rice and then crackling rice on the side. The broth was then poured on at my table. So, basically, a seafood congee. Price was CNY 138+15%.

I have had much better meals for CNY 338.- (for one).

Will try out the breakfast buffet tomorrow. Breakfast is not included in my room rate, so will see what the deal is. Will report back here in due course.

Edit: almost forgot the most funny part of dinner. If you will go to the hotel's webpage, the Yen restaurant is described as "...Upon entry, a shimmering oven showcases our signature Imperial Golden Duck dish..." So, I made it a point to look at this oven. Basically, when you exit onto the 2/F from the elevator, one wall is a window overlooking the supposed showcase kitchen. There were two staff there cutting fruit. They did not look like "chefs" you would put in front of a show kitchen, but instead looked like kitchen helpers. And, the oven behind them? I could not tell if it was an oven or a dumbwaiter. It had a stainless steel rim and doors, and from the partially-open doors, I could see a lot of stainless steel pans stored inside. Definitely no Imperial Golden Duck being roasted.

Fly Me To The Moon

Trust me, I am trying my very best to find and say good things about the hotel, but I am struggling to do so.

Evening turndown yesterday was a partial. The basics were done; that is, turning down the bed, replenishing towels, and restocking some amenities. But, that was all. The trash bins were not emptied. Dirty cups and glasses were not cleaned. The drapes were not closed (this is not a big deal, but I notice that most other hotels' turndown service would do this). Went to close the drapes myself. Both sheer and blackout curtains are controlled electronically, but the electronics did not work smoothly. For each drape, had to give it a good tug to get it started before the motors took over. In fact, most of the electronics in the room seem very slow to respond. The "Do Not Disturb" button takes 2 seconds to activate (at first, I thought it was not working so I kept pushing it on and off). There are four light settings for the room, but you have to wait a while before the effects activate. Have to admit, the Bright, Comfort, Relax, and Night settings were all very appropriate and soothing to the eyes.

Breakfast this morning at Kitchen Table was disappointing. Seemed like a dessert buffet to me; very, very heavy on the sweet side (a 1 metre wide round-table freezer for ice cream, cotton candy, pancakes and waffles with three different kinds of icing sugar, a chocolate fountain, tons of desserts and donuts with chocolate and other coatings, gummy bears and other candies, etc., etc.). There were Chinese and Western hot dishes, but they looked average to below-average. A noodle station. An eggs station with bacon (soggy and fatty) with sausages, etc. I ordered eggs benedict, and they were overdone. The hollandaise sauce tasted like pineapple syrup. Each offering had a tag with Chinese and English on them, but some were misplaced...for example, below "Ham" was fried mushroom. At the bottled juice station, I took what the tags said to be grapefruit and orange juices, respectively, but these turned out to be watermelon and hami melon juices. If these menu tags only had English on them, I could find an excuse for the kitchen staff not being able to read, but with English AND Chinese on them, then mixing up these tags is just due to carelessness.

English ability of the restaurant staff was lacking. When I sat down, I asked for an Earl Grey tea, and the waitress said in very broken English, "no green tea". I then repeated my choice again, and she looked at me with a blank face. A colleague servicing the next table told the waitress in Chinese what I wanted, but what returned was an English breakfast tea. I gave up and just ordered a Caffe Latte instead.

In the middle of breakfast, the waitress came with the cheque and asked me to sign first. The cheque was presented in a folder, both sides of which were actually an electronic light tablet of some sort. The cheque was placed on top of the bright white glass, which of course, made the entire cheque unreadable from the backlighting shining through the paper. A lot of "show", but no "substance and common sense" to this. So, had to take out the cheque to find out the price...RMB 238+15% for breakfast. This price is not unusual for five-star hotels, but the quality of the food, once again, made the breakfast not worth the money.

Near the end of breakfast, I saw the hotel management team walk into the restaurant to sit at a corner table to have their morning meeting. I was very tempted to go over and join them and tell them about the shortcomings I have found. But, I know that it would have been extremely rude of me, so I think I will just write a nice and constructive letter to them at the end of my stay.

One more night to go (definitely will not have breakfast at the hotel tomorrow), and then off to the St. Regis Chengdu for the weekend. I am anticipating that to be a much better experience.

lcpteck

Great writeup!

Looking forward to your St. Regis Chengdu writeup as well when it's ready.

clublounger

Thanks for the detailed write up !

Curious - why didn't you have breakfast as the Plat Amenity? Did they not offer the complete breakfast buffet as the amenity?

Fly Me To The Moon

Quite simple, actually...I take the 500 points because I get to keep them. If I have breakfast, I can expense it to the company. Honestly speaking, I am not a breakfast guy (something simple is fine for me). I was just curious what the W Beijing would put up, and I was disappointed.

Let me also make some corrections and clarifications to the above post:

• Breakfast is CNY 228+15%, and not CNY 238+15%
• The curtains in the room are more high-tech than I thought. They are on one of those systems which, upon entering the room, "reverts" back to the condition when you left the room.
• I finally found out what the color flywheel next to the thermostat was for. It is a touch-sensitive screen with a ring of many colors on it. You just touch the color you want, or dial around the ring, to make the LED lights in the room change to that corresponding color. I am in a blue mood tonight...

Went to the fitness centre and pool on 3/F this afternoon; did not try any spa treatments (not my thing). The fitness centre is 24 hours and has a lot of good equipment. Most of the machines are placed by the window, which looks directly onto the Marriott Beijing City Wall. There is also a sauna (quite good), but no steam room. There is a plunge pool. I was thinking that no one has used this plunge pool for the entire day, for the water to be so still. I used my foot to test the temperature, and kept reaching and reaching, until I realised that the pool was empty of water (the lighting was poor as well, so I couldn't tell initially). So, not sure if this will be a hot or cold pool. Finally, went for a short swim. The indoor pool was deserted, so I had it all to myself for a few laps. Nothing special.

Not sure what else there is left to try tonight. Maybe go down to the W Lounge for a drink and snacks. Supposed to be live entertainment there, but I did not notice any last night, and it was just "bar music".

Fly Me To The Moon

I wanted to write this conversation here while it was still fresh in my mind.

I just called to Whatever/Whenever to check on the W Lounge menu before going downstairs later.

Me: "I would like to ask whether the W Lounge menu is drinks only, or has some snacks and other food to order."

W/W: "I do not know. Let me check with the Lounge. Actually, I just transfer you to the Lounge."

Me: "Ok".

[But, I got disconnected. A waiter from the W Lounge called back to my room.]

Waiter: "Ni hao".

Me: [in English, obviously]: "I would like to ask if the W Lounge menu is drinks only, or has some food to order."

Waiter: "Ya ya ya."

Me: "Drinks or both drinks and food?"

Waiter: "Ya ya ya."

Me: "Drinks?"

Waiter: "Ya ya ya."

Me: "No food?"

Waiter: "Ya ya ya."

Me: "Yes food?"

Waiter: "Ya ya ya."

Me: "You have Restaurant Manager?"

Waiter: "Ya ya ya. One moment." [Finally! He can speak other words!]

R/M: "Hello?" [European accent]

Me: "Can you speak English?"

R/M: "Yes, I can take your order."

Me: "No, can you speak English?"

R/M: "Yes."

Me: "I would like to ask if your Lounge menu has both drinks and snacks?"

R/M: "Yes, we have snacks. Let me read from the menu. For example, we have three small micro beef burgers as a snack."

Me: "Ok, I come down later. Thank you."

It got me thinking, though: it should either be a "small burger" or a "micro burger", but to use both "small" and "micro" in the description doesn't sound too promising to me. After the golf-ball lion's head I had yesterday night, I wonder how tiny these small micro burgers can be???

Probably not going to the Lounge tonight.