Beijing Hotel - Overview

Overview

It is located at the southern end of Wangfujing Street, at the corner with East Chang'an Avenue, 1.5km from Beijing Railway Station with views of the Forbidden City and part of Tiananmen Square. Construction of the hotel began in 1900 and was completed in 1915, making the hotel one of the oldest in Beijing. During the July 7 incident in 1937, the hotel was taken over by Japanese forces and later by the Kuomintang government. Later, the banquet hall served guests such as Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai at the inauguration of the People's Republic. Additional wings were added in 1954, 1974 and 2001, bringing the total number of rooms and suities to over 700.

The hotel usually caters for foreigners and wealthy domestic guests, providing restaurants and bars in a Western and Asian style. Various members of state have stayed there, including Richard Nixon, U Nu, Nikita Khrushchev, Ho Chi Minh and Sun Yat-sen. The hotel has been awarded the Five Star Diamond Award for consecutive years.

In April 2005, Raffles Hotels and Resorts Limited signed an agreement with the Beijing Tourism Group (BTG), to re-brand and manage two of the four blocks of the Beijing Hotel under the Raffles brand. After carrying out some renovations and refurbishment, it was re-launched as the Raffles Beijing Hotel (S: 北京饭店莱佛士, T: 北京飯店萊佛士, P: Běi​jīng Fàn​diàn Lái​fó​shì) in 2006.

During the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the hotel served as the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee.

The adjacent hotel is the Grand Hotel Beijing.