Ascott Raffles City Beijing — Hotel in Beijing

Google calls this a five star hotel, but of course it is not a hotel. It's a serviced apartment complex. If you take the premium apartments, you spend about as much as you would spend on a five star hotel elsewhere in Beijing, but you get a fully equipped one-bedroom suite, including an almost fully equipped kitchen and (kind of) a walk-in closet. The rooms are neither small nor big, and have friendly, cozy colors. Bathrooms are top class standard, with separate showers and bathtubs, all in (fake...? :-) ) marble, and somewhat weak water pressure at least in the upper floors where we stayed. Staff are friendly, helpful and competent, although their command of English is limited. The breakfast buffet is slightly less sumptuous and luxurious than in real five star hotels, but still more than impressive enough. Salad and fruit bars provide a wide array of absolutely fresh produce, and the egg and noodle station will cook for you pretty much everything you can imagine. The Chinese dish section deserves special praise, whereas the bread section, it must be said, is simply a disaster. It's the kind of bread you would have expected in a "Western" hotel in Beijing in the 70's. Bland, soft, fluffy, without taste and texture - simply repulsive, and embarrassing in a town where you have the finest European bakeries at every second corner. Apart from the breakfast hall, there is no restaurant in the facility - but you don't need one; see below. The most outstanding feature is the location. The ARCB does not only sit right in top of the stations of the subway line 2 and the airport line, it also has a big shopping mall right in the building. The shop selection is heavily skewed to the fashion side, so maybe not of the highest interest to the foreign visitor but much more so for the many smart and moneyed Chinese yuppies that crowd the place. However, there is a food-court type basement floor including a high class supermarket, and a "real restaurant" floor on the 5th floor to balance the picture. So all in all, not exactly a low-cost accommodation, but you certainly get a lot of bang...

Great location with easy access to the airport and subway. Excellent Wi-Fi connection and strong water pressure. The staff is professional and accommodating. The security is excellent. Breakfast is very good with variety of choices to choose from. However, the place or location feel really dead. It feels like an abandoned town. The design of the hotel is so inconvenient. To exit, you must take two separate elevators. The room is okay. I got a deluxe 1 bedroom. Its fully equipped. The downside is: the room is being ignored of services maintenance. There are scratches on the floor and sliding door knob damage but not repaired. Shower area have some mildew build up . Sink have slow drainage. Hairdryer cannot be use in...

As a family of four with two toddlers we enjoyed our stay and our needs were met and satisfied. The staff is enthusiastic and communicated well. The swimming pool (with the shallow end for kids) and gym have all you need though both may get crowed at time. The breakfast had both Chinese and Western choices. The location is great: proximity to the city center, subway station line 2, two malls with cafes, restaurants, coffee shops, and a supermarket - everything you need. We enjoyed every bit of our stay and would definitely come back to this hotel, shall we get...