Great Hotel, Beijing

Advantages: Raffles! Friendly staff, immaculate rooms
Disadvantages: Expensive bowling alley

...Wow, what an amazing hotel - and a true bargain at that. It is actually now owned by Raffles with one part of the hotel being Raffles and the other Beijing Hotel. We visited Beijing in January this year staying for six nights in the Raffles section of the hotel. You know that you are arriving somewhere nice when your taxi door is opened as soon as you get there and friendly men smile at you and welcome you to the hotel. They grabbed our cases and brought them inside for us. The reception is clean and warm (a must as it was minus five outside!!!). The staff welcomed us to the hotel and could not have been more friendly and helpful. An added bonus was that we had booked through Expedia (therefore only paying £60 per night) and been told that we were not getting breakfast included. The reception staff said that as it was low... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: very clean & comfortable, useful facilities, resonable price
Disadvantages: doesnt really give you a chinese experience

...by - although i think thats how beijing is, a bit sprawly with no real centre or heart (go to xian instead!). The main block of the hotel has a money exchange (& the good thing about china / communism is you get exactly the same rate where ever you go) & gift shops - there is also at least 1 pharmacy & 1 mini supermarket on site. Breakfast was great - fantastic selection & for those who cant do sweet & sour chicken with noodles at 08.00 then there's stil plentty of other (more european) choices. Would i stay here again - YES, the only thing is I wouldnt bother going to beijing again, notg my sort of china.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Lots to see and do, the great wall, Forbidden City
Disadvantages: Pollution, not the best weather in March, people spitting everywhere

...by the way) was that it was damaged as if someone had taken a crowbar to its side. I went to the luggage centre to report it and was refunded 400 RMB. RMB is the local currency and it is known as Renminbi (people's money) and is often abbreviated as RMB….the unit of Renminbi is a yuan by the way. On the money topic: once again we travelled “without” any money. The only thing we had was our VISA and MasterCard. And as we had read on the net there are ATM’s once you get out of customs. I didn’t really know what to expect from Beijing. Sure, I knew about the great wall and the Forbidden City but what would the city itself be like? And going from the airport to the hotel I got a bit sceptical. It was misty, raining and everything looked greyish and boring (just like it does here in Norway in the winter time). And the taxi was driving really... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful