Hotel Kapok

Litro_K

Understated Luxury Next to the Forbidden City 24th November 2008

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I was booked into this boutique hotel by a work colleague of mine who had stayed there before. He raved about it. So I asked for the works - a hotel car to pick me up from the airport and a nice garden courtyard room. It's my last stop in China, I thought. Why not?

Well, I got to the airport and there was no sign of my ride. I rang the hotel and went through a succession of receptionists, each with slightly better English than the last, only to be told that the driver was on his way and I should wait there.

I rang again in 20 minutes and had to once again speak to several different English-speakers before I spoke to the same receptionist as before. She assured me it wouldn't be much longer.

40 minutes later, I rang again, exasperated, and told them I was fed up of waiting and was frankly not impressed. I got in an ordinary cab which was faster and much cheaper than the 400 RMB the hotel had quoted me. Where's the understated luxury, I hear you cry?

As soon as I arrived at the hotel, my travel-weary cares melted away. The building is a beautiful green slab of light-filled coolness on a leafy street. I was welcomed by name when I checked in and the receptionist apologised profusely for the lack of transportation. As a gesture, she said, I had been upgraded to a suite for the duration of my stay. Ah, such sweet words!

As I followed the bellboy to my room, I tried hard to disguise my excitement with cool indifference. 'Yeah, I get upgraded all the time' is what I was going for. We got to the door and the first thing I saw was a walk-in wardrobe/dressing room, then acres of mahogany wood floors. Then I saw a huge corner sofa, floor-to-ceiling windows, a desk, and a glass-encased bathroom with the hugest circular spa bath I have ever seen. Probably bigger than the bed. There was fresh juice, fruit and a platter of biscuits on my table. The whole room was bigger than my last flat. 'Is your room all right?' He asked. 'Sure,' I said, and tipped him. As soon as the door closed, I was dancing across the room and had to restrain myself from jumping on the bed.

In a nutshell then: I slept well every night, breakfast was great, staff were friendly and helpful, the room was always immaculate when the maids had been, and the location was spectacular, right next to the gate to the Forbidden City. I probably shouldn't give 5 stars because of the initial transfer problem. But they really more than made up for it and completely turned my opinion around, which is fantastic customer service in my book. I really couldn't have asked for more and I would recommend it in a heartbeat.