Finding a hotel in Beijing

[aimei]

I am studying at a university here in Beijing and my parents are coming to visit me in a couple of weeks. I am trying to find a hotel for them but I'm not sure if you are just supposed to show up and bargain at the front desk or if they should book it online from the U.S.....can anyone give me any advice on this? They want to be close to the downtown area (ie Tiananmen, Wangfujing etc....)

[roddy]

Have a look at somewhere like Sinohotel.com to find some likely hotels, then you can either book online if you want to have somewhere arranged for your first night, or just turn up and bargain on the day - you'll usually get the best price just turning up on the day, but if they're new in town, have luggage, etc, then booking ahead may make more sense, and after the first night they can renegotiate or move if they prefer.

[aimei]

Ok thanks. Does the bargaining even apply to bigger foreign owned hotels, or just local Chinese ones?

[889]

Take an afternoon and visit a half-dozen or so places beforehand. Chinese hotels will always let you see the rooms first. Much better than showing up with luggage and your parents in hand, when your negotiating flexibility will clearly be limited.

Two- and three-star places will easily give discounts from the posted rates at the front desk. If you want a four-star place, then you may well have to go online or through an agency to get a discount.

"Bargaining" at hotels isn't really a matter of drawn-out horse-trading. Look at the posted rates at the front desk and then ask what the discount rates are. That's it. Sometimes you'll be offered a further discount if you hesitate, but not too often.

In any event, don't act like you're at Panjiayuan!

[Jonny Wang]

Aimei,

I actually disagree that the way to get the best price at hotels is to show up and bargain.

I've stayed at many mostly 3 & 4 star hotels during my business traveling and I've rarely gotten cheaper rates by walking up and bargaining than I get by ordering online at www.elong.com. In the rare event that walk-up bargaining prices are cheaper, they are cheaper by maybe 10rmb. If you do decide to walk up and negotiate, I'd say shoot for about 50-60% of the posted "rack rate.“ Hotels really inflate their rack rates to make you think you're getting a good deal when they give you a discount.

At elong.com, you can search hotels by geography, view pictures of the rooms, view maps of their location, book online, but you don't have to pre-pay. You pay when you get to the hotel, which is really nice, in case you end up canceling your reservation. Some websites require you to pre-pay. (and they have an English language website)

As for the area you are talking about, I've had good experience with the Novotel Xin Qiao Hotel. It's (sort-of) walking distance to Tiananmen or Wang Fu Jing (15-20min) or you can take the subway, which is literally outside the front door of the hotel. This is a really nice hotel that you can usually book for around 500-600rmb. I usually like to stay at cheaper places, but if I have customers or other visitors coming into Beijing, this is where I put them. The only bad thing about this hotel is that the breakfast buffet is something like 90rmb extra! Skip it and buy some yummy pastries at the Japanese bakery in the end of the building.

If your parents prefer nicer hotels and want to be even closer to Tiananmen, put them up at the Beijing Capital Hotel (首都宾馆 shou du bin guan). It's only about 2 or 3 blocks from Tiananmen. Rooms are probably about $100/night, but it's a 4 or maybe even 5 star hotel. They aren't on elong.com, but their phone number is 010 6512 9988. Address is 3 Qian Men East Street, Dong Cheng. The Novotel Xin Qiao is on the same street, but a few blocks further away from Tiananmen. There is a nice blind massage place across the street from the hotel that gives great foot massages!

[aimei]

Thanks for the info, this was very helpful to me. Actually my parents went ahead and already booked a place at the Capital hotel so it's good to know that it's a nice place.