Howard Johnson Regal Court Hotel Beijing

It was a very grand france-chateau looking hotel. Hot water and ac were ok, i didn't get any food since i did not buy the breakfast-included package. In the inner city. The water fountain wasn't filled when i was there. Looking classic everywhere, but dusty. There's a lift but aside of the grand building... IT WAS SO STRANGE that when my dad and my little brother was going to swim in the luxurius big swimming pool the hotel ask them to use a swimming cap so that our hair doesn't get stuck in the water fillter. Is this common in there? Dunno, just bring your swimming cap.

The exterior of the hotel looks really huge and grand, with the golden stallions/horses statues outside. Pretty impressive at first look, but the room was nothing much to rave about. Reception area was really small, it being our first time staying at this hotel, we didn't know what to expect. In fact we were not even sure if we were at the right place since the name of the hotel was not clearly shown at the building exterior. When we alighted from the taxi with our baggages (one huge 31" luggage, a small carry-on luggage, a duffel bag and a gym bag), no one was there to help us as well. If you are expecting people to open the car door for you or to tend to your baggages, you might be disappointed. Receptionist attending to us was okay though. They don't really call out to you if you're standing around waiting, you have to be proactive. Since we can speak mandarin, we had no issues communicating with them, but not sure if they are fluent in English. Will be good to learn a bit of mandarin in case you need to communicate, since they will need to swipe your credit card to hold the security deposit which is refundable upon check out. They will also need to see your traveller's visa and passport as well. After we were done with the paperwork, they gave us a key card to our room, but we requested for two. No extra charge is required for that. Security in the hotel isn't much to talk about since anyone can just go to any level they want. You don't need any keycard to access the level that you're staying at. We didn't check the facilities such as the swimming pool since it's winter time, so no comments on that. Size of our non smoking room was decent, we had a King size bed which wasn't too soft or hard for us. There were also four pillows, but they are all in the same softness which was way too soft for us. Blanket is a standard, but if you require additional blanket, they don't have any in the room. Bathroom was pretty big with bath-tub, shower area, and a big washing basin area. There's also LED lighted magnifying mirror for ladies to use when they do their make up which is pretty thoughtful. Bathroom was brightly lit, which is good since the rest of the room was dull and very dim even when we switched on all the lights and lamps. Bathroom slippers, bathrobe, hair dryer, safe, laundry services, mini bar (chargeable), electric kettle, alarm clock, aircon, all these are the standards. Floor is carpeted, but would suggest to wear the bathroom slippers cos it's quite dirty. Two bottles of mineral water are provided complimentary on daily basis when they come in to do housekeeping. If you need extra bottles, it'll be chargeable. I cannot remember the price, I think it's about RMB10 for two bottles. Not sure if the aircon was working or it was simply too cold outside, we turned up to the highest temperature at 32 degree but it was still really cold. Doesn't make a difference when we switched it off. There's not much English channel TV programmes, signal is quite weak, and they're still using the CRT TV, not the LED TVs. Other than that there's nothing much to note about except the wardrobe is a little dusty. When we took out the laundry bag and opened it up, there were specks of black color dusts all over. We actually fell sick the night we checked in. Not forgetting the bed was extremely cranky when we sat on the bed, toss or turned around. When we looked up the ceiling, they were actually badly cracked and paint was already peeling off. Some parts looked a little bulged out and we were concerned if halfway into our sleep the ceiling might have just crashed on us. We didn't try the breakfast since our room doesnt come with breakfast included. Overall, our three nights stay was still acceptable but if given a choice, we would most likely look elsewhere. Would prefer if the cleanliness and service can be improved. It is very hard to get a taxi, and location wise it is not the most convenient/ideal. Would have appreciated if there was a concierge available to help their guests with getting transport. Seemed like there's always no one around to help.

Apart from the hotel lobby nothing else is worth 5 starts here. Only a few people of the staff speak English , making it very hard to communicate or order simple things. This was specially annoying at the hotel restaurant, where simple words like "hot" weren't understandable. By the way, the service at the restaurant was very far from what you will expect from even 3 stars hotel standards,at least for western ones. It really seemed that was the first day of everyone working there. The food was also really bad. The rooms are ok, but the lack of proper cleaning and maintenance makes it worse than it really is. Its very dusty and some of the furniture and wall paper are starting to reflect it's age. Even thought the staff lacked proper training and almost no one speaks english, i have to say that the ones who did ,1 guy at the reception and 1 other at the concierce, - (really hard to find them every time you needed thought ) were really helpful. The hotel location is not very good for those who wants to explore the city too. Its far fromt he subway and Beijing main attractions. There are 2 close supermarkets and some restaurants around but 99% of them are Chinese, so if you are not a fan....good luck SMOKING : even thought the hotel had separated smoking areas , they are close to the restaurant ( like 4 meters away), and other main areas. So if you stay there for more than 15 minutes your clothes will start smelling like chimneys with tobacco . good gym ( old equipment thought) by the way, i met a a little friend while staying there( check photos ) and i had exactly 5.5 minutes to shower until the bathroom started flooding