Rating
"Great business hotel" Stayed at the Intercontinental Financial Street for three nights in September, 2006 on business. In a nutshell: terrific hotel, great service, good rates. Only slight negatives are location and street noise. This property's two strongest points are its understated but elegant rooms and its very attentive staff. From the outside, it blends in to its neighboring office towers (making it easy to miss if you're not watching carefully), and when you walk inside, the lobby is elegant enough, but nothing to write home about. When you get to the rooms though, they're beautifully decorated in neutral earth tones and have a really comfortable, cozy feel, with all the modern amenities -- flat panel TV, beautiful bathroom fixtures, panoramic windows, etc. The bed is nice and firm with beautiful linens. I stayed on the Club Floor, which upped the rate to 1600 RMB (about $210), but it was worth it. They press three items for you for free, throw in free breakfast in the Club, free movies (which I didn't have time to use), free use of loaner laptops with free wireless Internet (in the Club), and I was able to use the Club lounge for one-on-one business meetings (I paid only for any food or drink that my guests used). I was conducting interviews for a rep, and the Club staff went out of their way to make my guests feel welcome. They invited my guests in to the Club, sat them at a table and offered them a drink, and then called me in my room to let me know they were there -- all without my asking. The breakfast in the Club was very nice -- fresh juices, fresh fruit, assorted pastries/breads, cereals, your choice of eggs and several Chinese dishes. Not the huge spread of some of the hotel restaurants, but more than gracious plenty for me. I only ate at one of the other hotel restaurants (the cafe), and that was for lunch. Good food, good service (though they didn't hover), but there are so many good restaurants in Beijing that I didn't eat in the hotel if I could help it (not a function of there being anything wrong with the hotel restaurants, rather indicative of the plethora of other options). My only negatives involve location and street noise. The location on Financial Street is a little out of the way from most of my meetings in the Central Business District (CBD). It's located only maybe 1/2 mile from Chang An Avenue, but traffic in Beijing is notoriously horrible, so getting anywhere takes a while, unless you're willing to take the subway, which is an easy walk, but wasn't feasible for me since I didn't have a good feel for where my off-site meetings were. If you're going mainly for the tourist sites on Chang An Avenue (Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square), then this is a pretty good location, as it's just a short jog up to Chang-An, then a mile or so jog down Chang An, which is really wide and moves fairly well most of the time. If you're going to other CBD locations though, like China World, Lufthansa Center, etc., you might find that this is a bit removed. Not a deal-killer, but a consideration. I also experienced a little street noise at night. The hotel sits just beside a freeway, so there's some noise at night. Either ask for a high room or one on the back side of the hotel if this bothers you. Overall, I consider this a terrific hotel that I would not hesitate to recommend, based on the wonderful service and beautiful rooms, as long as a little extra time in the taxi is not a deal-killer for you.

Rating
"Excellent hotel if the location meets your needs" I stayed at the Intercontinental Financial Street for 4 nights in mid-September. It was a personal extension to a business trip, but I was able to use a corporate rate that made it very affordable. I agree with much that previous reviewers have noted, especially regarding the pros and cons of the location and of the hotel itself. First, the location. The hotel is on the west side of the city, on the 2nd ring road about 300m south of the Fuchengmen subway station. This makes it convenient if, like me, you want to go to the Summer Palace or the universities in the Haidian District, or the Back Lakes district north of the Forbidden City. It is also easy to get to Tian'anmen Square by subway or taxi. However, if you have business or personal reasons to make frequent visits to the east side of the city, the location is a pretty big negative. Taxis are not expensive but traffic is bad most times of the day and you would spend a lot of time going back and forth. To avoid that problem, when I went anywhere during the day I took the subway to the station nearest my destination and walked or took a taxi from there. Subways are also crowded most times of the day but that didn't bother me. Your taxi driver may not know exactly where it is, so either have a taxi card from the hotel, or if arriving at the airport, get the information desk to write the hotel name in Chinese characters. My airport taxi driver didn't know it but asked another driver who did for directions, and my other taxi drivers knew where it was but sometimes had trouble finding the entrance. So I had them drop me by the parkway in front instead of at the door, no big deal. The immediate area near the hotel south of Fuchengmennei Dajie is all office building or tall buildings under construction. While that makes the immediate area pretty lifeless, there are some surprising signs of life, like the people who gathered at night on the small parkway/garden that fronts the hotel and office buildings to ballroom dance or to listen to a small band and singer. If you are willing to go a short way outside the hotel, though, you can find much more interesting environs. North of Fuchengmennei, about 10 minutes' walk north from the hotel by the subway station, there is still a hutong area with lots of little shops and restaurants, an outdoor market street, and even some tourist attractions like the former residence of Lu Xun and the White Pagoda Temple. Across the 2nd ring rd are a couple of shopping center/department stores with grocery sections in them. So it isn't hard to find almost anything within walking distance of the hotel. The hotel itself is only around a year old and my room was great, just what you would expect at a 5-star hotel and better than some of the others I've seen in Beijing. The bed was extremely comfortable, the bathroom spacious and immaculate. Hotel service was also excellent. I'm very sensitive to noise and was concerned about the busy road in front. They met my request with a room that faced the back, on a higher floor away from the road. There was still some low level noise due to construction and the fact that the windows have a section that opens (surprising given Beijing's pollution). The seal wasn't as tight and soundproof as a single pane of glass would have been, but my sleep was never really disturbed. Perhaps the only negative, as another reviewer mentioned, are the prices for the extras. If you are on expense account then big bills for laundry, food, or Internet access won't bother you. If you are footing the bill yourself as I was, then you'll be looking outside the hotel for almost everything. Luckily the neighborhood to the north had everything I needed, even a Fornet laundry that cost 1/4 of what the hotel would have charged. I would definitely stay here again if the location fit my needs for the trip and I wanted the 5-star quality. For character on another personal stay I might choose one of the hotels in a hutong area instead, but those wouldn't have the same quality.

Rating
"Great Hotel" Great hotel. Friendly service, nice rooms, friendly staff. One of the better Intercontinental Hotels (and after staying at a few other 5star hotels in Beijing it is now my favoured)

Rating
"Great Hotel" Great hotel. Friendly service, nice rooms, friendly staff. One of the better Intercontinental Hotels (and after staying at a few other 5star hotels in Beijing it is now my favoured)

Rating
"Loved the Interconti" Stayed in the hotel for 2 nights in October and loved it very much. Hotel is located in the financial district, which is actually only 15 minutes by taxi from, say Forbidden City, but it is a kind of out of the way. That's why it is really calm in there, you don't have noisy tourist groups or something like this. The rooms are spacious, the bathroom is almost the size of the room itself. The only 2 things that were a kind of annoying: smell in the bathroom (bad ventilation) and traffic noise in the room (the windows are not isolates enough). The breakfast is great, and they have a really nice bar there.

Rating
"Fantastic but room for improving" II stayed 9 nights in different trips to China during October. This hotel is in general terms fantastic, specially the rooms. Fantastic bed, great towels, and a very nice bathroom. The spa and 25 meters long swimming pool are just terrific. If what you like of a hotel is the “hardware” this is probably the best in Beijing and one of the best city hotels. But there is room for improving. It is the lack of details what make this hotel not being perfect. You feel noone is paying attention to you, the level of English is very poor, no international newspaper, very bad service in the Chinese restaurant. I left the Chinese restaurant one night without finishing my dinner and without paying the bill, just because I had been waiting and waiting for my second course that neve came, I told them I wanted to talk to the manager next morning, no one contacted me. Probably what this hotel lacks is being run by an American company. It is a pity to say this, but it is a fact that the best personal service in 5 stars hotel is provided in American hotels. If you want to experience it, just go to the Hilton in Chongquin.

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