Capital Hotel, Beijing (Hotels in Beijing)

Member Name: Paris217

Product:	Hotels in Beijing
Date:	02/12/08 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A four star hotel in an excellent location, and plenty of hotel facilities to enjoy

Disadvantages: Some people might not like the hard mattresses

During my trip to Beijing I stayed in the 'Capital Hotel' 3 Qianmen East Street, Beijing.

The cost of the flight and hotel was approximately £535 per person, so I think it was a real bargain! Obviously it's best to shop around and check out if there are any special offers, and different days are cheaper.

On arriving at the airport, we took a taxi to the hotel, this was aprox £5, sorry I can't quite remember the price in RMB. The taxi ride takes around 45 minutes, although the hotel is about 16 miles from the airport, the traffic is quite slow - bear this in mind for returning to the airport.

The hotel itself is 4 star, and I think it fully deserves 4 stars! Although we arrived at 9am, we were able to check into our room straightaway (most hotels do not allow check-in until 2pm), and get some sleep after the long flight.

The hotel itself is in a really good location, which was one of the main reasons we decided to book it. The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square are within easy walking distance. Wangfujing Shopping Street is approx 10 minutes walk, and the Temple of Heaven is approx 20 minutes walk.

The closest metro stops are Qianmen, and Chongwenmen, these are literally 3 minutes walk. The metro is very cheap less than 50p for a single ticket, and the signs are in Chinese and English, so it's very straightforward. It is also very easy to hail a taxi from the road outside the hotel, you shouldn't need to wait more than 5 minutes.

The hotel itself has 2 towers, A, and the newer tower B. I stayed in tower B, and the room was very large, with a huge king-size bed, a large tv, a writing desk, and two arm chairs and a coffee table. There is also the obgligatory mini-bar - I didn't take anything from the mini-bar, so I couldn't say how much drinks cost. There was a kettle and 2 mugs, so we made use of this to make our own hot drinks.

The bathroom was spotless, and very modern with a good shower and big bath. There were free toiletries such as soap, shower caps, razors, moisturiser, shampoo, conditionner and lots more. There was also a hairdryer - I was a bit upset as the hotel hairdryer was alot better than the hairdryer I have at home!!

The room was cleaned daily, and if you want to have your towels changed, you just leave them in the bath. There is also a privacy light, rather than a notice to hang on the door which was quite handy to save walking backwards and forwards!

The hotel also has a gym, swimming pool, and sauna, all of which are free for guests to use. The staff were very helpful and the gym, swimming pool and changing rooms were very clean.

The hotel has an a la carte restaurant and a buffet restaurant, both of which looked very posh! If you are jet-lagged and don't want to go out straightaway, I don't think you could go wrong with either restaurant.

I really enjoyed my stay at the Capital Hotel, I can't really think of any bad points except the bed was a bit hard, but I prefer a hard mattress. The hotel is in a excellent location for sightseeing and all the staff are friendly and helpful.

Summary: Highly recommended, excellent value for money and excellent location