My brother and I were in Beijing from the 17th to the 22nd of this month and loved the hotel. The facility is spacious and spotless, the rooms are large, clean and the room service was prompt. The concierge service was very helpful and the Dutch girl Linda went out of her way to be friendly and helpful. The hotel was a very nice surprise, I can see why it's #1 on Trip Advisor

My husband and I just returned from a week trip to Beijing. We had a lovely time and we were very pleased with the Holiday Inn Central Plaza. I would definitely give it more than a three star that the Tripadvisor has given it, however there are few things about the hotel that I should mention to the readers who are debating whether to stay at this hotel or not, it all depends to whether they are there for business or pleasure. I’ll first give you the Good Points followed by the NOT SO GOOD points.

GOOD POINTS

There are many good points about the hotel. Rooms are very clean and modern. There is a safe in the room plus a mini bar and you get 2 complimentary bottles of water each day. The breakfast was included in our room price and it was actually very nice and adequate with a variety of choices. The Café in the lobby has good lattes and it’s a great place to relax after a busy day. Please note only GOLD Priority Club members would be upgraded to the executive room for free, we were not gold members so we were asked to pay an extra 300 RMB per night which we chose not to. All the staff members were friendly and willing to help; we saw the famous Storm from a distance helping other travelers but didn’t get a chance to talk to him. There is a currency exchange machine in the lobby that is very convenient and offers exchange at a normal rate. So all together the hotel was great, I would say if it wasn’t for the location it would definitely be a four and half star. We had a wonderful time in Beijing and I should also suggest that the famous John Yellow Car service to the Great Wall that are mentioned in the tripadvisor forum was amazing, John was very nice and professional and took us to the Mutayanu Great Wall…highly recommend him.

NOT SO GOOD POINTS

The location is relatively far from most of the sightseeing and shopping malls/restaurants. I guess if you go to Beijing for few days for business it won’t be a problem, but my husband and I were there for 8 nights and almost every day we had went toward Forbidden city/Tianamen and Wangfujing as most of the things were around that area. Some people on this site suggested it was only a 20 minute drive to Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square/Wangfujing Shopping and food district for about 15RMB HOWEVER I guess they must have been lucky because the traffic was crazy for most of the day when we were there and from what we heard it is of course very normal for Beijing (at times we were stuck in traffic for nearly 35-40 minutes and ended up paying 30 and even 50 RMB). Many taxi drivers were reluctant to drive out there and often we had to really bargain and offer more money especially if you go out at nights you’ll find it difficult to take a taxi back to the hotel as it is not in the drivers ideal location so be prepared to pay more otherwise good luck finding one. Other than the location I would stay the hotel is great for a Holiday Inn, although next time in Beijing I would pay a little more and stays at another Hotel in Wangfujing area simply because the malls and food courts/food markets/restaurants there offer better and greater food variety at much cheaper prices. For example a dinner at the hotel buffet restaurant would cost over 400 RMB but outside at any other decent restaurant would be around 150-200 RMB, so as you can imagine the location of the hotel is the reason the prices are lower, but because of lack of option for restaurants nearby you end up spending just that much in the hotel more for food/coffee at the hotel. The Spa is mediocre, we went there for a foot massage and it was not really a smoky dark room with a plastic bucket filled with water and didn’t feel too clean either, so don’t bother with the spa. The Zen restaurant is not too good, it’s overpriced and the food was really bad. My husband ended up getting sick at night after having diner there.
That’s it about the hotel, please note other than the few negative things it was a pleasant stay and if I had to stay there again, I would. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

This is never just a 3 star hotel! It has an awesome gym (for a hotel), pool and restaurants - particularly the Zen - Chinese. The buffet breakfast is excellent as well. The staff do a great job, particularly the Dutch girl Linda who honestly gave us so much help about what we should do in China in general. She was awesome and the concierge were pretty good as well. Just make sure you don't get laundry done here because it is a rip off! Over a British pound to get a pair of boxer shorts cleaned!!!

The location of the hotel is quite convenient, and no cultural site in Beijing is very far away by taxi.
I loved the rooms; everything was spotless, you have your own control of heat and A/C. The staff was helpful and unobtrusive as well as very efficient.
Restaurants around are cheap and open around the clock. I only had breakfast at the hotel but all things were fresh and excellent (even the croissants). I booked through the hotel website, and paid $100+ a night, which was very good value for money.