Gloria Plaza Hotel Beijing
Situated near the embassies and central business district, Gloria Plaza Hotel Beijing is a five-minute drive from the World Trade Centre. Refurbishment of the hotel’s 420 rooms will begin at the end of this year and should be completed by the first quarter of next year.
The hotel’s Sports City Café, with a capacity of 280 guests, will be converted into a ballroom, adding more event space to the hotel’s existing four function rooms.
www.gphbeijing.com
The Great Wall Sheraton Beijing
Beijing’s longest-running luxury hotel is also one of its biggest, with 827 rooms.
Its ten function rooms and a grand ballroom, which can hold 1,200 guests, are located in
a wing with a separate lobby. There is also an outdoor garden with rock and water features that is suitable for events for up to 500 people.
The hotel is a 15-minute drive from both the National Agriculture Exhibition Centre and China International Exhibition Centre.
www.sheraton.com/greatwall
China World Hotel
No stranger to hosting international VIPs, the China World Hotel has one of the grandest lobbies in town. The 716-room hotel is part of the China World Trade Centre complex in the middle of the business district and boasts the most extensive meeting facilities in the area –
including a conference hall with enough capacity for 2,000 delegates.
www.shangri-la.com
Novotel Xin Qiao Beijing
IBM, Standard Chartered Bank and GlaxoSmithKline have all held events here.
The Novotel is in the centre of Beijing, within walking distance from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The hotel offers good value for its 700 rooms. The ballroom can hold 250 people and the hotel can handle groups of between 100 and 200 rooms. An upgrade begins this month.
www.novotel.com
The Regent Beijing
Opened last December, the Regent Hotel is set in the Wangfujing shopping district and just a ten-minute walk to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. The biggest of its seven function rooms can hold 420 delegates.
There is also a garden suitable for cocktail parties of 120 guests. Several secluded areas
within the restaurants and lounges are designed to give mid-sized groups privacy.
www.regenthotels.com
Crowne Plaza Park View Wuzhou
Located next to the Beijing International Convention Centre and within walking distance of the Olympic Games Development Zone – some rooms offer a view of the National Stadium – the Crowne Plaza has an outdoor event area that hosted 1,600 delegates at the opening reception
of last year’s World Water Congress.
The 477-room hotel is a 25 minute drive from the airport and a 10 minute drive from the Zhongguancun high-tech district.
IBM, Siemens and Intel are some firms that have recently held events here.
www.crowneplaza.com
Grand Hyatt Beijing
With 825 well-appointed rooms, ten function rooms and a ballroom that can hold 700 people, the Grand Hyatt has hosted big groups taking up to 600 rooms. The hotel also features The Residence, a suite of three meeting rooms with two coffee bars and a private lounge, suitable for up to 300 delegates.
A rather surprising tropical resort-style swimming pool can also be found on the basement level.
beijing.grand.hyatt.com
Shangri-La Hotel Beijing
With the opening of its Valley Wing in March, the Shangri-La now has the most comprehensive meeting facilities in Beijing with 21 function rooms and two ballrooms, the largest of which can hold 1,400 people.
The new wing adds 142 rooms to the original 670 rooms. An expansive garden can hold up to 400 people is popular for dinners and cocktail parties.
The hotel is a popular choice for high-tech companies including Microsoft as Zhongguancun, Beijing’s Silicon Valley, is a ten-minute drive away. Financial Street is a 20-minute drive away.
www.shangri-la.com/beijing
Westin Beijing, Financial Street
The Westin has several unique touches for its renewal theme – including offering suites with exercise equipment and different teas for guests. The 496-room hotel, which opened in October 2006, has five function rooms and a ballroom that can hold 600 guests.
Next door is the Financial Street Conference Centre with 1,180 sqm of meeting space. The hotel is in the heart of Beijing’s Wall Street and Citigroup, JP Morgan, HSBC and the Bank of China have all used its facilities recently.
www.westin.com
Sofitel Wanda Beijing
French-style luxury with Chinese accents is the theme at Sofitel’s flagship property
in China. This means breathtaking attention to detail, such as crystal lamps and handpainted
friezes. The 417-room hotel, built to China’s platinum five-star standard, has ten meeting rooms – including a ballroom that can accommodate 1,200 – all located on the
same floor.
With a three-star Michelin chef at its helm, Le Pré Lenôtre is staking a claim as Beijing’s first French fine-dining venue. The hotel also features LeSpa – Sofitel’s
exclusive spa offering.
www.sofitel.com
Coming up
Close to 9,000 five-star rooms will open before the Beijing Olympic Games, according to the Beijing Tourism Administration. In and around the main business district in the city’s east, The
Ritz-Carlton, Park Hyatt, JW Marriott, Mandarin Oriental and Millennium are due to open in the next few months.
Nearby, Hilton is adding an executive tower and Marriott will open a 615-room property early next year, next to the Beijing Railway Station.
Close to the Olympic Games development zone – an area that will also feature a new convention centre – an InterContinental Hotel and the Crowne Plaza Sun Palace are also opening.
