We stayed in the Jinqiao Hotel Apartments for 4 nights at the beginning of april.
We made our bookings through [--] and found the service to be excellent, not only did they contacted me by phone, all the way from china to confirm my booking and to clarify some of the information I had provided, but they then immediately sent me an email confirmation including a pritnable cupon with instructions in chinese on how to get to the hotel to hand over to the taxi driver upon arrival.
The hotel was very close to the train station, it was only about 5 minutes away by taxi and cost only 10 yuan. Staff at reception spoke very limited english as is the case in most of china, however within a few minutes we were given the keys to our room in the 10th foor. I believe it was room A1010 on the 10th floor.
The room or should I say apartment was a very decently sized flat with an open plan kitchen/ living area and a separate bedroom with two beds. IT was equiped with TV, DVD player, Stereo and with a PC with free internet which we found most useful.
The kitchen had a big fridge freezer which was grate to store beverages and other things we bought from the supermarket and it also had a washing machine that allowed us to wash clothes halfway through our stay. The decor in general was a bit over the top, while the kitchen and kitchen bar area were sleek and modern, the living spaces had a pretty awful wallpaper, but we got used to it after a few hours and focused more on the comforts of having an apartment rather than a hotel room.
The ground floor was equiped with all sorts of businesses, there was a restaurant, a bar, a hair salon, a gift shop, a travel agency and a supermarket. We only used the supermarket which had a good variety of food which we found very reasonably priced. (if you do shop here, try the chocolate covered mochi with coffee centers, I loved them and was having a box a day!)
Our rate included breakfast for which you get cupons for the number of nights you're booked in. I have to say though, that after having breakfast there the first day, I chose to give the following days a miss.
Also worth noting is that the front desk has a currency exchange service and the GBP - Yuan exchange rate, was much better than travelex's one at the time we were there, which was a bit annoying since I had already changed all my pounds into yuans.
Locationwise we found the hotel very conveniently located, only about 10 minute drive to the forbidden city, Tiananmen square and other local attractions. About 50 minutes and 100 yuan to the airport, and about 2 hrs drive to the Great Wall. Taxis usually line up right outside the hotel so hauling one is very easy. On the day we went to the great wall, we just went outside and hired one of the taxi's for the whole day for 650 yuan and the bellboy even helped translate to the taxi driver exactly what we wanted. He then took us all the way to the Wall, then to the Summer palace and then back to the Hotel and we had him from 8.30 am till 7 pm. We thought that to be pretty good value.
Overall the hotel is perhaps slightly nicer than a 3 star hotel (lets say a 3 1/2 star) however all the conveniences both in the apartment and in the hotel complex made it a top pick for us to stay in Beijing.
- Jinqiao International Apartment Beijing
