Selected Crown Plaze on the basis of TripAvisor.com reviews and found the hotel first class. Very clean and ALL staff spoke English including concierge and room attendants. Well located just one block away from the centre of the shopping district. Become a Priority Club member (free) and stay on the 'Club' floor and get free internet and light dinners. Has a great swimming pool and spa for the kids. Massage provided as well.

Surprisingly the centre of Beijing is close to all the tourist venues. In particular the Crown Plaza was very close (20 minutes by car) to Forbidden City,Tiananmen Square, Lama Temple. Also near local Hutongs - local housing, local restaurants (meals for $2 per person), local shopping strip. Right next to China Merchant Bank where we could change money and had about 8 cash machines which took VISA Card. Note most places take cash only - so being near a bank was very important.

We ate at local restaurants, but not open markets as advised by our local Beijing guide Qing (pronounced Ching) who guided us for 8 days. We found Qing on TripAdvisor and she was amazing. We have three children and Qing and her driver made the trip a lifetime highlight. Contact Qing on [--].

Qing also took us skiing, which was very cheap and of course the Great Wall, Acrobatic and Kung-Fu shows, Antique market, Vegetarian restaurant. Having a local Beijing Chinese guide is the way to go - you save the daily fee many times over by not getting lost and also buying local goods at local prices - Qing made bargaining a lot more equal. Importantly Qing did not send us to shops like other guides. She refused tips or commissions - refer to other TripAdvisor feedback for confirmation. Beijing far exceeded our expectations. PS. Shanghai was a disappointment by comparison.

stayed here 4th Jan for 4 nights, check in process quite swift, however, even though a Priority club Gold member received no perks or even free newspaper... :-(

The hotel and rooms were modern, clean, nicely furnished with comfy beds, nice bathroom amenities and good lcd tv. The location was also very good for shopping as the main street was just 5mins away. Taxis were easy to get from the hotel entrance and there were a few local cafes / eatery's for breakfast and late night chilling

As on a room-only basis, didn't get chance to try the breakfast in the lobby restaurant, however, had tea and cake there one evening which was very tasty. I would like to point out, the service was very slow here even though there were only 3groups of people in the lounge area.

Tried the gym which was ok, nice modern machines, i recall 2bikes, 2 treadmills, some free weights and a few other machines which was more than sufficient as it was totally empty. Pool was empty and ok, maybe a little cold for my liking.

Concierge staff very help on most occasions, making restaurant reservations and advising us on the different aspects of the Great Wall excursion.

ok, to the downsides,

1. front desk could not deal with complaints, our toilet was not functioning and 3 times we spoke with them to get it sorted, yet it was not after 3 'apparent' visits from maintanance, finally we demanded they moved us, but the next room the safe didn't work. I was so angry we didn't unpack our bags, we just walked off telling the to move us to a better room or we were off to another hotel. On return, safe fixed, no apology...

2. We consistently received electric shocks from everything we touched once inside the hotel, after chatting with other guests, i know we were not alone. After 2-3days of getting little shocks, this was a real nuisance. I guess this must be down to shoddy wiring

3. The electronic room card kept stop working, as regularly had loads of shopping, we had to keep going back downstairs with all our gear to get another room card. It must of gone 10 times over the 4day period.


In summary, this hotel overall was good value at $90 but i cannot rate it above average due to it's failings, if it sorted these out, i would most definitely say it was well above average - excellent

I stayed here with my two teenage sons December 21 - 25, 2007. The hotel was okay, but certain aspects of it were infuriating. Our room was on the second floor, directly above the main, Chinese, restaurant. The worst problem with the room was that it was always HOT. We could not get it cool and management was not helpful in this regard. In retrospect, we probably should have insisted that they move us to another room, as they did not appear to be full. Outside the temperature ranged from around 25 - 41 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm not sure what the temperature was in our room, but both my sons and I were uncomfortable all the time---we slept with as few clothes on as we decently could and we resorted to turning on very, very few of the lights, which were mostly either halogen or incandescent. The second worst problem was that the dresser drawers were very poorly built---they were shallow and they scraped and dropped wood shavings all over the clothes. In addition, the carpet in our room was old, very worn, and permanently dirty and the cleaning staff replenished the 3 small bottles of hotel-branded water only twice during our stay. Finally, apparently because of its location right above the restaurant, the hallway smelled of kitchen exhaust, which was just really unpleasant. On the plus side, the beds and pillows were comfortable and the bathroom was nice. The staff was generally very nice; however, they did not appear to know that the fifth line subway was open (or how to get to it, even though it is very nearby) and it was not shown on the hotel's subway maps. Their English language skills were adequate. The breakfast buffet, which was included in the room was pretty good---there were lots of choices and I would think anyone could find something to eat that they like. The hotel is conveniently located for shopping and to major tourist attractions. I would be very hesitant to stay at this hotel again. I certainly would not stay on the 2nd floor and I would ask specifically if the air conditioning in the room had been recently replaced.

We stayed 2 nights here at the end of our holiday in China. Our internet booking had not been received by the hotel and they were not helpful in sorting this out. It was seen as our problem not theirs. We were staying in the King club level and would have expected more VIP service. When we were finally able to contact Wotif.com they were extremely helpful and sorted out our problem straight away. The room was a bit dated, but reasonably opulent. The bathroom was huge and luxurious. I am not sure I like the inward looking hotel rooms, where the windows overlook the central atrium and all can see me if I dont keep the windows shut. Breakfast was ordinary. The hotel is located in Wangfujing street but it is a good walk to the main restaurant and shopping areas, so not quite as well located as the address made it sound.