good rooms, clean, good food, spa and shops are a little overpriced, pool is decent, most people at reception speak limited English

We just returned from Beijing after staying at the Capital Hotel for 3 nights. We had a deluxe room with 2 beds, and it was a very nice, clean, large room, well-decorated and appointed. The bathroom was large, attractive (marble counters), and had a shower/bathtub combo. The bed was comfortable. The air conditioning was excellent. The lobby of the hotel is also very lovely and elegant, and the hotel even has a small bowling alley for guest use for a small 30 yuan (about $4 USD) fee. The indoor swimming pool is a bit small but adequate.

I would give the rooms at this hotel 5 stars, but the staff 2 stars. The front desk staff are not very friendly. The first night, I asked a front desk person to call a local tourist attraction phone number to get information about a Great Wall tour (I would have called, but I don't speak Chinese), but the staff person at first refused to call the number. I asked again, and he reluctantly agreed to call the number for me. It only took about a minute of his time; I'm not sure what his problem was.

The next night, I needed some currency exchanged, but they stop exchanging currency in the hotel at 10:30 PM. I went to the front desk at about 10:40 PM unaware of the currency exchange closing time, but they refused to exchange any currency for me until the next morning. I know it was 10 minutes after closing, but their guest guidebook says to "contact the front desk" for currency exchange after-hours. Apparently they won't exchange any currency at all after-hours. You would think they would try to accommodate their guests' needs.

The WORST though was the business center. If you want to use the Internet, prepare to get GOUGED badly. They charge 2 yuan per minute for Internet use, or roughly $18 USD an hour to use the Internet, which is a blatant ripoff. They also charge $1.50 USD per page for printing, another ripoff. The most I was charged for Internet in all the other Chinese hotels I stayed at was about $5 USD an hour. Also, the lady in charge of the business center lied about how much time I had spent at the computer. I noted the time I sat down at the computer and started using the Internet, but she said I had started 10 minutes earlier, happily charging me 20 yuan more than I should have been charged. I told her that was not correct, but she argued with me.

The bellboys were good though, helping us with luggage and getting taxis for us. The front desk staff speaks pretty good English, so at least you can look forward to that.

The hotel restaurant we ate at (the cafe on the first floor that serves breakfast), is overpriced, but that's the case at most hotel restaurants. A Coke costs about $3 USD, while it's about 40 cents from a local Beijing restaurant or shop. Avoid hotel restaurants if possible, because you generally get gouged.

The hotel is within 10-15 minutes walking distance of Wangfujing Street, 10 minutes walking distance of the metro station, and about 15-20 minutes walking distance from Tiananmen Square/Forbidden City.

Overall, I recommend this hotel for the great rooms and reasonable room rates, but don't expect friendly or even professional service from the staff. This hotel would have gotten 5 stars if not for the staff.

Bejing, in my view, is working hard to catch on to western ways...while it's very western in some ways, many times I felt this must have been much what Japan was like, shortly after the war.
The spirit is there, but the culture is so different. I always felt the Japanese can do whatever they want, more or less, in western, or their own style. China, isn't quite there...like looking in a funhouse mirror sometime. If the above doesn't quite make sense to you, you will understand after visiting China.

The hotel is a mirror of the above opinion....smart, stylish, and well located, it truly is a four star hotel....and in some ways, perhaps more. Comfortable beds, spacious room, great view...but with natural stone bath surfaces, the shower door still leaked profusely...but into a conveniently placed drain on the floor outside the shower...intentional design ? Beautiful stainless steel accents...apparently attached with rusty bolts, as the rust leaked out from beneath the stainless steel. Huge dept store sized windows...covered the the soot/haze that descends upon Bejing each day.

A sumptuous buffet, rivaling the four/five star Japanese hotel(s) I've reviewed...and an enormous lobby. A basement level indoor pool (but you MUST wear a shower cap....ah the '50s live !)
I would stay here again.

Hint to the traveler: Don't drink the Bejing water...the locals are used to it: You aren't ! The 7-11 behind the store is a great place for price and quality for fresh sandwiches and liquor (and bottled water...the hotel furnishes one small bottle to you each day).

We stayed at the Capital Hotel in late April with a SmarTours package. The hotel was great and the location was very close to the Forbidden City. Hotel was very clean and the staff was very friendly. Sure the beds were hard, but it really was not much of an issue. I would stay here again. Taxis are very inexpensive and make getting around the city very easy. They always have taxis right up front at the hotel. We did book a car for two days because we wanted to head out of town and go to the great wall and didn't want to relay on taxis to try to get back. We looked on Trip Advisor and found lots of driver recommendations for John. We e-mailed him before we went and booked his services for two days. The night before we were scheduled to go to the great wall John called our hotel and advised us we might be better to switch days so we will have nicer weather for the great wall. He was right, it rained the morning we were scheduled to go and was a beautiful day when we ended up going. John's English isgreat and he was full of information regarding Beijing. We really enjoyed our two days with him and would highly recommend his services. We e-mailed him at [--] and he has a website at www.beijing-driver.com. All in all, it was a great trip at a very reasonable price thanks to SmarTours. It was our first time using SmarTours and were very pleased with the service and hotels they provided.