ibis Beijing Tiantandongmen Metro Station Hotel 1 estrella

I didn’t like being mis-sold this accommodation by Booking.com, who listed a number of features in ‘the room’ that simply did not exist e.g. a trouser press, an iron, a dining area, carpeting, a bathroom with bidet, a city view etc. All of these were pretty standard features, I thought, of a business twin room. Our request for a room on a high floor resulted in the most ghastly, dingy and dark twin room on the ground floor, lacking all of the features above - and more. When we challenged this with the hotel, reception staff assured us that the room was correct, even though our expected city view was of the wall of a neighbouring apartment block just a few feet away. We looked down into the toilet of one of the apartments. Hardly a city view. After being assured that there were no other suitable rooms, one on the third floor miraculously became available. It too lacked the expected features and offered not a city view but again a ‘neighbouring apartment block’ view. We accepted this room on the understanding that hotel management would attempt to find an alternative room the following day. Did they? No. Did they reach out to us at all for the remainder of our three night stay? No, they didn’t do that either. The staff weren’t at all interested in resolving this situation and management were extremely poor too - choosing not to engage with us at all. In fact, we felt ignored by the surly front of house team on leaving and returning to the hotel. Only the house-keeping staff acknowledged us each day. They were all very friendly and they maintained the room to a good standard - keeping it clean and tidy. We approached Booking.com, who started to clarify that many of the promised ‘in room’ features were not in the room at all but rather just hotel features. The business twin room was actually nothing more than a very basic twin room. I am absolutely disgusted by the hotel and by Booking.com - both refusing to admit that they had falsified or exaggerated many of the room features and both shying away from the situation. An initial 20% refund was offered by the hotel, which was promptly declined. Later, Booking.com offered £20 themselves. Together, this equated to a refund of a little over 30%. Needless to say, this embarrassing offer was also declined. Despite refusing any wrong-doing, it was interesting to see that the website was promptly updated with in-room features. Had we not have been in China, we would have checked out and stayed somewhere else, but it’s not that simple here. In transit without a visa, we had registered our whereabouts with immigration and moving on just wasn’t an option. After a month-long visit to Asia, our final hotel on the itinerary was a huge disappointment. I expected better from big brands like Ibis and Booking.com. Booking.com claim that they are in no way at fault, yet, for reasons unknown, offered £20 compensation, and insist that individual hotels are responsible for correctly listing features on THEIR website.

My experience fits well with what users "BringBackBuck8" and "Rob M" already wrote. Apparently this was a "Home Inn" brand hotel before (see old pictures of the building in yellow), but it obviously has been renovated and turned into an "Ibis" quite recently. Our room was small and very basic, but really clean and with rather new furniture. There also was a laundry room and a library. The breakfast buffet was nice with a variety of the usual Chinese breakfast dishes. There was also a toaster with bread, butter and jam; coffee was pretty good. The immediate surroundings don't offer much in terms of food, but we did find a few restaurants and a convenience store within walking distance (across the street and then south for a while). Most of the time, we just hopped on the subway and went north towards the centre.

We (4 adults) had to move to the hotel at short notice. The staff, despite limited/no english, were helpful and cheerful. The rooms are small but very clean, and do not reek of years of cigarette smoke. There are plenty of powerpoints for recharging. Teh place is easier to find at night as they light up signage on the street frontage; at day a little harder as it's set back from the street in a carpark and we missed it first time around. Location is ok. Temple is close and subway walkable. Not too many food locations around but okay for one night. We didnt try the hotel food food/bar.

Ya habíamos experimentado que en China muy poca gente habla inglés, pero nos esperábamos que en un Ibis (cadena francesa) en el centro de Pekín, alguien lo hablara. La habitación es nueva, limpia y la cama muy cómoda. Está a lado del templo del cielo. El desayuno es muy básico. Contra: En el barrio a partir de las 19 no hay absolutamente nada. Vimos una cucaracha en el pasillo.

You book an Ibis anywhere anywhere in the world and you know what you’re getting..... clean, compact and affordable. This is exactly what this was. Plus points is it’s 200m from Tiantandongmen Subway Station (Exit C) and across the road from Temple of Heaven Park. It’s situated in the car park of a hospital, set back from the road a little. The pictures on this listing must be old, it’s a lot nicer looking and has all the usual Ibis branding. Easy access to subway means you’re 10mins from Tiannemen Square and Forbidden City etc. It was pretty painless using the Airport Express and subway to get to the hotel, took about an hour and 10 minutes and I’d recommend if you arrive during the working day as Beijing road traffic can be horrendous. I had an early morning return flight and the taxi to the airport cost 135 yuan including tolls and took 40 mins. The downside is that there is not much in the area to do in the evenings, very few food outlets and I saw no bars or shops. All in all, a decent base to explore the city on the metro, but for a better tourist experience I’d stay North Dongcheng, near the Hutong and lakes.