A. Hotel — Hotel in Beijing

We stayed here for three nights in November. I'll start with the good: location is pretty decent, they give you toiletries, and the lobby is pretty nice. But that's pretty much it.||||Now onto the bad side...the bed is rock hard (maybe a cultural thing), the carpeting and windows are FILTHY...stains everyplace, wifi is very flaky, and the staff are cold and not helpful AT ALL. Sure there's a language barrier, but the poor service they provide goes way beyond that.||||As an example, we prearranged an early morning cab through the front desk for our trip back to the airport. They assured us the price would be 120 yuan, which is about 20 yuan more than the standard fare, but we accepted in order to avoid conflict. When we woke up the final day to leave for the airport, the front desk had no record of the cab order, so we had to request one again. When the cab finally came, a frail bellhop about half my size tried to grab my bag, probably so he could earn a tip. I grabbed the suitcase back and said "no thank you. I can carry it myself." He shouted something to the taxi driver and off we went. About half way through the trip, the driver informed us he would be charging 250 yuan, more than double the price we agreed to. We told him NO, and that we'd agreed to 120 yuan...I couldn't tell if he understood me, and In this case, the language barrier probably helped us defer the argument. We got to the airport, and he took us to the arrivals area instead of departures, I can only guess he did this to avoid traffic. Then he got out of the cab, popped the trunk and then pulled it down again, leaving it slightly ajar, and demanded we pay him 200 yuan. Next. I refused, took out my phone, took a picture of the license plate, shouted "police" and then faked dialing the phone. This struck a chord with him, and he knocked my iphone out of my hands, causing a small crack in the corner of the phone, and then he shouted some obscenities to me as I picked up the phone, and handed him the amount we agreed to, 120 yuan. Then I lifted the trunk and removed our suitcases. I hold the hotel responsible for this episode,since they ordered the "cab", which in reality was probably not an actual cab at all, but instead, it was probably someone's brother....

We stayed here almost 4 years ago and it was a bit of fun - the idea of sleeping in a football stadium. I remember being curious about what happens if there is a game on. Well we found out this time. Security is ramped up and you have to argue your way into the grounds and argue your way back out again. It's like they haven't really thought it through. Everything else shuts on the day of the of game - which is weird - the entire perimeter of the stadium is filled with bars and restaurants, but on game day they're all closed - that includes the bar attached to the hotel.||||It's less of a hotel and more a small reception with two extremely long corridors of rooms. No one is particularly excited that you're here giving them business - oh and no, the rooms don't look out onto the pitch. That would be cool. The rooms are all on one side of the corridor - and where there is a window looking into the stadium, the view is obscured by plastic film.. and curtains.||||The rooms are nice enough, well-appointed and with a good selection of toiletries. Starting to show their age a little, wall paper was coming off in the corner in our room - but overall, nice smart rooms. People smoke everywhere and even our supposed non-smoking room (and you have to ask for one) had a scent of old cigarrete smoke - and the ash tipped out onto the window cill was an indication of how people treat non-smoking rooms here. Excellent free wifi though.||||The toilets in reception were a discrace by the way - dirty, smelly and with broken locks. They should be embarrased.||||Overall this hotel is a little quirky and you might get a kick out of it if you're easy-going, but I would suggest picking a hotel closer to Sanlitun street, which is the highlight of the locality, with the best shops, bars and restaurants. For $100 a night, I expect a full hotel experience, not just a room. There is literally nothing else...

Our party had two rooms, one was a standard room and fairly close to the elevator, the other a deluxe and about an 8 minute walk down a VERY long, dark corridor. ||The rooms were dark and the lighting inadequate. They were generally clean, if a little tired in places, with the exception of the standard room shower enclosure. That was really very unpleasant; nothing that a very thorough deep clean couldn't have improved.|The deluxe room was a brighter and the bathroom very clean, but suffered from nightclub noise from a venue within the stadium. It caused a number of disturbed nights sleep. If booking, it could be worth requesting a room away from this area.||The bedding and towels were always fresh throughout our 10 day stay, and when requested, housekeeping quickly provided non feather pillows. They were like overfilled bean bags, but that is obviously the local alternative and did the job. Toiletries were also regularly replenished, and two bottles of drinking water were provided daily.||The entrance area and Reception is very hard to describe. Not like anywhere i have visited before. It looks tired and dated with a bit of a 60s vibe. The Reception staff were helpful, but on some occasions there was no one available that spoke English and that did prove difficult. Although, we generally got there in the end with the aid of a translation app.||The location of the hotel was ideal for our needs. Very close to everything Sanlitun has to offer and the subway a short walk away.||Would I recommend this hotel? For the location, yes - and it was reasonably priced. That said, there is no excuse for the state of the shower. Before booking again, I would definitely explore other possibilities in...