I booked this hotel on the basis of reviews here in TripAdvisor. And everything that I read was absolutely true. From the front desk personnel to the room itself, this is a fabulous hotel.

I booked a triple room. When we arrived we were told we were "upgraded" at no additional cost. I always get a little nervous when I am told I am upgraded for no additional cost. But upon entering the room, 818, what a surprise. If you want to feel as though you are in China and not in a modern hotel that happens to be in China, this is the place to stay.

It is located on a hutong. After several days the locals started to recognize us and us them. One problem is that many taxis do not like going into hutongs, so we indicated to the driver that they could leave us off at the main street intersecting the hutong. It's about a five minute walk to the hotel from the street.

Maybe I had forgotten when I booked the room, but breakfast was included in our rate. What a wonderful breakfast it was, with both Chinese and western items. And egg dishes made to order.

I cannot speak highly enough of the front desk personnel. Jillian and Fay (I believe their names are) were always very helpful and pleasant.

The location is very good. Just about a 15 minute walk to the night food market on DongHua Men street. It intersects with a pedestrian mall anchored by Beijing APM mall.

All in all, a great place, a great find, and very reasonably priced!

This hotel was just what I was looking for in that it was small, in a tradional part of the city, walking distance to tourist things but plenty of real chinese experiences and local resturants (no english tho).

the hotel is small with few rooms but had 24hr desk, organised tours, gave good directions and had good drivers.

The room I booked was a deluxe double which was perfect for one or two.

Dont go there if you want a pool, gym or swanky resturant . This hotel still has free internet, safes, A/C, etc.

It was so quiet and leafy in the courtyard and very clean. A relief not to be in a western style high rise hotel.

If the Chinese did B&B's it would look something like this. Not everyone likes B&B's, nor are they suitable for everyone's needs. There is no arguing matters of taste; decide what you want and make your plans accordingly.

Viewed through that prism, I shall add my experience to the Great Sihe-Hotel-is-it-Elegant-or-Dumpy Debate.

The location, once you--and your hack--overcome the initial *shock* of 1000ft of twisting "hutong" alley, is rather good, not far from the city center and with an interesting street scene all around. The deep set-back from the main road and atrium layout makes the environment very quiet. I printed the locator map (from sihehotel.com) as a 4x6 photo to satisfactory effect but the address in hanzi (地址:北京市东城区东四南大街灯草胡同5号) is almost like driving directions to get there and should be enough for an experienced cabbie. Inexperienced cabbies will have to call (电话:51693555) in any case.

The lack of an English speaker at (Chinese) night made changing our arrival date, which required someone from Travelocity to call the hotel, more complicated than it should have been.

Our room was in mostly decent condition and the bathroom was modernised. It was, however, cramped: The doors impinged on the furniture and we had to shuffle our luggage around to open any particular piece. One wall had chalking paint that soiled our baggage and, if we were not careful, the contents. I think our room was smaller than most so you may fare better. Look for a booking agent that lists actual room area in square meters or some such.

The atrium layout is gloriously pleasant in mild weather but miserable in the rain.

The included internet was reasonably good. Ping times were around 100 ms, but with very little variation so the subjective feeling of the connection's quality was better than 100 ms makes it sound.

The breakfast was as good as can be expected for a hotel this size. The breakfast room was rather cramped, but all the basics were covered.

The tour operator, listed in the lobby but independent of the hotel, was a good buy if you don't have very much time. Seeing all those sights so quickly can be exhausting though.

In sum, I would say the service side of the business is for the most part tightly run and they do a reasonably good job compensating for the property's shortcomings. But the limitations of the building are too jarring for me to recommend it without caveat. If this is your first trip to China, look elsewhere. If you are looking for the most luxury features for the dollar, you won't find it here. But if you are an experienced traveller, don't need any business support beyond internet, or are a little more adventurous than most, then consider it.

My husband and I along with our adult daughter stayed here for five nights in May. While all our hotels during our two week plus visit were memorable for various reasons, this one was fabulous on all points: atmosphere, service, location, value. The hutongs are quickly vanishing: cherish the opportunity to absorb their community spirit by staying in this beautifully kept hotel. Our room was spacious enough to enjoy time indoors, the bathroom had all the modern conveniences one could want, and the courtyard was peaceful and magical in the evening. The service at the hotel is spectacular--do take advantage of the car service from the Beijing airport (the very reasonable cost is added to your hotel bill). The breakfast is delicious, though the small room can be overtaxed at peak times. We are walking New Yorkers so the hotel's location seemed perfect to us. The hotel is not far from a subway station--and the subway system is marvelous. Otherwise, we walked everywhere and were amused that nothing ever stopped the card game around the corner, though the players sometimes rotated. Our son, who is teaching in China, encouraged us to seek out reasonably priced, non-Western hotels during our stay--for price but more importantly for cultural reasons. It was good advice.