Stayed here for 4 nights and chose this hotel due to the positive reviews. Paid RMB614/night (normal rate is RMB1800/night) and it seemed like a steal for a hotel in this location. However, looks like the only pro is the location and nothing else.
Pro:
Location: Near Wangfujing shopping area with lots of eateries around + close proximity to Forbidden City
Cons:
1. Faulty amenities
a) Room Safe was not functioning (thinking that this was the only faulty amenity, we were soon to be proved wrong)
b) Electricity point in the bathroom – Out of order
I had to squat down next to the TV to blow dry my hair as that was the only other electricity point we had in the room. We complained to the front desk on the 2nd day and they said they would repair both. When we got back at night the electricity point was still not working. Called the front desk and they informed that this was because i tried using my own hairdryer in their bathroom so obviously this wouldn't work. This wasn't true as I tried the hotel hairdryer they provided and it wasn't working in the bathroom. When I tested it at another electricity point, it worked fine. I had to call the front desk again and reluctantly, they sent a staff to check. The staff couldn't handle it so he called the repairman and the repairman confirmed it was the electricity point. However, they said they could only repair it the next morning. This hotel refused to admit their mistakes and everything seemed to be the guest’s fault, not theirs.
c) Room Wifi – Out of order
Wasn’t working on the third day of our stay. We called the front desk to complain. They refused to check and replied on the spot: no other guest complained, so there is no problem. Fine. We thought it was a minor problem so we went out and checked the Wifi again at 5pm+ when we got back in the evening. It wasn’t working still so we went to the front desk personally to complain. They gave us ‘solutions’ such as keying in the password and other ridiculous solutions, as if we did not know how to connect to Wifi. We then told them in a firm way that we couldn’t even connect to the Wifi and it wasn’t our first day using Wifi in the hotel. After the complaint, the hotel said they will look into it and we went out for dinner, expecting it to be working when we got back. Got back and it still wasn’t working. They continued to ignore us when we made a complaint for the third time, until we threaten to give them a bad review on trip advisor. It was rectified the next morning, but we still can’t believe that it takes so much for the hotel staff to own up to the problem.
d) Low water pressure in the shower
Another area which we clearly highlighted to the front desk. There are two options i.e. a rain shower/shower host. The water pressure was so low that rain shower seemed like nothing less than a heavy drizzle. We provided this feedback to them and again nothing was done to address the problem. Refusing to admit any fault on their part, they gave excuses on how the water pressure differs during the day and mentioned that there was no problem.
2. Cleanliness of toilets – Mouldy stains across the shower edges (Picture attached)
The stains in the shower cubicle were disgusting and it puzzles us how a hotel charging this much isn’t able to establish a certain standard of hygiene.
3. Taxi SCAM
On our departure date, we requested the hotel to book a taxi for us to go to the airport. The hotel mentioned that the price was RMB250 and showed us receipts of other bookings from hotel guests. We knew this was a rip-off as the trip from airport was only RMB85 and since we also read earlier reviews about this scam, we refused to book through the hotel. Upon check-out, we requested for the front desk to help us get a taxi and he refused (since we didn't want to pay RMB250). We flagged down a taxi soon after we exited the hotel and it was only RMB80 to the airport.
Conclusion
Horrible stay for us as we received the most appalling service with bad attitude from the staff. We felt totally disgusted with the attitude and service level shown and would be the last hotel in which we would recommend to any friends/visitors planning a trip to Beijing