We stayed at this hotel for 5 nights while we were in Beijing. We had a wonderful time! The hotel is located in a charming historic hutong (alley) neighborhood. One of my most pleasant memories in China is our morning walks through the alleys to get breakfast and wander through the markets.

The hotel staff are english speaking and very courteous and friendly. It was not a 5-star amenities and the furniture and walls were a little bit shabby. However, the Qinq courtyard and reading room are wonderfully atmospheric.

The bathroom was freshly remodelled with new tile and granite countertops. Very nice. However, a few of the days, we did have a faint smell of sewer gas coming out of the bathroom drain!

This hotel provides a fantastic experience in a traditional Chinese courtyard hotel in the hutongs of central Beijing. However, you don't sacrifice any modern advantages. Lusongyuan will make travel reservations (air, rail, restaurants, cultural events), change money, provide laundry services, has internet, and the staff speaks English. The area around the hotel is a very charming real-world part of old Beijing. The hotel is within long walking distance of Forbidden City and the Beijing subway system. Breakfast in the open-air courtyard was a special treat each morning. I would stay here again in a Beijing minute!

I've stayed in the Lusongyuan twice, the first time in 2001 and more recently in 2005. The service is quite good. The location is excellent. There are a large number of excellent restaurants and several top tourist sites within walking distance of the hotel. Situated in a quiet hutong, the Lusongyuan offers guests an opportunity to see an authentic, closely knit Beijing neighborhood.

There is only one real drawback to the hotel. Due to its hutong location, taxi drivers don't always know how to find the hotel. If you speak Chinese, there shouldn't be a problem. If you do not, however, getting back to the hotel can present a challenge.

If you take full advantage of the knowledgable front desk, they will hook you up with excellent, well-priced taxi drivers to take you on excursions outside of Beijing. These trips are definitely preferable to joining a bus full of other tourists.

Staying at the Lusong Yuan hotel was probably one of the best decisions we made during our recent visit to Beijing. The hotel's design and appeal is traditional chinese, typical of its hutong neighborhood. It is very different from the usual hotel sophistication, but you can still experience the comforts of big cozy beds, long soak on a warm bubble bath, and cable tv entertainment. A good mix of local appeal and western comfort on a quite reasonable price. We had good chinese food at their restaurant. The menu was in english complete with photos. And they served pretty good buffet breakfasts too. The staff of the hotel was very very accommodating and spoke very good english. They helped us on how to go to the many places of interest in beijing. This service is crucial specially in a city where english seem inexistent. They would even spend time to chat with their guests and learn about the cultures of their home countries. I'd say the hotel played a big part at making our stay in beijing very pleasurable.