Beijing Aulympic Airport Hotel

“Sufficient for our need but not amazing ”

We flew Air China round trip Bangkok to Washington DC and had a 22 hour layover in Beijing on our way back. Air China provides a complimentary hotel stay for long layovers (book via their website), and they assigned us to the Beijing Aulympic Airport Hotel. I had read other reviews about the hote… more

We flew Air China round trip Bangkok to Washington DC and had a 22 hour layover in Beijing on our way back. Air China provides a complimentary hotel stay for long layovers (book via their website), and they assigned us to the Beijing Aulympic Airport Hotel. I had read other reviews about the hotel, so I didn’t set my expectations high. Air China provides a free shuttle bus to the hotel, which I wasn’t aware of until I read other reviews here on Trip Advisor about it. Basically follow the signs after you disembark your plane to find the counter to apply for a short stay (24 hour) visa. All the airport employees with the blue vests that speak English are super helpful. After exiting to the meet-and-greet area, find the Air China counter (near Starbucks) and tell them your name and give them your used boarding pass stub. They found our name on their printout, marked us as having arrived then gave us a tag saying Aulympic Hotel. We waited about 10 min near the Air China counter for the shuttle then were directed to follow someone to the shuttle. Upon arrival at the hotel, check-in went fine except that they were planning to give us 4 single rooms (we are a family of 4 with 2 children ages 11 & 8). That was not going to work for us, so I asked for a different arrangement. They gave us 2 rooms with 2 single beds in each room. The rooms were close to each other but not adjacent. The beds were pretty hard, but the water pressure in the showers was amazing! True, the bathroom floor got all wet when showering, but this is Asia after all... The room was clean. No free bottled water, but there was shampoo, shower gel, toothbrushes, and combs in the bathroom. I couldn’t adjust the air conditioning temperature from the preset 25 C, so it was a bit warm with the heavy duvet on the beds. I slept ok, but the rest of my family didn’t (due to jet lag and the hard beds). Overall, our rest was sufficient for our layover tour the next morning of the Great Wall (see my review of the Beijing Layover Tour). I would recommend the tiny restaurant almost across the street from the driveway into the hotel (see photo). What a fun and delicious way to experience local Chinese cuisine and culture. The place was packed and thankfully one of the other patrons spoke some English and helped us order. Donkey was the specialty in the menu. We had never tried donkey before, and it was DELICIOUS!

less

“Ok for one night if in a budget”

We had a 15 hour stopover in Beijing airport so booked a hotel. It was £29GBP including pick up and drop off. Note that things work slowly at the airport so if you are applying for 24/144 hour visa waiver allow time. At the airport we went to the meeting point but no one was there. The inquir… more

We had a 15 hour stopover in Beijing airport so booked a hotel. It was £29GBP including pick up and drop off. Note that things work slowly at the airport so if you are applying for 24/144 hour visa waiver allow time. At the airport we went to the meeting point but no one was there. The inquiry desk rang them and we were told half an hour. We were taken to the hotel which took 15 minutes. It’s a tired old hotel. Our room was clean but smelt of smoke. Shower worked well, bed was firm yet comfy. We ventured out for food. We bought water st the shop opposite but the hotel does have a shop. We checked out the Chines restaurant opposite too, it serves hot pot, the menu is badly translated and we didn’t have the energy to persevere so we chose to go back to the hotel restaurant. The food at the hotel isn’t bad at all. Much nicer than we expected and cost was around £7 each including a few big bottles of lager. We were transferred back to the airport at 4.30 am in good time for our flight home. It’s a cheap place to eat, shower and sleep but nothing more.

less