Oriental Garden Hotel - Beijing, China     

On the surface, the Oriental Garden's rooms seem to be adequate, if a little worn. However, after arriving my business associate and I left the hotel as soon as we could make other arrangements due to a range of problems. First, the beds are almost literally as hard as rocks. Second, as of August 2007 some areas of the hotel are under renovation. A note left in the room indicated that work would be done between 8am and 8pm. However, on some nights work-related noise continued past 10pm. Also, the air conditioning was not adequate. It took several hours at the maximum setting for the air conditioning to make the room comfortable for sleeping in Beijing's August heat. Finally, as others report, the staff's English is less than perfect, though this did not present a major problem. If you are willing to spend a little more, you should definitely look into staying at the excellent Kuntai Royal Hotel located two subway stops south.