It's hard to resist the name Raffles! As part of a Virtuoso Tour of Tibet my last destination was Beijing and the wonderful Raffles Hotel. Every part of the hotel lived up to it's legendary name, the rooms, food and service were all excellent and set in immaculate surrounds.
The Beijing Raffles is situated within walking distance of the Forbidden Palace and Tian'anmen Square and when you need a break from all the amazing history and culture the shopping is only a street away. I can't wait to go back 3 days is not enough for this amazing city.

We stayed at Raffles Hotel for about 4 days in Beijing in June 2011. Bella Bai, the concierge was wonderful. All the hotel employees were so nice and kind to my family of 3 children, a grandfather and us. When my sister had a late check-in (10pm) they were extremely helpful. The breakfast buffets were wonderful. The bowling alley was fun. The ambiance was wonderful. Most of all, the service was impeccable at every level.

A group of us visited the city of Beijing to celebrate Christmas last December. Two of us have never been to China and were very skeptical about what to expect in terms of culture and accomodation. We decided to be safe and book Raffles Beijing because we were proud of the Raffles brand name as Singaporeans. It was indeed a wise choice! From the check in all the way to check out , we were treated like royalties. I guess this hotel is used to catering to VIPs and celebrities. Pity we didn't meet any while we were here though! Surprisingly , most of the staff have no problem understanding "Singaporean" chinese even though they converse in the thick beijing accent. In fact, alot of them speak english very well, which is a plus for us..usually when we visit a country we will just dump our luggages in the room and dash to the nearest shopping mall. This time though, the interior of the hotel and the rooms were so delicate that we took pictures from the lobby all the way up to our rooms. Our well warmed room made it cozy as compared to the freezing cold outside. Being located in a very accessible location helped too.the subway was literally at our doorstep. there were many malls down the street with international brands that we are all familiar with like Zara, H&M etc, and eateries like yoshinoya, McDonalds, dairy queen etc for those not brave enough to try their local delights at Wang fu jing food street ..and for those who do not feel like experiencing the cold before breakfast , we recommend trying the buffet breakfast at their restaurant - east 33. The price was quite reasonable for the spread and the ambience . There is also a gym and a indoor pool in the hotel but we didn't manage to try them due to our tight schedule, but we will be back for sure to try them! All in all, a wonderful addition to our 1st visit to Beijing. Well done, raffles!

We booked the Raffles in Beijing to celebrate the New Year's eve and welcome the new year in Beijing. Though we have been in Beijing and Shanghai from the 26th of December, we needed a special place for the New year's.

Our whole life we will regret the decision of chosing the Raffles, which we did based on the reputation and having visited the Singapore property.

Have you heard of a hotel of such repute telling the guest that the temperature of the room cannot be controlled by ourselves. Because of the winter season, there is only heating available?, even if we want the room to be a bit more cooler we cannot control it and the neighbouring hotel has the centralised control?. We were literally sweating in our room in the cold weather of Beijing.

I should talk about the positive sides too, the check-in experience was very good, the staff was very helpful, but they cannot help much with the design or the control of operating equipment in the hotel.

I contacted the Duty Manager and the gentleman, though politely told me that nothing can be done. I was very upset but requested for a room which has a window to let in some cool air and we were given a room which has a common balcony shared with other rooms.

All we have to say is, this stay did not leave any mark of the reputed Raffles name and we will never stay in Raffles again, especially in Beijing.

Being a hotelier for quarter of a century, this is not something I will be able to accept or digest.

Stayed one night on the 31st of December 2011.

Benny Williams