On arrival the receptionist 's attitude was cold and uninterested and despite reconfirming our booking by email they put us in a smoking room which smelt heavily of smoke. My wife rang down and was told they could not do anything until the following day so I went back down to reception and demanded a move. They gave us a non smoking room as required which was obviously for another person as it had a greeting card with fresh fruit saying welcome back Mr xxxx . This 5 * hotel is in a city location but has wonderful gardens to walk thorough. It is quite an old hotel that has been revamped. The bedroom décor is a bit basic and boring with not much attention to detail. That is to say they don’t seem to clean in every corner and our fruit was growing fur by day three and no one had changed it. Bedrooms are ample size but lack storage space and have fridge, kettle, safe, self charging torch and smoke masks! The beds are comfortable with a choice of pillows as all Shangri la hotels offer. There is a writing desk with internet access. A large swimming pool and spa centre on the 5th floor is open 6am -11pm and they provide towels, bathrobes and slippers. The Café Cha serves breakfast and international meals from 6am- midnight and has a great view over the garden area. Blu Lobster restaurant serves Western Cuisine, Nishimura Japanese Cuisine and Shang Palace Cantonese Cuisine. All are a very good standard and vast choice. The waiting on service is efficient and pleasant.
I have stayed in five Shangri la hotels and they have been terrific however this one is in need of some T L C. I think they could do better.

Having stayed at the Kerry Centre many times, I had high expectations for the Shangri-la. While the hotel was okay overall, I wouldn't suggest that others going to Beijing stay there unless they really had to be in that part of town.

I had two rooms: the first was a horizon level room in the Garden wing, the second was a Valley wing room. The Garden wing room was not particularly nice - it reminded me of the Excelsior in Hong Kong. The room is small but adequate. The decor is okay, but not particularly nice. Certainly not as nice as the Kerry Centre or the Peninsula. The real problem with this room was noise. I could hear the upstairs neighbors - kids who jumped on the floor until the wee hours of the morning.

I moved to a Valley wing room at the suggestion of one of the hotel staff. This room was much nicer - larger, more natural light, a much nicer bathroom, a sitting area separate from the sleeping area. Importantly, I could not hear the neighbors. I was much happier with this room overall. However, I still think it's a bit much to force people to pay extra to stay in the Valley wing to have what they should expect: a room that offers the ability to sleep in peace.

The gym is nice - but not any better than the one at the Kerry Centre. I had a massage in the spa and found it to be only okay. The Chi spa chain has a weird way of branding their spa treatments - lots of tea and bells and stuff I don't care about at all. I wasn't there to feel beautiful or whatever they imagined brought me to the spa; I was there because my back never really recovered from the 14 hour trip to Beijing. As elsewhere in the hotel, they tack on a 15% service charge. They also seemed to expect a tip in addition to this, which I found very cheeky.

The food was okay but not great - pretty much what I would expect from a hotel. It was, of course, vastly overpriced. While this is what I expect, it's especially annoying because this hotel is located pretty far from commercial districts where there would be more choice. In fact, it's surrounded on two sides by motorways that are pretty much jammed all day long. That sight, and the thought of being stuck for hours in traffic, did not inspire me to go out and be adventurous, something I always did when staying in Chaoyang (where the Kerry Centre is).

Overall, this hotel is okay in a pinch - when you need to be out in that part of town. But I would not put it on my short list for any other reason.

Made reservation with Shangri-la Beijing mainly because our son joined a Summer Camp located in the same Haidian area, and I was attracted to the hotel's "value package", which included free breakfast, internet access, laundry & dry-cleaning, & airport transfer. We requested pick-up from another hotel instead of the airport & the arrangement was hassle-free. A few days before check-in, we got an invitation from the hotel to pay a higher rate (+ free room upgrade) to try their new Valley Wing, and we agreed. So we practically changed from the most basic to the most expensive room category by paying ¥400 (+applicable tax) more per night.

We have to say the experience was great (though it could have been better)! We were picked up from another hotel by an Audi, greeted at Valley Wing's entrance by an elegant Valley Wing Receptionist, Sally, and escorted to our room, where check-in was done inside the room. The room was nicely prepared with welcome tea, fruit, chocolate, and even stationary with my husband's name pre-printed. It could have been perfect if the followings have not happened: (1) We made reservation for a twin room but were given a dbl room; (2) The room was a connecting room, but the door between the 2 rooms could not be closed; (3) We were not given any introduction to the hotel at all. We ended up going to the business lounge in the old wing instead of going to the Valley Wing. It would have been really impressive if we had a briefing on the facilities of the hotel/ room. Instead, without even appologizing on having mixed up our room, Sally just led us to the new room & left. Moments later, the house-cleaning lady brought the tea, fruit, & chocolate from the other room to our new room, but of course, the impression was discounted.

Overall, service in the Valley lounge was of high standard, with esp. credit to Alice & Britany. They made you feel they took extra care. The moment you entered the lounge, the receptionists would greet you & one of them would bring you drinks. One late evening, we had a drink at the lounge, and I found a small mosquito laying dead on one of the pastry, they immediately took everything away, appologised whole-heartedly, promised they would improve on bug-control, & brought us some new ones (not completely defrosted) from the fridge. Apart from that incident, food quality was good. The lounge receptionists arranged our dinner reservation at their famed Chinese restaurant, and we were able to get a nice table by the window.

Laundry service was excellent. We moved in with loads of dirty laundry, and check-out with everything washed, ready for our remaining trip to Hong Kong. The small herb-bag they added when the laundry returned was an impressing touch.

Overall, an enjoyable first experience at the Shangri-la!

We stayed at the Shangri-La Beijing for three nights as part of a pre-cruise package. For the previous five days when we were traveling independently, we stayed at The Peninsula Beijing. Though both are 5 star hotels, there is no comparison. The Peninsula wins on all counts.

The Shangri-La is quite far from all of the major sights except the Summer Palace. Because of The Peninsula's central location, we could walk or take short taxi rides to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Wangfunjing Street, the Back Lakes, Drum Tower, Jinshan Park, the Temple of Heaven, and Lama Temple wasting almost no time in travel. From the Shangri-La these must-see sights are 45 minutes to over an hour away by taxi.

The room at the Shangri-La was in the older tower. It was quite large with a comfortable bed. The bath had a tub/shower combination. Unlike many newer hotels, there was no separation of the sinks/toilet/tub areas. Rooms in the new tower may be more modern and luxurious in appearance and function. Much is made of the hotel's location in a park-like, garden setting. In fact, the hotel surrounds a small green area made to look like old Beijing. It is nice but in no way a real park –– just hotel hardscape and landscaping.

Except for an ample buffet breakfast which was part of the pre-cruise package, we ate only one meal in the hotel. Surprisingly for such a large hotel, no full-service restaurant was open throughout the day. We settled for deli fare beside the larger lobby restaurant for a late afternoon meal. The charge for two hot sandwiches with fries, some slaw, and two cokes was $55.00 –– quite expensive for what it was.

Like the Shangri-La hotels in Bangkok and Hong Kong (Kowloon), this one seemed more oriented toward large groups attending conferences or on tours. It lacked the distinguishing personality and character of many 5 star Asian hotels. But more important its location gave no hint that the visitor was in Beijing. It could have been in any busy, commercial area surrounded by freeways in Asia. For anyone who prefers easy access to sights and freedom to walk to at least some of the sights that they want to see, I would not recommend this hotel.