Good breakfast nice rooms had some issues with checkout and GM

We have just returned from a 17 night stay at the holiday inn central plaza - the hotel was lovely with a very nice room. The breakfast was good each day with a good selection of food - the room was cleaned while we were at breakfast which was nice as we returned to a clean room to get ready for the day ahead. The only tiny thing that annoyed me was a lady in the coffee shop in the lobby told us we had to buy something if we wanted to sit there- given that we were staying over 2 weeks and spent a far bit each day in the coffee area I thought it a bit rude to say we couldn't sit there for 5 minutes while waiting for each other to come down from the room. Maybe some nice chairs in the lobby would be worthwhile? Storm the concierge was fantastic - he helped us arrange our days and was invaluable with his English skills. We would have been lost without him and I hope the hotel realizes what a credit he is to their establishment. Not to mention a very nice person!
Location wise not great as we had to catch a very crowded bus each day to the subway which took up to 40 mins some days and that wasn't in rush hour. Taxis are hard to get but the hotel was very good at getting them for us. Overall a great stay and I would definitely return to this hotel.

Concierge - Mr Storm Li set up a really nice trip for us to the Moshikou section of the Great Wall -- we basically had the whole wall to ourselves!! This I think was the best part of our China experience. The package included a private van with driver, time at the Wall and the waterfall Buddha, a delicious four plate lunch at a local and gracious resident's home, and a traditional massage treatment at another local village for about 800 yuan for 3 people. Storm also put together a sort of custom pkg for us to have a private taxi all day to see just sites we had on our list. If you want to see a lot of sites on a limited time budget, consider this option. Our party of three went shopping at two sites, saw two museums, Beihei Park, Olympic Village, and the Giant Panda in one day AND we liked the driver enough to have him take us to the airport on our last day. Storm does a thorough job setting up these things.

Location - Save your taxi drivers grief by showing them your room key sleeve, which has a phone number and a description of how to find the hotel in Chinese. They don't automatically know how to find this hotel otherwise.

ROOMS
Beds and bedding were very clean and comfortable
Towels were soft and bigger than average
Room keys, of all things, gave us repeated problems. This was VERY annoying and they need to fix it!!
Service was good to very good - The desk staff was polite and helpful. Door man got us a taxi fast. Restaurant staff was friendly and our maids even folded the dirty laundry I threw in the corner. And of course the concierge was very helpful and thorough.

Restaurant
Free breakfast is great. Friendly staff. Variety of western and local fare, athough food in serving trays should be hotter. Not cheap for other meals.

Other facilities
Didn't really use lounge or pool or weight room. Wished there was a hot tub on site after long days of touring. Hotel description says 'Spa'
but they do not mean hot tub.

I stayed twice at this Holiday Inn as part of a tour package. It has one of the best breakfasts I have eaten in a hotel. There is a complete American/European selection and an excellent Chinese selection of food. Food is fresh, tasty and plentiful. You can pretty much skip lunch.

The rooms were large American sized rooms and nicely decorated. Service was very good. They provided good advice on where to eat. When I had a problem with my room lock, they were at my door in minutes to help. The hotel has a Bank money change machine that offers rates that are way better than the Airports which charge large service charges and not so great rates.

The only downside was that the hotel did not seem close to any major tourist sites. There is a nice park, Daguanyuan park that is around 15 minutes walk. Admissions is 40 yuan, I felt it was worth it for its beauty and history. Check it out if you have a couple of hours to spare.

I am strict believer in price performance. I checked the rates for the hotel on the Internet and saw prices in the $80 to low $100 a night for low season. For this kind of money, this hotel is an excellent value.