Beijing Traditional View Hotel — Hotel in Beijing

I am normally open when reading reviews on Trip Advisor and acknowledge that whilst some people have a particularly bad experience at some hotels, I look at the overall ratings and review status and judge from that.||||With Beijing Traditional, however, I wish I had heeded the negative reviews more closely. The room was very small and the bed rock hard. One pillow was supplied each and we had to ask a few times to receive another as the pillows were thin, worn and hard. The room was prettily decorated and quiet but very basic and uncomfortable. The staff service left a sour taste.||||The service is very poor and staff are aloof, arrogant and barely polite. We did not experience this anywhere else in our three week independent tour of China. We spent one night at the Hotel kapok upon our 3am arrival in Beijing and staff there were very nice and very helpful with tourist info. Beijing Traditional staff reluctantly use a translator but ignore requests anyway. ||||Our train tickets for six train trips around China were delivered by courier to the hotel. Staff said they didn't have them so basically too bad for us. After having both a local tour guide and our wonderful Travel China Guide agent Sunny contact the courier to confirm delivery and speak to the hotel staff at length, they actually looked for our tickets and lo and behold there they were! Thank goodness we had external help as these staff would do nothing to lift a finger to help and our tickets would have been lost - still sitting under the desk. ||||We asked six times for a taxi to be arranged on our last morning - and had a local tour guide also request this. We were ignored. When we did ask again at 6am on the morning of our departure we were charged an exorbitant 200RMB to have a taxi take us to the Beijing West Railway Station - the metre said 38RMB. As was the experience of Reviewer Tin Win Aung from Myanamar in May 2018, the driver asked for the metred fee with no knowledge we had already paid. We suspected the staff member pocketed the money herself. We had also asked that we be escorted out of the Hutong to meet the taxi which we had supposedly paid for. The porter was called and basically waved us down the alley. My husband refused to let him go and we had to drag him with us. Note there are a few different exits to side streets and we had no idea which street, nor which taxi we had supposedly 'paid' for. The street was dark and quite deserted. The porter stopped the first taxi and that was the one we were bundled into. Disgusting dishonest service. ||||Other requests to help me take two large suitcases to our room as I was alone on check in, were met with being taken to the lift 10m from the reception desk and waved off, leaving me alone to lug them into the lift and around the corridors and steep corridor ramp upstairs on my own whilst the receptionist ducked out of sight into a side door so she looked like she was doing her job. These are the laziest staff you could meet.||||The housekeeper came each day and pulled up the bedding to make the bed look vaguely made and changed the towels. Nothing was wiped down or cleaned, tea not replaced. The cleanliness level is poor overall. The carpets old and sticky. ||||Don't bother with breakfast at the hotel - very poor. Wander out to neighbouring streets (Gulu East street?) to buy fresh egg tarts and other treats. Some good restaurants nearby.||||We regret staying here as it was not a budget hotel and not value for money by any means. Okay for the Hutong experience but you will receive no service whatsoever. I wouldn't book any transport or tours with them as the money may be pocketed by reception staff and you could be charged double. ||||There are far far better and more welcoming hotels in Beijing.||||And use the Beijing Metro - it is fabulous! So easy to use, cheap and reliable. Then you can avoid situations with taxis and dishonest staff! We learnt...

The Ancient Rhyme Manxin was everything we hoped it would be and more! We were looking for an experience that had some authenticity for the hutong life and it really delivered. The building is really cool and located in a currently residential hutong (alley), yet it is just one block from a really vibrant area with shops, snacks, restaurants, treats, and sights. It's a short walk to a metro stop and you can access the shared bike system at the end of the block to get anywhere in the city very quickly. Our room was cool, with a carved bedframe and it was clean and comfortable. The hotel manager Grace was beyond helpful and kind and friendly and spoke great English. The breakfast situation was fabulous - a huge, fresh selection of Eastern and Western options in buffet form - everything from fresh eggs to congee to noodles to friend rice to fresh fruit and cakes. This ended up being important because getting breakfast in China is not as easy as other countries - they don't really open up coffee shops and bakeries until later in the morning. Highly recommend setting up Alipay and WeChat before you arrive in China as everything is paid through those apps, getting an international cell phone plan and a couple translation apps. Not many people speak English, but we found it a friendly place with people very patient and willing to try their best to help you get what you need. But having Grace as a homebase touchstone was...

I stayed here for seven days, and was impressed by the entrance hallway - quite cozy! The receptionists I spoke to spoke well enough English, and check-in and check-out was easy.||||During my stay there was a lot of construction work in the adjacent building (right outside my window). They worked seven days a week, from 8 AM till as late as 9 PM on some days. It didn't affect my sleep, however. It was easy to hear people traversing the hallway outside my room though, and vice versa.||||There's free WiFi, and my room had air-conditioning, a safe, a small fridge, and a daily refill of two water bottles. The bed was quite good as well. Do note, however, that the fridge does not work unless you're in the room (i.e. the key card is in the card holder to turn the electricity on).||||It was quite dirty on the floor, behind furniture, and dust had accumulated on top of the hanging bed canopy. I found some long dark hairs on the carpet, too. I can look past and forgive the construction work, but I would expect a cleaner room. The bed itself was clean though, as well as the bathroom.||||The location is in my opinion amazing. A short walk to the metro, bus stops, tons of restaurants, shopping street, a grocery store, and many parks and attractions. If you can look past the unclean room and possibility of loud noises, then it's a good place to stay for...