InterContinental Hotels in Beijing

We were disappointed with the Intercontinental Hotel or we should say we have higher expectations for an international 5-star hotel. Check in was very disappointing. Our check in time was 3 pm. We arrived at 3:40 pm and was told our rooms are not ready yet and recommended that we go have a walk around the area and come back in an hour! Honestly, after a flight, we just want to get rested and then have dinner. With no choice, we went for a walk. We came back after more than an hour and our rooms were still not ready! Front desk told us to sit in the lobby and wait for another half an hour. No one came to ask us if we need anything while we waited. After more than half an hour, we were so tired that everyone asked to go inquire when will the rooms be ready. STILL NOT READY! But they said we can go to the rooms and if we needed adjustments, they can look after it later. The room has NO PRIVACY! The shower and toilet are separated but only has one sliding glass door that encloses one or the other at a time and you can see through. The bathtub is in the open. The hand sinks and counter design is so bad that every time you do anything with the water, you get drips on the floor. The shower faucet is the worst design I’ve seen in any hotel, so hard to adjust the temperature cuz you cannot figure out how much you’ve turned. And they all leak! Housekeeping was not professional enough. We found amenities that were not there the second day which means they didn’t give them to us the first day. Our mini bar was not refilled on the second day and I have to call front desk to refill it. There were still soap scums on the shower door handles and behind the wash basin. And interestingly, we found spelling mistake on the room service reminder card. That’s not acceptable for an international 5-star hotel. Breakfast has lots of choices but taste was just ok. We’ve had better at 4-star hotels. Location is very convenient to the adjacent mall with tons of restaurants and choices. However, the amount of people smoking in front of the hotel was not acceptable. Maybe they were too busy on check in day that they cannot have someone outside the hotel to inform people they cannot smoke there or it was some prominent guest smoking there and they didn’t dare to stop him but that one thing I noticed when I got out of the car upon arrival: SMOKING! Was glad there wasn’t much cigars smell after moving away from the front door. And people do not respect personal space. They stand so close to me and talked loudly. It was too uneasy. And they budge! My friend told me I have to be demanding and “bitchy” in China if I want things done but it’s hard being a Canadian for 40 year. Overall, I was not getting what I paid for.

My daughter & I had an absolutely fantastic time at the very beautiful Intercontinental Beijing Beichen. We spent 9 nights there, the hotel itself was gorgeous and felt so luxurious. Also, the staff were so friendly & helpful. Breakfast has a wide range of options from pancakes, pastries & cereal to a tasty Chinese breakfast. The pool area was really lovely and relaxing with a great view, particularly in the evening. This is the perfect hotel to explore the Olympic Park from, and we also took a reasonably priced taxi to Universal Studios from here. We loved the Intercontinental so much that we’re already planning our next visit! Highly recommended!