This hotel was great and I have to say exceeded my expectations. Now, I'm not saying it's the most amazing hotel I've ever been to, but it's a great hotel that satisfied all my needs and went above and beyond my expectations. I stayed here for 11 nights in April 2008. The room itself was spotless and the maid cleaned very well each day. I never had a problem in my room whatsoever. The furnishings were very nice, updated, new... as a result of their recent renovation a couple of years ago. The bathroom was very updated and clean. The bed was amazingly comfortable, but it's possible that was the jetlag and Tsingtao beer talking. The location is great, right on Wangfujing where there are tons of (upscale American & European) stores mixed in with Chinese tea & souvenir shops. The Forbidden City & Tiennemen is about a 15-20 minute walk. We also walked to the Temple of Heaven but I think most folks would want to take a cab. The Grand Hyatt (great restaurants) and Oriental Plaza shopping mall is a 10 minute walk, tops. At the Crowne Plaza, the front desk and concierge were extremely friendly & efficient, and I'm very surprised to read other reviews that stated otherwise. We checked in mid-day Saturday when I'd think it would be busy and yes there were a few people on line but there were 4 people working behind the desk plus one person exchanging money. We didn't wait long at all. Each time we visited the front desk there were at least 2 people working, even when we came home late-night at 3 or 4 am. The concierge, I'm not joking, always had at least 3 people working, if not 5 or 6. We would laugh because we weren't sure which of the guys to speak to since there were so many, although we did become friends with one of them by the end of our trip! The concierge made ALL my dinner reservations for 11 nights, wrote all of the names down in Chinese so that my cab driver would understand, and then in the evenings either the concierge guys or the 2-3 staff members standing outside hailing cabs for us would explain to the cab driver exactly where we wanted to go. I was astounded at how nice everyone was because some of the other reviews stated otherwise. I didn't eat in any of the restaurants in the hotel. Nothing really jumped out at me so I guess you could consider that a drawback - I wish there were better restaurants. My husband did eat lunch at the Essence restaurant buffet 3 days with colleagues and he said it was good, it was fine, nothing to write home about. We did visit Purple (formerly the Champagne Bar) almost every night - usually it was empty and we were the only people but we had a lot of friends with us so we brought our own party. We loved this place, although if it was just my husband & I it would have been weird just the two of us sitting in Purple alone. And I mean it's usually empty from opening at 5 pm to closing at like maybe 2 am? Once Purple closed we went to the 24 hour lounge right next to the front lobby and no one ever bothered us even until 4 and 5 am and there were 10-15 of us. We had the concierge level 'access' where we had breakfast each morning (6:30 am - 10:30 am) and 'happy hour' each evening (5:00 pm - 7:00 pm). The breakfast had the usual breads & pastries, juices, chafing dishes with hashbrowns, bacon, etc and also had an omlet bar which I usually don't see at this type of concierge breakfast. And being open until 10:30 was a total bonus since we are late sleepers. At the evening happy hour there was unlimited wine, beer, and liquor and each day they rotated with about 6 different hors d'ouevres. All day long is free soda, water, juice, and peanuts. I'm not sure what this cost extra but we took advantage every day for breakfast, happy hour, and waters prior to sightseeing. It was certainly worth the extra money (whatever we paid?). This is a great hotel and the price is right. If you're looking for extreme extravegance certainly go to the ShangriLa, Raffles, Grand Hyatt, or even the Sheraton... but this hotel is really nice, updated, very clean, and the personnel I found to be absolutely wonderful. For my next visit I will certainly stay at the Crowne Plaza.

Best thing about this hotel for us was the location. It is situated on Wangfujing Street, the main shopping street. It is literally 2 minutes walk to the pedestrianised area, and also to the night market just off Wangfujing Street where you can find all the food stalls (seahorses, cicadas, beetles, scorpions etc....not for the faint hearted. We didn't try but it was fun to visit) and trinket/souvenir stalls. Hotel itself is fine, but given the choice again I would not have chosen a western chain hotel, but gone for a Chinese one instead. Room very comfortable, just as you would expect. Hotel food pricey, but there is a great little restaurant almost opposite the extrance to the hotel (Cant remember the name but there is a sign for Peking Duck outside) - which looked empty, but when we went in it was full of people at the back, it was about ?15 for 2 people incl a bottle of wine, and really good food. If I was in Beijing on business then this hotel would be a really good choice for me, but maybe I would not choose it again as a tourist.

I work in a hotel and I guess I can understand the limitations that hotels usually face. This hotel overall was "ok", I don't think it stands out in my memory as being one of the best, nor one of the worst. Most of the facilities and services here are, well, ordinary. One any traveller would expect. There was only 1 person working behind the counter when I checked in. He took quite a while to get to me as the guest in front was asking a lot of questions about travellers cheques. Anyway, I get to the room and it is pretty alright. Spacious, big bed, good view, nice bathroom, well stocked mini bar and everything. I went upstairs to the Club floor to look around and this didn't impress me. I'm quite sure that an executive floor can afford a better selection of food/snacks for their evening cocktail. The swimming pool was small, but the gym was adequate. There were 3 staff at the driveway - 2 door people and 1 security officer. They did not offer to help me get a taxi and even when I asked, they were a bit slow to react. Busy? I don't think so, I was the only one standing there, while the 2 girls chatted away before I approached them. Breakfast at the coffeehouse was the usual hotel buffet, there was, however, a good selection of croissants/pastries and breads for those that like that sort of thing along with the usual bacon, sausages and cereals thing. I did not have lunch or dinner in any of the restaurants, but I had a drink in the bar which was nice, relaxing and the staff here were attentive. One night, I returned late and I had to walk behind(!) the counter to the back office to ask someone to come out and help me as my magnetic door key didn't work. As luck would have it, it still didn't and I had to come down again. The hotel is at least very close to Wang Fu Jing and is about 20 to 25 mins walk from Tiananmen. Train station is a good 10 mins away. Overall, I guess I would return to this hotel in future but I won't expect much.