Asia Pacific Garden Hotel - Beijing

“Attending a wedding in China”

We picked this hotel as it was close by to where our friends were that were getting married. Close to subway station and supermarket. However a bit of a mission to get into town by subway. If we didn't have our Chinese friend it would have been quite stressful trying to get to places. If you enjo… more

We picked this hotel as it was close by to where our friends were that were getting married. Close to subway station and supermarket. However a bit of a mission to get into town by subway. If we didn't have our Chinese friend it would have been quite stressful trying to get to places. If you enjoy a good cup of coffee the only place I would go is Starbucks but even then it doesn't quite taste the same. We were careful with drinking bottled water but we still got travellers tummy and felt quite sick for the first couple of days. The pollution is as bad as they say and I don't think we will be back to China for a holiday. I know that sounds harsh but when you come from New Zealand it was quite a shock to believe that they haven't come up with a better source of generating power. I'm glad we didn't bring our kids as it would have been very stressful. The hotel is dated but clean and has good facilities.

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“Some bad, some good”

Average room and bath. Shower head had 1/2 water from shower head and 1/2 water from spigot, wasting half the water and not giving a strong spray from the shower. Hot water came quickly and was even in temperature. Beds more comfortable than normal. Two pillows, but both a little flat. Internet fre… more

Average room and bath. Shower head had 1/2 water from shower head and 1/2 water from spigot, wasting half the water and not giving a strong spray from the shower. Hot water came quickly and was even in temperature. Beds more comfortable than normal. Two pillows, but both a little flat. Internet free and fairly strong. AC not working and the one window had to be opened by maid as handle was broken. Luckily out side temp was not too hot, but room became warm and stuffy. In room safe, hair dryer. Four elevators that came quickly. Nice location for getting around. Breakfast was large and varied. Decent quality of food..

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“Difficult and disappointing”

I made a recent business trip to Beijing and stayed at this hotel as I thought it catered for travellers. The website certainly implied it did, but be clear - you might be OK if you speak Mandarin. Else, it's a struggle. First the building; It looks a bit dated but "relatively" modern...ish. The ar… more

I made a recent business trip to Beijing and stayed at this hotel as I thought it catered for travellers. The website certainly implied it did, but be clear - you might be OK if you speak Mandarin. Else, it's a struggle. First the building; It looks a bit dated but "relatively" modern...ish. The area of the hotel is a bit shabby, but not a problem at all. I felt perfectly safe walking around at night. Certainly, good roads around it and an experienced stunt driver will get you to your place of work promptly enough. But this is not for the feint hearted. If you scare easily, close your eyes while the driver does his stuff. The blaring of horns is also something to get used to, easily audible in your room. Everything looks good as you enter the spacious, marble, shiny lobby. Tall plants and high ceiling trick you into thinking this would be a good stay. It all goes wrong when you get to reception. We'll get to that soon. The room I had was a standard double and my first impression was of Premier Inn. But this is really unfair to Premier Inn. These rooms are very tired and bits don't function. The toilet flusher was broken, the bath tap was broken, the opening window was broken, the furniture and carpet all looked a bit grubby - the list goes on. However, you need to overcome all this and learn the "knack" for each thing, else you will get nowhere. The bed was clean. The bathroom was cleanish. The Staff - this is actually my biggest gripe. I do not really expect that everyone I meet around the world can speak English. I do expect hotel staff to be trained to deal with foreign visitors. These were terrible. Usually, but not always, someone behind the reception desk could speak a little English, but not enough to answer basic questions. There was one guy who was pretty good, but unfortunately he wasn't available 24 hours a day, for 6 days. Pity. Here is my real problem - MANY of the staff would simply not make eye contact with me when I approached and would shuffle off to be busy elsewhere leaving me totally ignored. Some visibly panicked and actually shouted for help like there was an emergency. It was bizarre and a little amusing to start with but irritating after a day or two. I tried to get an iron and ironing board sent to my room. This involved a lot of charade-type miming. I thought I did OK until a masseuse turned up at the room. Hmmm. Getting food was problematic. There is no restaurant dining room as I would expect but a series of private dining rooms at the "restaurant". Once shown into one of these rooms, you can be pretty much left alone for the evening regardless of what you might need. Luckily the menu has pictures or else the terrified girl waiting to take your order would be utterly clueless. Forget querying what the dishes are. The décor and tableware has a sort of 1980s wedding pattern to it - white china with a kind of silvery, swirly leafy pattern. Seemed out of place, but that might have been just me. A precursor to anyone coming in to the room seemed to be a lot of Chinese waitresses shouting and arguing outside and, I guess, the unlucky loser was the one that ventured in. However, go with a Chinese colleague and the staff slip into gear and all seems to work well enough. In the end I found a translator app that kind of got me through things. Breakfast doesn't start until 7:00 am which I thought was daft as most companies start work early due to the heat. So there was no consideration there for business people. That said, the buffet breakfast hall was simple to do - the girl at the entry desk just pointed to the sheet you needed to sign and then ignored you to get on with it. I can work a buffet on my own OK. Don't try asking for eggs. No point in trying to get room service either. Although I tried to get an early breakfast sent to my room, it turns out that everything in the desktop hotel services folder in your room, is pure fantasy. The 24 hour service is actually 7-10:30am for breakfast. Then there is the "Modern Space Bar", just off the lobby. No idea why they call it that unless the space refers to the gaps between users as few bodies ventured in. Certainly when I went in, in dire need of refrigerated beverages, there was rarely any staff behind the bar and when one turned up - usually a young male here - avoidance was the norm once again. Thank goodness for translator apps. As I said, I don't expect fluent English, but it is fair to expect staff to be trained to accommodate guests whatever the language barrier. Compare this to airline cabin crew who persist, with a smile, until they understand your request. Surrounding the hotel is a multitude of restaurants, none of which have English menus. The rooms are non-smoking, and the signs around the hotel also say non-smoking. Some Chinese take no notice of this and cigarette buts are in the spittoons in the hallways and by the lifts. There is free Wi-Fi, but half the time you need to switch off and just use your roaming if you want to load anything much. And be aware, any Google related feature is blocked in China. On balance, the language difficulties and the staff response to it do make for a fraught experience (thank goodness I had no serious problems to deal with, like illness) but I couldn't really dislike the place. But it was disappointing.

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