Beijing Hotels

Beijing is as well supplied with glitzy, comfortable hotels. What it lacks in variety it makes up for in quantity. Grandiose lobbies, air-conditioned elevators, coffee lounges, and 15th-floor guest rooms—all lacking in Chinese flavor—are the norm. Most major hotels have facilities such as business centers, health clubs, Chinese and Western restaurants, nightclubs, karaoke, and beauty salons. Gone are the days of surly service, when hotel staffs were often unwilling to interrupt their meals or naps to attend to a guest. Today most hotels will book restaurants, taxis, cars with drivers, and travel tickets.

Some traditional courtyard houses, on the other hand, have been converted into small hotels—a quiet alternative to the Western-style establishments. Courtyard hotels usually have a more distinct Chinese character, but those in older buildings may be lacking in the range and standard of facilities.

Often managed by entrepreneurs who bought the courtyard houses from people who once lived there, these hotels are not necessarily glamorous dwellings of rich families, but simply a modern invention. Given that fewer and fewer old courtyards exist in China, courtyard hotels are often favored by savvy travelers who go to China for its history. Because of the smaller number of rooms in courtyard hotels, reservations are important.

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