Like any hotel, there were pros and cons. The pros include: Everything about my reservation/payment went smoothly. The hotel staff were helpful. The room was nice, large, and comfortable. There were a couple of English channels on the TV, and cheap internet service. The cons were: The hotel is 40 min from beautiful downtown Beijing. I felt like I was a prisoner in a remote compound. The conference room was cramped and there was no back door: I had to walk in and out right beside the speaker. The buffet breakfast (heaps of fried things) was not really what I wanted to eat at 7:30 AM. My conclusion is that its a fine enough hotel, but only so-so as a conference center...
Definitely the place to go for an authentic Chinese Communist experience. You can imagine yourself as a party cadre as you wander through the endless identical corridors and approach the impressive Friendship Palace for your morning breakfast. Rooms very clean and modern. Main drawback is huge distance to the centre - hotel is a long way from any sights you're likely to want to see and is located in a rather soulless area of office blocks and flyovers...
We stayed for 1 week in May 2006 The hotel was absolutely satisfactory, not great luxury, but the rooms were spacious, clean, with all necessities, beds OK, bathroom fine, very good Chinese and international breakfast buffet. The meeting room for the conference in which I participated, was not satisfactory...
