Just a short walk from Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. Excellent location walking distance from both hutongs and major shopping streets. Umbrellas provided in room if weather is bad. Well appointed rooms - stayed in two different rooms on 17th and 14th floor. The first was a bit dated and both had very firm but okay beds. Two small bottles of complimentary mineral water provided in room every day. Razor, tooth brush, tooth paste, soap and shampoo refilled every day. Nice staff. Nice views from the upper floors. Some rooms renovated, some could use an update. Expensive bar. Good breakfast. Indoor pool seemed nice. Didn't pay myself so can't judge on the price.

Definitely a five star (Chinese) hotel, a long walk or short cab ride from from Tiananmen, the Temple of Heavenly Peace, and Wangfujing.

Beds are on the firm side but not quite uncomfortable. Our room was well furnished, though not the most modern - cube TV, standard shower, tea maker.

Our travel agency got us an upgrade to a club class room. This is pretty worthwhile if you can get it. Benefits include a laundry discount and one free shirt per day, two minibar sodas per day (but only certain flavors), free local calls, etc. There is free internet in the room (a greedy 100 RMB otherwise) and in the club lounge, where attentive staff will bring you coffee or tea while you check your email. Breakfast in the club lounge is more private with friendly personal service, although subject to annoyances like active kids or smoking businessmen. The buffet downstairs has three times as many choices; it's pretty good though not memorable. We came to prefer the club lounge.

The staff is generally helpful but once beyond the front desk has limited English, particularly in the hotel's several superb restaurants, which include a Sichuan and a northern Chinese.

This certainly does feel like a five star hotel. Others have mentioned that the beds are hard--well, they are--sort of like a padded floor. I slept well, however. As is the case in any Chinese hotel, be very careful what you use. I had a wonderful fruit basket waiting for me. Also, next to the fruit basket were two tins of tea. If you take one of the tins as a keepsake, you will be charged for it. Other amenities such as bottled water, razors, toothbrush, etc. are free.

A big word of warning. The electrical outlets use the British three pronged plug, not the typical two pronged 220 European plug. I had an adapter with me, but I imagine they have adapters at the desk.

The staff was very accomodating. The shops in the store are excellent, with a very complete and reasonably priced selection of pearls and jade. I only had breakfast there, but the food selection was very good. Of course, I will like any restaurant that offers litchee and hawthorn fruit for breakfast.

I'm going for an overall rating of excellent because I genuinely belive they deserve it. The locations is about as good as it could be in Beijing since Tianamen Sq, Wangfujing St and the subway are all only a short walk away. The hotel is clean and well appointed, spacious and remarkably good value for it's star rating. Meals and drinks are expensive compared to the local average but the mark up is no worse than you'd expect and is intended to capitalise on the standard business traveller, not the tourist. English is not widely spoken in China but the staff are always happy to help by writing wherever you want to go in Chinese characters making it simple to get taxis. There is also a regular excursion to the Great Wall organised by the hotel which only costs 350 Yuan with an English speaking guide and stops at a Jade factory, a tea house and the Ming Tombs - excellent value.
In short I recognise everything good that other reviews have mentioned and didn't experience or witness any of the things mentioned in the negative reviews. I agree with everyone who said the beds are hard but personally it did me a world of good especially after all the walking I did explorig the city and the wall.