International Bamboo and Rattan Hotel - Beijing

I wish I'd read the other reviews before staying here for 2 nights. Those reviews are old, too, and this hotel hasn't improved. As is usual for China, unless you're staying at an airport hotel or somewhere very high-end, the reception staff were not among the cleverest people in the country. The young woman took a very long time photocopying my passport and actually took a photocopy of my Japanese entry visa. I told her in Chinese what she'd photocopied and asked her why, and she was embarrassed and apologized, but even so. Very basic comprehension and observational skills appeared to be lacking. What she needed was my passport information page and working visa. My entry visa for Japan from two months ago was irrelevant. I can get by in Chinese, because I've lived and worked here for 6 and a half years, but if you don't speak Chinese, don't stay here. Don't even think about it, even though its prices are reasonable for Beijing. The room and the corridors (but especially the room) smelled bad, in addition. I later realized the smell in the room was due to a soaking wet floor near the door. It took me several hours to realize, because I was wearing slippers and didn't notice until I walked on the floor barefoot. I stayed for nearly 48 hours, kept the window open the whole time, because Beijing is always very warm during the May public holiday, and the floor was still wet at the end. There was no getting rid of that smell. Other than the smell, I didn't mind the room very much, but it was old-looking and basic. I've stayed at a lot of great hotels in China and usually they are very good value, but this one was bad. It is not as close to Wangjing South subway station as it looks, either. It's around a 10-minute walk. The Wi-Fi worked very well. Breakfast was Chinese style - noodles, Baozi, noodle soup, boiled eggs. Not great quality, but I didn't get charged extra when checking out - I assume it was included. Needless to say, the reception staff did not tell me where breakfast is served (3rd floor), even though they knew by that point that I can understand Chinese. Other guests in the hotel were working class Chinese, and as a foreigner you will be stared at and hear the words 外国人 and 老外 (foreigner) repeatedly. Beijing locals don't usually do that because seeing a foreigner is not a novelty, so it is likely they were from elsewhere.

Everything about this hotel is out of step with modern Beijing. Almost no staff speak more than a few words of English. Check-in consists of the obligatory copying of your passport and shoving a room key in your hand -- no explanation of breakfast arrangements, no presentation of the room features, no offer to help with your bags. Good luck if you need help with transportation; the "help" I received was to point out to the main road with suggestion that I might find a taxi there (no offer to call one or help ensure the driver knew where I wanted to go). The lobby is plain and without character. The "lobby bar" seems abandoned and the few chairs in the lobby area are hard and uninviting. Hallways are musty and smell of smoke, even on "No Smoking" floors. Rooms are spartan: not particularly clean, poor lighting, basic toiletries, non-functioning mini fridge, non-functioning room safe, few electrical outlets, small bed (not very comfortable), uncomfortable stool to sit on while working at the tiny "desk", TV channels limited only to Chinese channels (the one sole English channel being CCTV9), cheap and broken room furniture, dirty windows, no in-room wifi(!!), broken security lock on the door to the room.... the list goes on and on. The breakfast provided along with the room cost is OK, but nothing special. Request coffee and you can get brewed coffee from their machine. The hotel is across the street from a small shopping mall with a number of shops and restaurants, but aside from that, there is nothing of interest nearby. This area of Beijing is well-known as a Korean enclave, so perhaps you'll be more interested to stay here if you're Korean. Others housed at this rather poor hotel tend to be "victims" placed here to attend meetings at INBAR or other international organizations located nearby. If you have the option, far better to stay across the street at Holiday Inn.

I have stayed in this hotel for 3 nights because I attended a conference organized in this hotel. I have never experienced such a hostile services in my life. If you don't speak English and have any choice, avoid this hotel by all means. Nobody speaks English there, at the reception, restaurant or anywhere. Rooms are very basic and carpets are filthy. Food is poor. Internet is not working. I had cable in a room but it was not functional. Everybody was crowding lobby trying to get wifi, which was very weak and it took hours to get connected. There is a teapot in a room, but no coffee, only tea. I could not explain anyone that I want one packet of any basic coffee. But the worst is that people at the reception have no inclination to be friendly. I decided to change hotel when conference was over. When I was checking out, I asked a young woman at the reception to call me a taxi, she refused without any apologies. She just said: "I have no time". I tried to explain her that I have 2 suitcases and need taxi to take me to another place. And that by Chinese law, if hotel does not help its guests, it can loose license (advise given by interpreter earlier). Then she told me that she has no phone number of any taxi. It took me 10 minutes of begging her to call me a taxi and she kept saying me: No, no, no in a very rude manner. I had to leave my suitcases at the lobby and go searching for a taxi on the street. Its good that our interpreter from the conference wrote me a name of my new hotel on the piece of paper in Chinese, so I kept showing it to all taxi driver with 100 yuan bill. It cost maximum 50 RMB to get to a new hotel, but I was desperate to leave that place. Bellboy was busy playing his phone and didn't even bother to hold me a door when I was rolling out with my suitcases. Assistant manager place with a sign was empty all the time. We left hotel to go to the fields for 2 nights and I left my suitcase in a safe room. It had a lock on it (bought in the USA and used several times without any problem). When I came back, lock was not opening and I asked hotel to help me to unlock it. They just ignored me, so it took my colleagues a while to break a lock which for some reason was not working. Never again I am going to stay in a state run hotel not mentioning that this place will stay in my memory as a nightmare.