I have just returned from a one week stay at the XIXI FRIENDSHIP HOTEL BEIJING. It was my first time in China, and I speak no Chinese, My B.A. flight arrived at 5.45 in the morning, and there was nothing open at the airport, and as I had no Chinese money I had to wait until 7.30 for the beaureaux de change to open. The easiest way to get to the hotel from the airport is to go through exit number 11 and there is a lady standing at what looks like a newspaper sellers booth, 'she doesn't speak any English' but just give her 16 Yuan (fixed fare) and she will give you a ticket, get on bus number 2 or 3 which are right in front of you, stay on the bus until everyone else gets off, it's about a 50 minute journey, the bus stops at the bottom end of the road in which the hotel is located, right near the Xidan metro station, walk up the road for about 3 or 4 minutes and the hotel is on the left, it doesn't look anything like a 4 star hotel from the outside, I had to ask a chap standing in the doorway if I was in the right place, but once you are there you will not be dissapointed. As another reviewer has mentioned the beds are very hard, but that would be my only complaint. a truly outstanding hotel, the reception is on the 8th floor (very strange) I was on a bed and breakfast board basis, and the breakfasts were very impressive (but avoid the baked beans as they are as hard as bullets)
The hotel staff were very helpful throughout my stay, and I have no hesitation in reccomending this hotel. One of the best that I have ever stayed in.

Great location where you can literally cross the street and find shopping, cafe shops, restaurants, taxi service, and a short walk (in my opinion) to the subway. The staff was friendly but don't expect too much English being spoken. Very few employees could understand me. Restaurants in hotel were also pretty good with free Western breakfast buffet. Beds are on the hard side (board-like), but very clean and enough room to feel comfortable. Stayed a week.

We stayed at the hotel in mid-November of 2006. The room was quite big but I was disappointed that we were given two twin beds rather than a queen/king bed since I prefer to sleep in the same bed as my husband. The bathroom was really nice but it was disappointing that despite the appearance the shower did not kick out enough pressure to have a good shower. Obviously labor is cheap in China as the one meal we had at the hotel we had 8-9 people serving us which made it somewhat uncomfortable to have so many eyes looking at us while we ate. We did walk around the hotel and the supermarket was close by which was convenient to get drinks and snacks. There wasn't a lot of information provided by the hotel so we weren't sure what services they offered beside the spa that was located in the hotel grounds (room service, business center, etc.) Also, there is a mall nearby but I didn't buy anything there since I thought Hong Kong had better deals. Regardless, the hotel was clean and the staff was friendly (but don't expect someone to speak English) and I would stay there again.

We paid 900 yuan for a huge king bed room and added 2 single beds for our kids and there was still plenty of space to manoevre around . Being on the 10th floor corner room, we had a panaoramic view of Beijing as half of the walls of the room were windows. It was also directly opposite the Xidan shopping center and literally next door to a supermarket so was excellent for location. However, the plumbing system seemed to be a problem as the shower would get flooded after a couple of minutes. But I must say the service was excellent and they did not hesitate to send someone up to fix the problem almost immediately, infact they sent 3 personnel up to get the problem sorted out even though I called them at midnight. Also the shopping in Xidan was very much catered for the local adults and I was looking more for kids clothing and things which they did not have.