I traveled to Beijing in June 2006 with 6 friends and we needed an inexpensive hotel that would hold our large group. The Century Towers Beijing hotel was PERFECT. We made a reservation through www.sinohotel.com, which I was nervous about at first, not being familiar with them. The customer service reps were fantastic, responding to all my spastic e-mails quickly and with great care.
When we arrived at the Hotel, we breezed through check-in and were given the same price quoted on SinoHotel.com so there were no $$ issues. We stayed in a 3-bedroom apartment-style space (the "large" version offered on the website), with 2 full bathrooms (American Standard fixtures) a full kitchen, and a dining room. It even included a washer/dryer in the unit, though we didn't have any need to use it.
The apartment was very clean, air-conditioned, and spacious, even with the 7 of us, we had plenty of room to relax! The hotel is across the street from a HUGE supermarket, so we ended up cooking most breakfasts in the room, saving even more money! We kept lots of cold bottled water in the fridge to take with us on our adventures in the hot, dry summer weather of Beijing. The room included a large flat-screen TV in the living room with cable, and a few English-language channels like the BBC (and the Simpsons!)
Other really nice aspects of the hotel include a work-out room in the basement with treadmills, stationary bikes, a rowing machine, ballet bar, free weights, and weight machines. The hotel restaurant is very small but serves good food. The wait staff (and most of China) speak very little English, so learn basic Chinese phrases and expec to smile and point a lot :)
We are traveling to Shanghai in the Summer of 2007 and if Century Towers has a location there, we would absolutely stay again! I think the price is much cheaper at this hotel because it's a Chinese hotel, not a foreign chain. We paid about $85 USD/night for this large 3 bedroom apartment-style room. Between the 7 of us, the price was certainly right!
- Beijing Century Hotel
