Redwall Hotel Beijing

Okay, so we booked this hotel through a travel agency and checked it out online. The pictures looked okay, so we said that it was fine. When we got to Beijing, no one knew where the hotel was so we walked around for an hour before finding someone who took us there. We saw the hotel and immediately it looked different than the pictures on the internet. We thought, okay, so what? Then we got to our room and saw how tiny it was. The bathroom is barely big enough for one person and the beds are the hardest thing I have ever slept on in my entire life. It literally felt like sleeping on concrete or plywood. The breakfast buffet in the mornings is not bad at all but the drink seletion is terrible. Also one thing that is pretty bothersome is the fact that so little people that work at this hotel speak good english. In fact we only found one. The other people who speak english cannot really understand any questions you ask. The tours that you book at the hotel are pretty good. They take you to a lot of places but everything is pretty business oriented. They pretty much want you to buy stuff on the tours and if you don't the travel guides tend to get annoyed. I think they make a commission. One really good thing about the hotel that I can say is this, it is in a great location. It's a ten minute walk to the forbidden city and it is located next to this great little miimart where everything is dirt cheap and the people who work there are very sweet. You can buy anything from a 6 pack of decorated chopsticks to a bottle of water.

We just returned from a trip to Beijing, which we loved. However we were very disappointed in the Red Wall hotel, where we had rented two rooms for four nights. As we have lived in Asia for 6 years, we are used to different standards, so it is with some knowledge of what is available that this review is given. We expected hard beds, but what we didn't expect was poorly cleaned rooms, no air, and lighting so dim it was hard to see by. We attemped to turn on the air conditioners, but only the circulating fan would turn on, and that didn't change the temperature enough to sleep comfortably. When we complained, we were told that the management didn't allow air conditioning until after May 5th, no matter what the temperature. We were promised fans, but only one was provided. The most upsetting thing was the poor service. After a day of sightseeing, we returned to our hot rooms, only to find no water furnished, and instead of washing cups the maids had just put them on the shelf dirty, and it had obviously not been vaccuumed. We would have changed hotels, but here you pay in cash, in advance to the travel agency. One other thing is that the hotel advertises coffee in the room, but what they don't say is that it is a tiny expresso maker and you are charged if used! But on the good side, if you need condoms, they are also in the rooms (for a fee!0 All in all, location is the only thing attractive about this hotel, and there are much better options for your money!

I was worried about our stay at this hotel after reading other reviews but actually it was absolutely fine.Good things:- location can't be beaten, near forbidden city, with nice shops just round the corner and real life close by- 'chinese style' rooms are charmingly decorated- comfortable, clean 'chinese style' rooms- free extras such as bottled water, toiletries, tea etc in room- not a bad western/chinese spread at breakfast with a chef creating freshly fried eggs etc- sofas in lobby and bar spaces to relax inNot so good things:- took ages to check in (and out)- money changing was VERY slow (but thorough)- didn't have all the things the website promised (not all rooms have safes or minibars and TV is just Chinese). None of this was a problem but don't rely on the website

This was a decent hotel. The staff speaks no English to be ready for that. I tried to argue that I did not in fact break a glass but I got nowhere and had to pay. My shower also lacked consistent hot water.The free in room internet was very fast. The location is excellent and is near a few spots. The price is also nice.At pretty much all times this place was packed so people are staying here. I was alone and besides the lack of English had no issues.

After reading soem reviews l was very hesitant when my husband booked us in here after disliking a hostel! BUT there was nothing wrong with it. Great location, forbidden city and Behei Park and Jingshan Park all within walking distance, we even walked to Wangfujang Street easliy. It is so well located with a Hutong area right beside it, we did not eat at the hotel and ate at almost every restaruant in the Hutong, great food and service. Alley Cafe was our breakfast choice and free internet. Hotel itself was clean, staff very helpful and efficient, our beds were not hard at all? Our room very spacious and we even had a bath tub! Would stay again just for the location, we did not have a problem with taxi drivers either. If they did'nt know where the hotel was we would just point to Jingshang Park on our other map and walk from there, about 5 minutes. All in all a great place to stay.

The location is clearly the best part of this hotel. Although, apparently no cab driver knows about it. As one reviewer said, taxi drivers will flat out refuse to take you to the hotel. We spent a cold night walking back to the hotel because of this. I am not sure if they did not want to take us, or if they could not read the extremely small print on the direction card that the hotel gave us.The room was okay and clean. The hotel says that the TV is multi llanguage. I can only assume they can mean many dialects of Chinese, because there is no other languages. My back has still not recovered from the beds here. After reading one of the reviews, I looked at the bed and it actually is a bed spring covered with a sheet. The floor would of been more comfortable. I would recommend this hotel for its location, but bring your own cot!