Jianguo Hotel Beijing
We spent 5 nights here. For the benefit of other adoptive families who might stay here, I wanted to share my thoughts so far. I've also included directions and info to a fabulous restaurant a short walk away. I encourage anyone staying in this area to visit Xiao Wang's Home Restaurant. Here are the directions with photos. (Just past the first photo of Starbucks.)
This has been an excellent hotel. They allowed the 5 of us to stay in one room, which saves us since, for the remainder of our trip, we will have to have two rooms.
Room: Very clean. No smoke smell at all (although we could sometimes smell it in the hall, we never smelled it in our room). Large king size bed. Frim, butwe like it that way. Desk for workspace. Chair and ottoman. Wardrobe, safe, fridge, hot pot, bar area. Typical hotel restroom. Again, very clean. Nice view of the koi pond outside. We had to make SURE we closed our curtains in the evening though, or the people dining in the restaurant would see us.
We could run the AC as low as we wanted with the digital thermometer. My husband likes an icebox, so it was FREEZING!
Water: The hotel provides some water bottles. We bought a flat of water at a grocery store across the street. You can brush your teeth with the tap water. (We also had ice in our drinks at McDs and Pizza Hut and no one has been sick.)
Food: I will encourage you again to try Xiao Wang's. The 5 of us had more food than we could finish for 150 RMB ($23).
Outside the hotel for Western food, there is a McDonald's and Pizza Hut within short walking distance. Steps, really. The Pizza Hut is much nicer than those in the States. They also have a huge selection of food, both Western and Chinese. I thought their pan pizza tasted just like it does in the US. (We actually don't eat Pizza Hut pizza, but it did taste like a Western pizza to us.)
The breakfast buffet in the hotel is very good, plentiful, and diverse, but expensive. Under CCAI's reservation, two breakfasts are included, but on our own, the price for one person is 120 RMB. For the past 2 mornings, we have enjoyed the buffet. Our kids are half price, so we pay a total of 180 RMB out of pocket.
The buffet has: cereal with milk, waffles, eggs, ham, bacon, chicken sausage, made-to-order eggs, yogurt, and all kinds of fruit. They also have croissants, pastries, kolaches, and rolls. They have international selections as well: Some fruits we didn't recognize, a salad bar, congee, muesli with fruit, dumplings, tofu, steam bread, deep fried bread dough sticks. (My kids' favorite...they ate them with syrup...said they tasted like funnel cakes.) To drink, they had all kinds of fruit juices (the apple juice tasted like cider), milk, and a coffee machine that served coffee, cappuccino, and espresso.
Swimming pool:
Extremely clean and comfortable temperature. Pool/exercise area includes steam room, sauna, showers w/shampoo, soap, conditioner, lockers (they will provide a key when you sign in), towels, and even sterilized sandals. They do not require swim caps. Since there are 3 girls in our family, we enjoyed using the pool showers to all get ready at the same time without feeling cramped.
There is a business center, massage, and hair salon. We didn't use any of these services, though. Laundry was way out of our budget. 25 RMB per article of clothing.
Concierge:
They found us a great driver/car to take us to the Great Wall.
I will add more here if I think of anything else to say, but if you stay here on your trip, I believe you'll be very pleased.
This has been an excellent hotel. They allowed the 5 of us to stay in one room, which saves us since, for the remainder of our trip, we will have to have two rooms.
Room: Very clean. No smoke smell at all (although we could sometimes smell it in the hall, we never smelled it in our room). Large king size bed. Frim, butwe like it that way. Desk for workspace. Chair and ottoman. Wardrobe, safe, fridge, hot pot, bar area. Typical hotel restroom. Again, very clean. Nice view of the koi pond outside. We had to make SURE we closed our curtains in the evening though, or the people dining in the restaurant would see us.
We could run the AC as low as we wanted with the digital thermometer. My husband likes an icebox, so it was FREEZING!
Water: The hotel provides some water bottles. We bought a flat of water at a grocery store across the street. You can brush your teeth with the tap water. (We also had ice in our drinks at McDs and Pizza Hut and no one has been sick.)
Food: I will encourage you again to try Xiao Wang's. The 5 of us had more food than we could finish for 150 RMB ($23).
Outside the hotel for Western food, there is a McDonald's and Pizza Hut within short walking distance. Steps, really. The Pizza Hut is much nicer than those in the States. They also have a huge selection of food, both Western and Chinese. I thought their pan pizza tasted just like it does in the US. (We actually don't eat Pizza Hut pizza, but it did taste like a Western pizza to us.)
The breakfast buffet in the hotel is very good, plentiful, and diverse, but expensive. Under CCAI's reservation, two breakfasts are included, but on our own, the price for one person is 120 RMB. For the past 2 mornings, we have enjoyed the buffet. Our kids are half price, so we pay a total of 180 RMB out of pocket.
The buffet has: cereal with milk, waffles, eggs, ham, bacon, chicken sausage, made-to-order eggs, yogurt, and all kinds of fruit. They also have croissants, pastries, kolaches, and rolls. They have international selections as well: Some fruits we didn't recognize, a salad bar, congee, muesli with fruit, dumplings, tofu, steam bread, deep fried bread dough sticks. (My kids' favorite...they ate them with syrup...said they tasted like funnel cakes.) To drink, they had all kinds of fruit juices (the apple juice tasted like cider), milk, and a coffee machine that served coffee, cappuccino, and espresso.
Swimming pool:
Extremely clean and comfortable temperature. Pool/exercise area includes steam room, sauna, showers w/shampoo, soap, conditioner, lockers (they will provide a key when you sign in), towels, and even sterilized sandals. They do not require swim caps. Since there are 3 girls in our family, we enjoyed using the pool showers to all get ready at the same time without feeling cramped.
There is a business center, massage, and hair salon. We didn't use any of these services, though. Laundry was way out of our budget. 25 RMB per article of clothing.
Concierge:
They found us a great driver/car to take us to the Great Wall.
I will add more here if I think of anything else to say, but if you stay here on your trip, I believe you'll be very pleased.
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