Overview of the Waldorf Astoria Beijing

The Waldorf Astoria Beijing opened in 2014 and sits in a prime Wangfujing location. The apm mall is directly across the street, the Peninsula Beijing is diagonally across, and the Legendale and Regent are just one intersection away. The location is excellent. The main building has 169 guest rooms, including 9 with distinctive terraces, along with 37 luxury suites. In addition, the hotel also offers unique hutong courtyard suites. The East Courtyard consists of 4 courtyard suites, including three 100-square-meter suites and one 150-square-meter suite. The West Courtyard is a standalone 765-square-meter courtyard villa with its own 145-square-meter private garden courtyard.

The hotel has 3 restaurants. Peacock Alley is a lounge serving afternoon tea and cocktails, and Diamond members receive a 200 RMB dining credit. Brasserie 1893 is a French restaurant, and this is also where breakfast is served. Zijin Mansion is the hotel’s Chinese restaurant, built around an innovative Cantonese cuisine concept while also incorporating select local Beijing flavors. If you book through FHR, you get a US$100 dining credit that can be used here.

Standard rooms generally cost around 2000, while award redemptions run from 60,000 to 80,000 points. If you have a weekend FN from the Aspire, this is absolutely a good place to use it.

Redemption

This stay happened to fall on a weekend, so I chose to use a weekend FN. I then emailed [email protected] to make a polite upgrade request, and since it was also my wedding anniversary, the hotel generously upgraded us to a Deluxe Suite, with special room decorations and a complimentary cake. Later, I noticed there was also a teddy bear, so I emailed again and managed to get that arranged too. Under normal circumstances, room upgrades are limited to one category. Getting upgraded to a terrace room is already pretty good, so getting a suite upgrade is even less common.

【ymlulu’s comment】This is the most straightforward upgrade-request email I’ve ever seen...

Exterior

The hotel’s exterior is a striking copper-clad structure that really stands out. The section marked by the hotel abbreviation is where the terrace rooms are located; there are only 4 of them, and there are also terrace suites on the other side. Since we arrived too early, we also took a quick walk over to the entrance of the courtyard residences on the north side.

Lobby

Right after entering, the concierge desk is on the right, where prices for cakes and desserts are displayed. On the left are Peacock Alley and Brasserie 1893, where afternoon tea and breakfast are served. During this visit, the hotel was offering a Perrier-Jouët champagne-themed afternoon tea on the first day and a space-walk 3D interactive afternoon tea theme on the second day. Both were priced at around 700, and each theme typically runs for several months.

Further inside is the front desk and main lobby.

Guest Room

The room was decorated beautifully, with lots of roses, plus a box of roses, a red velvet cake, and a teddy bear. The bedside pad could control the room’s electronics and the curtains. The toiletries were by Ferragamo. My one complaint was that although the cake was delivered in the evening, it said “Happy Birthday” on it, which felt a bit generic and not especially thoughtful. Other than that, the internet was extremely, extremely slow, though maybe I was doing something wrong.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served at Brasserie 1893, the French restaurant on the first floor, and it includes both a buffet section and made-to-order items. From what I remember, the wontons, breakfast steak, and various breads were all good. The rotating roast selection was also very good: roast oxtail on the first day and lamb leg on the second. The downside was that the breakfast restaurant is too small. When it gets crowded, you have to sit in the lounge, which makes getting food less convenient. There was also no à la carte menu on the table, and no server came by proactively to take our order; we only got the menu after asking for it ourselves.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Waldorf Astoria Beijing delivered an excellent stay. Its location in the heart of Wangfujing is hard to beat, and the hardware is top-notch. Booking with a weekend FN or through FHR is a great option.