I booked this hotel on the last minute, so the wife and I could meet up while I was in her neck of the woods for business. I saw what I thought was a great rate and thought to give Renaissance a try - even though we are lifelong Hilton members. I am also a Marriott member but have never stayed in one in China. Needless to say from my title, I should have come here to T.A. first - and I would have avoided the hotel.

It looks nice from the outside and the lobby is attractive (with somewhat of a boutique feel), as are the dated rooms. But what makes this hotel in the bottom tier is the service or lack thereof. Imagine this - I just took a long haul flight from the United States, arrived around midnight. I had confirmed with Marriott International (via email) that if there was a room available - the hotel would allow us early checkin (and not have to pay for what would be a 'half night'). I had mentioned this numerous times to the hotel itself, as they had arranged a hotel transfer car for us and communicated this via email. I mentioned numerous times the time of my arrival and that I had arranged with M.I. to not have an 'extra' day added to my reservation.

Guess what? Renaissance Chaoyang went ahead and added the extra day anyways. I was extremely upset, 1am in the morning - tired, and they had rooms available in my booking class (executive club by the way); that they were NOT going to honour what Marriott International had promised. I even spoke to the duty manager (who I admit, did his best as he was thrown into this by his colleague who is the real instigator). He offered us an early checkin of 6am (5 hours after we had arrived) - which we would wait in the lobby?? until the 5 hours had passed. .....

I ended up negotiating a 'better' room/suite for the extra day charge as well as no charge for internet. In retrospect, I should have also had them throw in a meal for free. The room just so happened to be the same room we would have normally gotten anyways for the rate I had paid. ... (ANGRY!!!!!!!)

The run-around and the lack of competence (bless his heart, he tried his best) of the staff and management and the diception, as well as rather inhospitible service staff - makes me rank this hotel very very low, at the bottom of all hotels I have ever stayed. This is sad, that a Marriott hotel would not follow Marriott policy, and especially to an elite member such as I who just traveled 17 hours international at the dead of the night (but into the next day).

There were highlights that I should mention, however. Our maid was a pleasure and very humble and obviously not from the mainstream of the hotel. I offered her some Lindor Truffles I had brought (a ton) with me to the wife. The maid was thrilled and very appreciative, and it looked like nobody ever did anything nice for her hard work.

The bed, was amazing - and well kept due to the maid. Also the appointments of the junior suite, which itself was rather dated - was nice and we were able to eventually relax and try to enjoy the stay.

There was a refrigerator that came in handy (but no microwave) and the bathroom was typical 5-star'ish with separate tub and shower - but quite small from our experience.

Those are the only positive points I can give the hotel. Negatives abund, from the front desk staff (all incompetent, and took a SIGNIFICANT amount of time to checkout despite my doing an 'express' checkout from my room not to mention the aformentioned checkin snaffu), the executive lounge (which looked nice enough but the staff - again, horrible; the food, even worse), the 'concierge (who at first told my wife they will not assist us in assessing shipping options - then I called and made them do their job. ....), the overall tone of the hotel itself - not very welcoming, not very hospitable, not very accommodating.

Needless to say, i will NEVER stay in a Renaissance Hotel in China again. That may also bode for Marriott too, but my experiences stateside/canada and Japan make me believe this horrible experience/service might be isolated to China (and perhaps Beijing). Hilton for us in China, from now on!