The Rosewood Beijing is sleek & sophisticated, attracting a client list of celebrities & designers, nestled in the middle of the Central Business District.
It doesn’t matter how much of an intrepid traveler I am, how many flights I’ve been on and how many airports I’ve gotten lost in, I still get a bit of anxiety when we land. Did my luggage arrive? Will custom officials give me grief? Do we have all the appropriate Visas documents? Do we have the address of where we’re going? All these questions and thoughts go through my head, before the plane even comes to a full stop. So you can imagine how relieved and excited I was, when we saw a happy smiling gentleman waving a sign with our names printed across it at the end of the gangway.
Through a mixture of broken English and hand signals, we soon realized that our hotel, The Rosewood Beijing, had arranged for us to a have a VIP transfer from the airport to the hotel. What service! Navigating an airport is one thing, navigating the airport in Beijing is a completely different story. It’s huge, it’s crowded and after 20+ hours of traveling, our senses were a bit sleepy.
At a scurried pace, our host insisted on taking our hand luggage and proceeded to lead us through the crowds, the hoards and get us through all the checkpoints, without us having to utter a single word. In under twenty minutes, we had our luggage and were seated comfortably in our waiting black car and in route to the hotel. This is the way to travel through an airport, hassle free and extremely quickly.
After about an hour in stop and go traffic (and yes, traffic in Beijing is the worst I’ve ever been in), we abruptly drove into a private driveway and realized we had arrived. Shining high up above us, was a beautiful building with a facade reflecting the sunset, and before we could spend too much time admiring the beauty, we were whisked again by the concierge team to our suite, where we could check in, without even having to visit the lobby.
“Walking into our suite, we were greeted with one of the most spectacular views of Beijing. Having arrived on a (rare) clear night, we were about to take in this rapidly growing city beneath our feet.”
Our room was incredibly spacious, with a separate living room area and bedroom off the side. The entire front of our suite was floor to ceiling windows, giving off the most impressive views of Beijing and the busy streets below. The design felt like modern Chinese with dark wood accents and a very impressive art collection adorning the walls and space.
The attention to detail was especially noticeable in the decor, where we had a mix of glamorous coffee table books and little accessories, making the space feel like a home, rather than a room inside a 22 story hotel
The Manor Club
If you come to the Rosewood Beijing, you most splurge a bit and get access to the Manor Club, the private lounge on the seventh floor. It’s one of the best club lounges we’ve been to and aside from the cocktail hours and the gourmet snacks being served around the clock, there are plenty of other perks as well.
Guests received complimentary pressing or laundry services, complimentary mini bar and in suite check in and check out. You also have access to the lounge wherever you wish, so a few times we would come to finish up some work, or just sit back in the leather chairs in front of the fireplace.
The Manor Club food is also incredible and we often found ourselves heading in around dinner time for pre snacks and drinks. Wine, cocktails, beer, tea, coffee, pretty much any refreshment you can think of is available, and chances are the staff will likely anticipate what you want before you do. A long table is presented with hors d'oeuvres, desserts, cheeses and fresh pata negra with melon. So if you can, the Manor Club is worth the expense.
“Wine, cocktails, beer, tea, coffee, pretty much any refreshment you can think of is available, and chances are the staff will likely anticipate what you want before you do.”
Dining at the Rosewood Beijing
If you can pull yourself away from the outside food stalls, or the offerings in the Manor Club, Rosewood has 8 different dining venues to choose from. If you’re looking for cocktails and tapas head to Mei, or if you’re craving elegant Chinese and need a private dining room you can visit the House of Dynasties, or if you're want something a bit more casual, you can head to Bistrot B.
Bistrot B is an open kitchen concept, where breakfast, lunch and dinner is served in a open style kitchen, featuring a wood-fired oven, various grills and a wok section. Although we had breakfast inside the Manor Club a few times, we make sure to check out the vast buffet at Bistrot B for breakfast. I had fresh wonton soup, various dim sum and Chris feasted on pastries, granola and all the fruit smoothies he could think up.
In a city seemingly low on space, the Rosewood has carved out an area of privacy and elegance in the middle of the ever busy, central business district (known as CBD). Directly across is the CCTV headquarters, whose building looks like a pair of very modern pants. About a 15 minute walk away is the trendy area of Sanlitun, where you can find a great selection of bars and restaurants.
Getting around Beijing, can be a bit frustrating. The metro is so crowded, that after watching people cram themselves in, we walked right back to the hotel and got a cab. Getting anywhere in Beijing, even if it’s only a mile away, will take you about 45 minutes, so the best advice I can give is to have patience and walk when you can. The concierge team at the Rosewood will make the process as easy as possible and will gladly call you taxi, or help show you the way.
“In a city seemingly low on space, the Rosewood has carved out an area of privacy and elegance in the middle of the ever busy, central business district”
