THE REGENT BEIJING

This was our first hotel after arriving in China. I was surprised just how clean and modern this place was. The breakfast buffet was fantastic and was better than the other five 5 star hotels we were in during out 16 days in china. The evening meal was very good but I thought it could have been better with the selection of food available. The room was large and the view fantastic, just wish there was less pollution so you could see farther. This was a great place to start our vacation.

Typical five star hotel. Beautiful, great service, friendly staff. Lots of activities in the neighborhood, including a pub across the street, which we frequented. Good place to begin a tour of Beijing.

Myself and two children have recently stayed at the Regent for six nights. We loved the location, the breakfast and the staff. The staff spoke fantastic English which made it easy for us with absolutely no Chinese language skills at all. I would highly recommend this hotel for families as we all enjoyed it.

I normally stay at the Regent Berlin in Germany and have not been to another Regent before I spend two nights at the Regent Beijing in China therefore my review may be biased. The Regent Beijing is a massive hotel featuring about 20 floors with 30 rooms each. It features five restaurants as well as a club lounge where breakfast and “dinner” is served. The hotel is filled with tourists that are arriving and departing by tour bus on a guided tour through China. The “Regent Touch” as I have come to expect it from the Regent Berlin has been absent. No newspapers delivered to your room door in the morning, quality of food and drink lacking. Staff friendly yet distant. You are just one of many guests, the professional intimacy of the Regent Berlin is missing here. At check-in the staff member attending to me was on three mobile phones while processing my check-in, even picking up one of the phones to talk to somebody and ignoring me for a while. That would be fine if there is a shortage of front-desk staff and you need to manage something urgent, but not when there are literally five or six staff standing around and not doing a thing. Staff speaks English but their fluency is dependent upon the person. One might be fluent the other might barely be able to express themselves (across all areas of staff). Rooms are dated and tired (Scratches on furniture, holes in the cushions of couches) Housekeeping is a mixed back – they do miss some corners in the bathroom when cleaning but instantly replace one of the three towels per person when one has used one. But generally the place was clean. Executive Club rooms are not worth it. Sure, one might get an early check-in and late check-out and a bigger room but both breakfast and dinner buffet are limited in quality and quantity. Breakfast was ok, albeit the staff seemed surprised when I ordered some complimentary eggs. Bread was incredibly stale, as were the baked goods. Dinner is a joke. You get offered a “light menu with premium spirits and drinks” but in reality it is a few vegetable sticks with dips, cold dim sum and five or six meat platters that are tiny (and cold). The leftover rolls from breakfast are provided as is some cheese and a bit of great-looking but not palatable desserts. Fruits were almost exclusively the standard variety of melons, grapes and apples. Quality-wise, economy class airplane food is better and there is a ton of great food just outside of the hotel. Don’t spend your money there. In the Executive Club you are to wear “smart casual” which they do not advertise prior to check-in. If you do not meet the staffs expectation of what smart casual means for them (and there is no clear definition), you get to enjoy their looks of thinly veiled disgust (I was wearing closed shoes, a non-hole dark blue full length jeans, a polo shirt and a pullover). The minibar consist of two cans of beer, two cans of Coca-Cola and two bottles of water as well as one bottle of orange juice. Water was replenished. Security deposit was double what I paid for the room for two nights. Overall, I cannot recommend the Regent Beijing. I will not be back. But I look forward to the exceptional quality offered at the Regent Berlin.

My wife and I spent three nights here while we toured Beijing. The rooms were adequate but the service and breakfast were extraordinary. We used the 25 meter pool every evening to unwind. The staff were considerate and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We would stay there again.