I stayed at the Ascott Beijing for two months during Sep / Oct 2007. Rooms were spacious and generally well maintained. Of the three rooms I stayed in I only had issues with one, which were resolved without fuss.

I had previously stayed at a 5 star hotel in Beijing, and the Ascott provided larger, better furnished rooms at a cheaper rate. The building housing the Ascott includes a number of restaurants and shops (Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Starbucks, Subway, a 24 hour convenience store, an ATM, ...).

Large pool and gym with new equipment. Reception staff generally speak good English but other staff do not (this is standard for China). Only issue would be that I didn't find the buffet breakfast fantastic (but I am quite fussy).

We rented a two bedroom deluxe apartment using the hotel's website it came to about $200. One of the rooms was a master bedroom, the other a regular bedroom with the bathroom across the hall (great for a family, might be an issue for two couples). The apartment had a full kitchen and a laundry room with a washer/dryer (small loads work best).

The apartment was large, it was well lit and felt very luxurious.

When we arrived the room was still being cleaned by a small army of maids so we spent some time at the Starbucks downstairs reading the free and very useful Time Out Beijing and That's Beijing papers. Forget about guide books, they are obsolete the moment they are published in fast changing China.

The hotel's rooms are in two towers (East and West) which you can access using your room card. You also use your room card to activate the elevator. This felt very safe. There are a few restaurants, a couple of art galleries, a massage place, a convenience store and a very neat tea house in the same building.

Breakfast is served in the nearby Casa Mia Italian restaurant. The website called it a continental breakfast, but it's much more than that. There are eggs, noodles, congee, vegetables, in addition to the more usual muffins and cereal.

I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful. Problems like missing toiletries and a leaky fridge were taken care of right away. I would recommend a stay here to anyone who's traveling in larger groups.

The hotel provides Internet access for an extra fee and can arrange excursions and airport transfers for you, but those are usually more expensive then doing it yourself (about twice as expensive). The Guomao subway stop is close by and can get you to Tianamen square and the Forbidden City very easily. Taxis were always available.

The airport shuttles get you pretty close to the hotel (take #1 and the stop is #3 - Guomao). It's only 16 Yuan, but not very comfortable. A taxi will cost about 85-100 Yuan and is probably a better option. The airport staff is completely unhelpful and will try to sell you on tours to the Great Wall and expensive shuttle services (3-4 times what it would cost by taxi). Of course all this might change with the Olympics. Hopefully for the better.

I wasn't looking for an apartment - just somewhere I could fit 2 adults and 2 kids without having to pay for 2 hotel rooms. We paid the special rate of 888RMB nightly for the Ascott Beijing, booked on the Ascott website. The location was very good - you could walk to shops & restaurants, or it was easy to get a taxi. The Silk Market was walking distance.

The apartment itself was divine - one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen & laundry. It's obviously set up for expats who stay long term. After the tiny room we had in Shanghai, this was an absolute delight.

We arrived early and paid an extra half day to check into our room early. Then it seemed a pity to leave it for the next five days, but clearly we did because we managed to cover its expansive spaces with shopping.

My family (wife, 3 kids, in-laws) spent four nights in a 3BR apartment at the Ascott in Beijing. The room was decent, although clearly fraying around the edges with worn carpet. The room is in need of updating.

Quite inexcusably, we were put in a 3BR apartment in a wing of the hotel where the other apts. were being renovated. So during the day we had workmen walking up and down the halls and we returned each day to the smell of fresh paint in the area.

The biggest problem is that the service is not up to par. For example, when we checked in, we only had 4 sets of towels in a 3 BR apartment that sleeps at least 6 people. Not sure if they think you're going to take turns or something. When we asked for more towels, they brought two sets up and asked us to sign for them (never had that happen in a hotel). When we asked for some additional sets (we like to have extras on hand), both on-duty housekeepers came up and told us we more than enough towels and that we could exchange towels, not get additional sets. At one point, they accused us of wanting to steal the towels.

After engaging the front desk, we finally got a few extra sets of towels, but it clearly wasn't worth the hassle. We had other minor problems throughout the stay. While we enjoyed the extra space, the kitchen and laundry facilities and the price was relatively inexpensive, in some ways it was more hassle than it was worth.