Beijing Xiao Xiang Hotel

Much better than expected! Not sure if the hotel has had an upgrade or if we have managed expectations after travelling extensively in SE Asia. But we were very pleasantly surprised that the room was clean and spacious, the bathroom well designed and with a great rainfall shower. Yes the staff do not speak much English but that is the norm here. Also the breakfast is pretty good, with eggs, fruit, toast etc geared to western taste. The way the Chinese eat is relatively common also in Japan- just a local way! Really depends what you want to pay and if you only want to be with western tourists. I would recommend and would not hesitate to stay again.

My stay at a hotel in Beijing was far below expectations. The staff were extremely unfriendly towards foreigners, and the room was dirty, with visible bloodstains on the floor and walls. The water pressure was low, making it nearly impossible to use the shower. The air conditioning was ineffective, and the noise from the cooler was unbearable. This hotel, in such a condition, was by far the worst I've ever experienced.

On the booking site it says 4 star but on the wall in reception it says 3. Even so I would say it is equivalent to a Travelodge. When we first arrived the first problem was the lack of English spoken here even though it said the staff did so. The room we were given was on floor 2, as we walked down the corridor it was so smoky and claustrophobic, many of the the Chinese guests had their doors open, and were smoking in the rooms, even though it said no smoking. The carpet was very badly stained and felt really dirty. We asked to change and was given a room on floor 9. This was smaller than the first one but smelt better but still had quite a few stains on the carpet. The lighting was poor as there are only low side lights which don't give adequate lighting especially if you want to read. Also the breakfast was interesting as a western visitor, no consideration given to anybody other than Chinese, you have to sit on large round tables with the other guests, all I can say the noise was horrendous from the diners eating or should I say slurping the noodles. Not what we want to hear or witness at the breakfast table. The pictures on the booking site are not quite the reality when you get here, maybe they were taken a number of years ago. We definately felt like outsiders here. We would have liked to book extra excursions at the reception but this was so difficult, not sure if it was the language difference or that they didn't offer any type of service. The impression that I got was that it was a B & B for local workers that used it just for somewhere to sleep. Not really a tourist hotel.