Shangri-La Beijing

The rooms and hotel are nice, but they feel very dated. There's clutter throughout the rooms and common areas, seemingly accumulated over the last two decades. The service staff were first class, though, and I think service standards in Beijing are generally very good. Shangrila is no different.

The executive suite is spacious, with a private lounge for breakfast and drinks from 5pm each day. Facilities are good and the environment is relaxing. All the staff are friendly, always smiling, and make you feel welcome and at ease. Shangri-La hotel is super convenient for location. The Beijing one is in zone2, close to most of the nice attractions, and the mrt Wanshou Templestation is an easy walk away.

The pool is spacious, well maintained, and guarded. It was mostly used by locals, and there are separate lanes for sports swimmers. The location feels remote, so you always need a car to get to a mall or anything similar. The room had a nice classical style and was clean, but there was mold in the shower silicone. The air conditioning was too noisy to sleep with, so it had to be switched off. One night, cigarette smoke came in from a nearby room through the air conditioning system. The lobby lounge food lacked flavor and was overpriced. The gym spa was full of local members who left towels and rubbish everywhere. The whirlpool didn't seem hygienic, the showers were moldy, and some people used their phones and spat on the floor. Staff had quite limited English, so communicating as a foreigner was tiring. In the executive lounge, some guests wore flippers and sportswear, watched movies without headphones, and took food away in their pockets. This wasn't the experience I expected from a five-star hotel.

The birthday cake was such a nice touch, thanks for that. I also liked wandering through the garden and looking at the nearby lake, where locals were swimming. Shangri-La Beijing is handy for getting around too, about an 8-minute walk to the subway.