Holiday Inn Express Shangdi Beijing — Hotel in Beijing

This hotel is near Beijing's university and technology areas, include some very well know companies, so there are a lot of business travelers staying here. I would say this is a top-performing Holiday Inn Express, even better than some Holiday Inn. I would have given it a solid 5 star if not for the breakfast staff.||||Both room and bathroom are clean, and so are the hallways. Welcome fruit plate for elite members are generous and daily housekeeping restock every used item. Front desk staff is generally polite and very efficient. There is a decent gym on the first floor and laundry room with ample things like detergents and softeners but it is a bit expensive to wash/dry here.||||That said, the weakest part of my stay is got to be the breakfast staff. From the attendant to the cook, they all look very angry and irritable to guest requests. Of the week I spent here, the same set of people every morning with the same miserable attitude as if they really hate their jobs and can't be bothered with any simple request like asking for sweetener for the coffee instead of sugar. This is strangely weird because other Holiday Inn Express I've been to all have very nice and attentive breakfast staff. Also, the coffee machine here is abruptly shutoff at 10am, so if you need your caffeine fix or suffering jet lag, you best get to your coffee before they turn the machine off. I requested some ice on a few of the nights because it was very hot out and I wanted to chill my drinks, but the same staff seem very reluctant to help with my request - Sorry I know most Chinese drink hot beverages even in the summer, and while I look Asian, I grew up overseas and we like our drinks chilled especially on hot days. ||||All in all, this is a pretty good hotel and could be better if they fix their breakfast/bar area staff...

I resumed business travel to the area after the pandemic, and enjoyed my stay here. The hotel has gotten a renovation since my previous visits just before the pandemic. The room is ultra modern and has the new blue/orange design theme. Everything is super practical. Plenty of power points everywhere, including both USB-A and USB-C ports that put out high current. The room now include Xiaomi's smart speaker and you can use it to control just about everything in the room. Hard products at the hotel are awesome.||However, much like my previous experiences, the breakfast service is still the weakness. While the food is OK, the staff has serious issues. I went to get some coffee after placing a plate of food on the table, but only to return 30 seconds later with the table cleaned and food thrown out. The issue keeps repeating itself over and over again with staff constantly throwing out uneaten new plate of food or beverages. I am stunned at the amount food waste from these insane amount of premature but mindless table cleaning. So much so, I literally had to tell the staff in Chinese with a stern voice, to not throw out the food I just gotten. The staff is insanely overzealous with the table cleaning, and deserve to be reprimanded for causing...

I resumed business travel to the area after the pandemic, and enjoyed my stay here. The hotel has gotten a renovation since my previous visits just before the pandemic. The room is ultra modern and has the new blue/orange design theme. Everything is super practical. Plenty of power points everywhere, including both USB-A and USB-C ports that put out high current. The room now include Xiaomi's smart speaker and you can use it to control just about everything in the room. Hard products at the hotel are awesome.

However, much like my previous experiences, the breakfast service is still the weakness. While the food is OK, the staff has serious issues. I went to get some coffee after placing a plate of food on the table, but only to return 30 seconds later with the table cleaned and food thrown out. The issue keeps repeating itself over and over again with staff constantly throwing out uneaten new plate of food or beverages. I am stunned at the amount food waste from these insane amount of premature but mindless table cleaning. So much so, I literally had to tell the staff in Chinese with a stern voice, to not throw out the food I just gotten. The staff is insanely overzealous with the table cleaning and deserve to be reprimanded for causing...