The lobby area looks promising, it looks like a luxury hotel. Then, when you go up to your room you realize that it was not as good.
Rooms are not bad however they could use a nice refurbishment, specially the heating system and the carpets.

I had dinner at the hotel (Buffet) and even if it was not bad, it was far from good.

If you are a bit picky then try some western hotel. If you are OK eitherway this hotel is as good as any.

Lets be absolutely clear......this is a local Chinese owned hotel and for many years has catered for higher social Chinese citizens and business traveler as well as the "overnight stay" for airline crews. Therefore, it does not have all the facilities and creature comforts that normally is associated with a Western owned 5* hotel. Therefore, you need to expect the following:- strange room smells, faulty plumbing in the bathroom, Chinese dishes at breakfast buffet, smoking even in the no-smoking areas, noises in adjoing rooms, etc. However, having said all of this, this hotel is trying to reinvent itself into a hotel to cater for the international traveler.....they have recently refurbished most rooms and have upgraded breakfast facilities and extended the buffet choices. So, in summary.........this hotel is good value for money for the facilities provided however, its not ideally located (West Beijing) for the tourist traveler.

I have stayed at the Presidential before and I was not impressed with the rooms as they were quite tired but I stayed here for business last week and all the rooms have been re-designed with all new décor.

I especially liked the large plasma TV’s and the couch which was very comfy. I had a suite room and they were especially large (well, large for me anyway)

Check in was easy and the staff were quite polite. I think the lobby has been re-done as well.
Breakfast was included but there could have been more variety for the western dishes

Overall I was very impressed with the stay and I would recommnd this hotel.

We stayed at the Presidential Beijing for a week over New Year 2011/2012 and thoroughly enjoyed our stay. We stayed in one of the newly refurbished suites which was extremely comfortable- plenty of room, nice interior, everything one would expect from a 5 star hotel. The lobby of the Presidential is very impressive, very high almost cathedral like ceilings, big staircase and a great area for a quiet drink after a long day of siteseeing. The buffet breakfast, which was included with our room, was offered in the cafe on the ground floor- a diverse mix of Asian and Western foods and a great way to start a day! Probably the best aspect of our stay, however, was the quality of service we received from the hotel staff. From the front desk, to concierge desk, doormen and restaurant staff (try the hot pot at the Chinese restaurant!) everyone was very helpful and willing to go out of their way to help. Of particular note was one of the senior foreign managers working at the Presidential, from Australia I think going by the accent. On arrival, we were obviously very tired from our long flights and seeing this he went of his way to streamline our check in...the quickest and most pain free check ins I've ever experienced! During our 1 week stay he would continually check on how things were going, even personally helping us organise a car to take us to the Great Wall, 10/10 for service! Would we return? Definately!