I have stayed in more Holiday Inns than I care to remember and this one has to be the best by a long way. Helpful staff, luxurious room, great food - try the peking duck in their cantonese restaurant or the international buffet in their main restaurant. It is easy to see why they have won so many awards.

We are fairly independent travellers who like to find our own way around when we can and one of the reasons we chose this hotel was the positive comments about Storm the concierge on this web site. We only saw Storm in the distance, but his staff were excellent as well.

For example, we wanted to go and see the Great Wall at Mutianyu, but without all the unadvertised, time wasting "retail opportunities" that seem to come with organised tours. We explained this to the hotel and half an hour later were in a private car driven to and from the wall for 800 RMB. The english speaking driver even provided us with an umbrella when it started to rain! Great service.

Because of the location you do need a taxi to get anywhere but given the traffic levels in BJ being out of the centre was actually an advantage. The nearest metro stop is a little too far to walk but this wasn't an issue.

Whenever we left the hotel the doorgirl briefied the taxi driver where we were going, gave us a card with the hotel details, and idea of the usual price and the taxi driver's number with a number to call if there were any issues and the hotel would sort them out which we never needed to do.

I stayed at this hotel last summer for two nights, alone, deadset on seeing as much of Beijing as I could. The staff at this hotel learned my name & really looked after me--even gave me a temporary cell to use while I was out. Storm is the ultimate concierge (OMG!! Is he real? YES! He was away the first day and things were very nice, but then he made a good visit into a fantastic one.) I took the bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai, and he arranged my tickets & even made sure that I got a window seat. But I would recommend this hotel highly for the price even (gasp!) without Storm. It was perfectly clean and efficient. Everyone was very nice and fussed over me a lot--I think because I was traveling alone. I think this could annoy me under other circumstances, but I also think they would take the hint.

Don't worry about it being far out of town; you can take taxis and they are cheap by western standards. (PS-I spent the first two nights at the super-fancy Grand Hyatt near the Forbidden City--I wasn't paying! It was absurdly posh & the rooms were nicer but nowhere near the 3X-cost nicer. If money were no object....)

We visited Beijing on our way to Australia and New Zealand and only, really went there because of the forthcoming Olympic Games. It was a very interesting and enjoyable stopover of a week.

The hotel staff all could not do enough to help us - we were travelling independently. The rooms and public areas were clean with smiling, helpful staff. If they, individually didn't speak English they were able to communicate in other ways or find someone that did. That made it fun to find out about how people live and where best to visit. One of the waitresses was especially welcoming and went out of her way to greet us everyday; as did most of the staff.

Storm was especially helpful and took us to a bus stop himself and showed us the procedure for using public buses. We enjoyed that immensley. As it was also my birthday whilst we were there he took us to a local Chinese dinner show where he had arranged for a birthday cake to be cut. The hotel also produced a lovely boquet of flowers. This made my birthday a most memorable occasionl; one that I will never forget.

Although we had arranged our tours before we left the Uk, the location of the hotel meant that there was not too far to travel to visit them.

A very memorable stay which we will remember always.

Thanks

Pat and Roger

Storm and the staff of the Holiday Inn were beyond expectations! I made reservations based on the reviews here and was SO GLAD that I did. Storm appeared at breakfast the first morning after we arrived, asked what things we had planned to see, and made everything happen. When he found that there was an interesting event that we might want to see, he gently suggested that we change our plans for the day and we were so glad that we did. He has lived in Beijing all his life and knows the city. If you want Peking Duck, he knows the best authentic (non-touristy) restaurant. If you want to go to the Great Wall, he suggests the least crowded place to visit. He loves his job and it is easy to see how much care he takes with each person.

The hotel is clean, comfortable, and the staff is wonderful. They speak good English and are there to make your stay memorable and enjoyable. Each room has bottled water, fresh fruit, nightly turndown service and nice beds.

I cannot say enough good things about this hotel. We stayed a week and felt like we barely made a dent in the list of things to see in Beijing. It is a wonderful city! Stay at the Central Plaza Holiday Inn and you won't be disappointed.