Chinese Culture Holiday Hotel Wangfujing

Hidden down an alleyway opposite Wedome Bakery. Good location - only 4 stops on the No 2 bus to Tiananmen Square. You can catch the subway from there to get anywhere in Beijing. If you visit TS the Forbidden City then Jingshan Park, you will be within walking distance to get back to the hotel, through the hutongs. Beijing Breakfast cart sits outside Wedome and both breakfast options are great. No one in the area speaks English but everyone was helpful and we managed to communicate. Some nice reaturants down the alley next to Wedome. The hotel mostly caters for chinese tourists so there is very little English. You have to ask everyday for hot water to be turned on. For what it costs this is a great option but don't expect any luxury. Stay there if all you expect is a clean place to sleep.

Choosing this accommodation almost ruin our holiday. Upon checking in, the manager told us that we can choose to change to a twin beds room which is closer to the family room. We have already paid for 2 family rooms and it made no sense to downgrade without any compensation. Hence, we declined the offer and were promised 2 family rooms at 2pm. However, when we asked at 2pm, we were told that the hotel guest at the one of the family room has decided to extend and so we have to accept the twin beds room. She refused to give compensation. It was really incredible. Really felt scammed. Strongly warn others against going to this hotel.

Pros: - Plenty of shops surrounding the hotel including hair salon, convenience store, eateries, tobacco & tea shop - Convenience store at entrance of alley operates 24/7 - Located in the middle of 3 subway stations - Area was safe, did not feel threatened walking around the hotel late at night - Sink, hairdryer, toilet bowl and shower spray all worked perfectly - Wifi generally working well Cons: - Located inside an alley (Hutong) and hard to find if you do not know the Chinese name of the hotel, Tang Fu - 15 to 20 mins walk to the subway stations - No wardrobes in any of the rooms - Family room not a single hook or hanger, twin room 3 hangers with 3 crowded hooks on the wall - Housekeeping will not clear hair from shower area which will plug the drain - Rooms with windows on first floor noisy, with constant spitting sounds from staff working behind to wake you up early in the morning This is the first time that I am writing a bad review, because I feel the need to warn other travelers about their scams and prevent such a bad experience from happening again. It tremendously dampened our mood right from the start of the trip. We booked two family rooms for 7 nights. Reached early around 10+ am and the manager Liu Xin let us check in to one of the family rooms first. Upon hearing that there were only 5 of us instead of 6, the manager muttered that this was a bad arrangement and declined to elaborate when I questioned her about her comment. She then requested that we downgrade to a twin room since there were only 2 of us staying in the second room. We viewed the twin rooms but decided to stick to the family room as there were no wardrobes in the rooms and we wanted the extra space. The manager delayed the second family room till the official check-in timing of 2pm. She tried to pass off a twin room as a family room by adding an extra mattress on the floor beside the door, assuming that we would be fooled, but she forgot that she had previously told us the specific room was a twin room. We rejected the room and asked for a real family room. The manager then spun a story about how the ‘medical tourist who was occupying our family room decided to extend his/her stay’. We requested for compensation for the downgrading of our room, but the manager instead tried to compare our Agoda booking rates to their walk-in rates and said we already paid less than what we were supposed to. In the end we could not agree to a price although I had given her an amount equivalent to the percentage reduction in family to twin room price. The manager then said they do not have a policy of returning cash but she would consult the owner of the place. We reluctantly agreed to stay in the twin room since we had an itinerary to stick to. She disappeared for the next 2 days, and when we saw her again on the 4th night she tried to push the issue to the morning shift manager, but we reminded her that she was the one responsible. Do note that Liu Xin was previously the morning shift manager on the Saturday we checked in. The following day we questioned her again, and this time she said that the hotel would not refund cash, but would give us a ‘buy 3 get 2 free’ discount on their overpriced tour package to the Great Wall of China, which we had already toured the day before. We had booked our Great Wall tour externally, and arrangements were made to pick us up at 7.30am. At the reception just before 7.30, we asked the staff if any driver had made enquiries about picking us up but he said no. The receptionist then called the driver with the number we gave him and the receptionist asked the driver if he were the one who came by earlier. Just a minute ago, the receptionist claimed that there were no drivers who came by. Housekeeping was minimal, trash cleared and bed done but the bathroom was generally left untouched except to replace towels/shower caps/soaps. The sink and shower area were not cleaned, and we had to clear the hair from the drain ourselves whenever it started plugging. On our second last day, we came back to the room at night to find our room completely untouched, and we had to go to the reception ourselves to request for new towels and other shower items.