The room we stayed (me and my son) was nice with a view of the famous ChangAn Ave. We stayed for three days and were quite pleased with it. The staff members were friendly. The only thing I felt bad was the hotel restaurent which was located in the lower level where the waiters tried to overcharge us and they did- three of us having dinner there the dinner bill was RMB ￥1700!!! This is total rip-off! We are going to stay in Beijing Hotel again when we go to China but surely not to eat at thia restaurent.

Stayed 6 nights in Beijing Hotel with extended families last month. That was my second stay in this hotel in a year. Chose this hotel mainly because of the location which was convenient to the eateries, the Forbidden City and Tiananmen.
The hotel is steeped in history but it needs modernisation. During my last stay at this hotel I got a fright when my Beijing friend knocked directly at my hotel room's door! Later I remembered that the lifts have no added security of room card access only! That easy access for non guests to the hotel rooms did not give me the sense of security that I needed when travelling! This has not changed.
The rooms are roomy and clean. It does not have the "wow" factor but it is adequate for our purpose. Our rooms looked out to the buildings across the Changan Street.
We had breakfast there one morning.The "food comes first" family member with me wanted to sample a chinese hotel breakfast. The selection was basic. The pastries were not of a high standard. It was not value for money! But it was a change from the McDonald breakfasts and the Beijing residents' local porridge/steambum/soyabean breakfast.
There was a new travel desk at the lobby (which was not there last year?). The lady helped to arrange day tours, buying train and air tickets and did a very good job! It certainly saved us a lot of time trying to buy train and air tickets. The train tickets were couriered to her for pick up at a convenient time for us.
I made use of the swimming pool almost every night. Beijing Hotel shares the same pool with the up market Raffles Beijing. But on most night I was the only person in the vast pool. The water was quite cold. Maybe it was hard to heat up such a big pool. The spa besides the pool made up for it though.
The front desk was a let down at this hotel. On every occasion that we had to make an enquiry at the Concierge desk, there was no concierge in sight! We had to wait until the reception staff finished checking in or out with the guests before one could attend to us. This often involved many minutes of waiting, watching the reception staff frequently being interrupted by couriers and guests who jumped queue to ask questions.
Eventhough we got a reasonable rate to stay in this hotel but after adding in the cost of using the internet it became not as good a deal as I initially thought! The internet rate was a flat daily rate of 120 yuan after one hour of use! The family members that I travelled with thought it was one of the most expensive internet rates that they have ever come across!
It was also NOT easy to catch a taxi from this hotel! One either has to take the chance of waiting for random taxis to drop people off at the hotel or walk streets away to wave one down! We had done both of this! The taxis apparently are allowed to drop off passengers near the corner of Changan Street and Wangfujing streets (right next to the hotel building) but they are not allowed to pick up customers! There was not a taxi stand in sight in this busiest part of Beijing city although there are plenty of illegal taxis parking at different streets' corners touting for business.
On the day of departure, we had to calculate and add in an extra hour just in case we could not get a taxi! The doorman told me even if they rang the taxi company, they would refuse to come and pick up short haul passengers!
Overall, I feel that this hotel is a good choice for people who visit Beijing for the first time. Its position makes it ideal for orientating oneself. The subway station just in front of the hotel makes it very convenient and hassle free to travel around in this city which is increasingly famous for traffic jam..

historical with a fine balance of modernization. Best location in the city. The most famous one for all reasons!

We stayed at this hotel for 6 nights. It was very expensive for what we expected to pay in China (we thought our money would go further) but it was well worth it! The location was ideal. We were a brisk walk from the closest metro stop, less than a ten minute walk from the main entrance of the Forbidden City & Tiananmen Square, and footsteps from the main shopping square & upscale mall. The hotel had many amenities including a swimming pool, fitness center, shopping & restaurants. We were on the 14th floor with an amazing view of the Forbidden City & Tiananmen Square. Every room has a balcony but they are blocked off from visitor use. The hotel is very old & historic & you can tell that it was renovated multiple times. Our room was very spacious. We had 2 full size beds, a large closet & spacious bathroom with marble tub. Décor was simple & slightly outdated, but clean. Floor was non-smoking, but the hallway smelled of smoke. I noticed visitors smoking by the elevator next to a no smoking sign! The staff was extremely friendly. They booked us great seats at a King Fu show & ordered taxis to sites & to the airport. Buffet meals were very expensive & not included in the price of the room. We ate at the hotel buffet twice. They had a good selection of traditional Chinese food as well as Western breakfast foods. They had a few made-to-order stations like Peking duck at lunchtime and omelets in the morning. Taxi drivers knew of Beijing Hotel so it was easy to communicate with them. We had a great experience here & would definitely stay again if we return to Beijing.