Five star hotels face a lot of trouble with their clients because in the service industries customer satisfaction is always tied to expectations. And let’s face it, it’s a tough mix to master: courtesy, consideration, and going the extra mile for a customer without being obsequious or intrusive. It’s a wonder that it happens anywhere. The expectations are that much higher at five star hotels’ price points. A customer naturally expects something for what he or she is paying.

But a number of hotels I have been to, particularly in Asia, have succeeded in this mix to a degree that stuns. The Peninsula Beijing, unfortunately, is not one of them. It is, by far, the poorest excuse for a five star hotel I have ever stayed in.

Let’s start with a few lesser details. First, the rooms. I was upgraded to the largest non-suite sized room at the club level. Most Americans will probably find the room unbearably small. Other reviewers have complained about the cigarette smoke in the nonsmoking rooms. The Peninsula has yet to remedy that situation. The sheets in my room reeked of smoke, an error that could have been avoided easily by more attentive management.

I will admit that the bathroom was a decent size. And there are cool switches for every light you can think of to the side of the bed, as well as a large plasma TV, though these days it’s pretty rare to find a top property in Japan or China that doesn’t have one in every room. You will need to ask the hotel for an adapter if you’re using appliances with American voltage.

Asking the hotel for anything, however, will usually involve a tip, even if it’s something you’d ordinarily expect a room to have. There’s a scene in Curb Your Enthusiasm (Episode 40 for fans) where Larry stays at the Regency in New York and has to tip the guy who fixes the faulty air conditioning. That’s more or less what service is like at the Peninsula.

On to the food. Breakfast at the Jing restaurant is simply dreadful. The spread compares unfavorably to a number of four stars I’ve been to, and the quality of the food is simply appalling. The pastries, for example, are uniformly damp, almost stale. There’s a good omelette station, but I haven’t been to many hotels that have flubbed an omelette. The restaurant itself lacks a view and is dark, so you kind of feel like you’ve been transported to a high school during a brownout.

And then there’s the service. The staff at Jing looks and acts severely depressed, and can be rude to boot. I witnessed a waitress practically flinging coffee at an American customer because she asked for hot coffee after getting a cold cup. Jing is the worst breakfast experience I have ever had at a hotel.
As other reviewers have noted, check-in is uncoordinated. When I arrived, my bags were lying around the reception area completely unattended to. After I finished check-in, I had to locate a bellhop to find my bags.

By nearly any measure I can think of, the Peninsula is a disappointment. Ultimately, however, the joylessness of the hotel is its greatest drawback. Its employees’ lack of enthusiasm is contagious. And unless it’s important to you to stay in a hotel that sells overpriced designer goods in its basement (that’s a draw?), you’ll save` money and have a better experience at just about any other top hotel in the city.

We decide to revisit The Peninsula, Beijing and stayed 2 nights in May 2008 after visiting cities on the Silk Road...Dunhuang, Turpan , Urumqi and Kashgar.

My last stay at The Peninsula in March 2007 was somewhat marred by the smell of cigarette smoke even though we stayed on a non-smoking floor but we were pleased that the hotel did something to rectify the situation then. Therefore, we opted to stay again at the hotel.

During this recent trip to China, we stayed in some of the better hotels along the route, but they paled in comparison with The Peninsula. When we arrived at the hotel, it was like stepping into an oasis. The grand deluxe room we stayed in was comfortable and "luxurious". They provided nice touches, like...freshly ironed linen floor cloth placed beside the bed next to the bedroom slippers so that we could step onto it when we got up from bed ! That said, the non-smoking floor where our room was situated was what it was supposed to be- smoke-free and it was also very quiet.

The service at Jing Restaurant was good and the buffet breakfast serving both Western and Chinese food was excellent. The waffles tasted just as good.

The location of the hotel is wonderful, and it was just a short walk to the main shopping area and to the food street selling all kinds of barbequed food and snacks .

We arrived at the hotel just when the staff were observing a 3 minutes' silence for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. The reception staff apologised for keeping us waiting but really no apology was required as guests should be understanding.

We felt that the service from the staff was good and they acted "human", and were not "robotic" in going about their duties.

Sub-standard to Peninsula properties in Bankok and Hong Kong. Rooms ok, Peninsula-kind touches present. However staff not too professional: porters shouting at each other over who will is to fetch my luggage for 5 min in the main lobby while customer (me) standing right next to them. Hotel transfer to airport Mercedes or R-R? How about a 10+ years old Audi?!
Swimming pool currently closed "for renovation". Overall OK but defintely not excellent.

We stayed at the Penn for three nights and thoroughly enjoyed our stay however there were some pluses and minuses to this hotel that we wanted to share:

Pluses:
We told them it was our anniversary and they had a free bottle of wine in our room upon our arrival---Nice touch!
The Club Floor is worth the extra money and the breakfast is fabulous.
Our room was great, top floor and away from the elevators.
Wonderful location, close to shopping, restaurants, food and sights!
Very helpful and attentive staff, Francos on the club floor is superb!
Fabulous piano player in the lobby, enjoyed listening to her.

Minuses:
We stayed directly under the club floor and could hear people walking around.
The shower is not properly sealed and leaks water on to the floor.
The Club Floor is a little anal about removing glasses from the floor.
ATM machine frequently runs out of money.

Would we stay there again? Yes, we would and would recommend the hotel to our friends. So, the pluses heavily outweigh the minuses!