High end luxury hotel, clean and comfortable with a superb (but very expensive) steak restaurant. However, the hotel is just lacking something in terms of character and ambience for couples on holiday and the location is not great in terms of walking to restaurants etc, but then again Beijing is not really suited to that anyway. Perhaps better for business travelers.

I spent 6 months in Beijing for business and stayed at the Fairmont for the entire time. It's been a great experience and staff are trying very hard to make everyone feel at home. It's no wonder the hotel was voted best in China - food is excellent (though pricy) at breakfast, the steak restaurant and also the lunar 8 in the basement.

In summary: If you have the choice stay here. You won't regret it.

Oh: and someone complained that coffee isn't "served" at breakfast but that guests have to get coffee / tea for themselves. Well, I guess that's not too untypical when you have a superb buffet breakfast. Having been there for so long I can only laugh that someone could judge the entire, marvellous hotel, based on how they get served coffee!

I am a platinum member of Fairmont and been at many Fairmont hotels across the world so I do know how to compare and review Fairmont hotels.

Arriving at the Fairmont by car we had a very poor welcome service level "A BIG Zero", 4 Fairmont guys outside talking and ignoring guests which we had to take our own bags inside while they chat it away. Even during the 4 days we were there they ignore and don't even know the platinum members or anyone but I did notice that they give more attention to Chinese guests.
At one point I was loss and talked to one of them and he just looked away and went and service a Chinese guest first. I would fire every single one of you if they would work for me.

We checked in 2 rooms and since I am the one who reserved and paid for both rooms I do expect billing in my name and not my guest. This took over 20mins at checkout to fix. A waste of time especially when I explain at start at check in.

Room was great and had a suite 1519 which was beautiful view with open blinds " wow type of view"

Maid service was great:

Room service was fast and great.

But what made this stay very pleasant and welcoming was a person named "Apple Fu" at the Lobby area which give close attention and always ready to guide us and make recommendations. If I can score a perfect 10 I would just because of Apple making it very special from start to end and even being there at checkout to assure the service at check out was done well and also our bags taking care of.

I wish and recommend that the Fairmont Beijing would use Apple a true example to the rest of the staff because her smile will make you day special. If it was not her I would rate a 1 or 2 star overall.

I loved the Room service staff and food was great and fast,

The maid service was quick, nice and always happy!

The reason I removed a star was because the lack of service from staff who does not know who you are or don't give a damn like the check in outside people.

Not happy with the "The Cut Restaurant which in my book is overprices and subpar" but was happy with Lunar 8. Was so-so with the Willow Spa but remember they are 5 times the price compare to other massage places in China and you paying North American Prices here.

Not far away from The silk market which you can shop until you do and bargain them down to 1/10th of their asking price.

Overall a Beautiful hotel, beautiful rooms, perfect location and a great staff member Named "Apple"

Stayed for 2 nights and the hotel was very classy. The rooms are spacious and the bathrooms especially are also impressive. Breakfast needs more improvement the spread is weak. I was very impressed while checking out the staff dealing was something I had never seen in hotels.