My wife and I travelled to Beijing for four nights in Feb 07. We had so far had an awful trip, I had forgotten some of my camera equipment at home, and our connecting flight from London out of Helsinki was delayed 4 hours, making our journey to Beijing 20 hours. There was an epic queue at immigration in Beijing airport, needless to say I was not in the mood, and at this point it would have taken a lot to impress me.

Nevertheless I was impressed.

The whole horror of the trip so far melted away when I saw the St Regis Hotel Representative (we had pre-arranged to be picked up by the hotel, the price was 500RMB (about £33), and was well worth it, might I add that even pre-booking via email was easy, the emails were quickly returned, and Michelle who was answering them was courteous, professional and wrote perfect English).

Even though the flight had come in 4 hours late they had monitored the flight and were there to meet us.

He was smartly dressed and carried a huge green and gold sign with the St Regis crest on it. He introduced himself and took our bags. We went out to the parking lot, where the driver had already brought the car to the elevators, and was waiting beside a spotless black Audi A6, trunk open to receive our luggage.

The doors were opened either side for us, the representative said goodbye, and the driver took us back to the hotel. As we cruised down the highway, in piece and quiet, I thought to myself even if this had cost double it would have been worth it.

We arrived and walked into the spacious white marble lobby, the decor was grand but very tasteful, the Interior designer must have been superb. Every piece of furniture was beautiful and expertly placed. Everything about the space oozed calmness and tranquillity, it was impeccable.

Our room key was all prepared and we headed up to the 11th floor. Incidentally when you stay in a lot of quality hotels you notice the little things, for example at the St Regis, there was always an elevator waiting, doors open on the ground floor. And it is the elevator car that you would see first as you walked away from the front desk. Its a small thing, but the attention to detail while missed by most was not wasted on me, it show that someone really put thought into everything.

Even the elevator was remarkable, decked out in dark hard-wood, and warmly lit.

The room may have been small, but it was easily big enough. How big do you want it?, it wasn't at all cramped and had a king sized bed. The mattress was of extremely high quality, down filled duvet and pillows, and cotton linen of the highest quality. I would say Egyptian cotton of a 300 thread count. Obviously it was pristine.

The bathroom was small but, again big enough, and a work of art, not a single place you looked was untouched by some detail. The toiletries were premium, and everything was covered, down to cotton buds, disposable razors, toothbrushes. The soap was excellent quality. Again even if you have all that stuff with you, you have to admire the attention to detail. There were more towels then 2 people could possibly feasibly use in one night, they again were excellent quality.

The butler came to introduce himself after a few minutes, he would have unpacked our clothes and pressed up to 5 garments complementary, but we had already unpacked. The butler service was efficient, fast, and a nice touch, but we didn't have much need for him. He would do everything from shine your shoes to make the tea, if you wanted, but we only used him a couple of times for wake up calls and to bring fresh coffee (which was complementary).

The front desk then called us to say that as we booked through expedia and there was some special going on, we could either have a 15 minute massage for each of us, everyday, or breakfast everyday free of charge. I instantly took the breakfast, and was glad of it.

I was quite possibly the best hotel breakfast buffet ever, and I have stayed in some top, top hotels all over the world. There was everything you could possibly want to eat for breakfast. Everything from muesli to freshly cooked on demand lamb chops. I had lamb chops, steak and eggs everyday, and didn't need another meal till supper. The quality of the meat incidentally was superb (Australian I think). The bread and pastries were freshly baked and wonderful (even on Chinese new years day, again details), the coffee excellent, and the juices were freshly squeezed.

The garden lounge was also a superb space, adorned with huge indoor palms. We had coffee there twice in the afternoon, which was served in bone china, with a solid silver coffee set. With this we had freshly baked cheesecake, which was served with warm with Coffee ice-cream (kept separately as not to melt), it was delightful.

We ate only one supper in the hotel, in the main restaurant (there are 5), I had a rib-eye steak, and my wife had blackened sea bass. Both dishes were excellent.

We went to the press bar one evening. The barman was very good. I always like to try the classic cocktails in order to gauge a barman, mixology is one of my hobbies and I know exactly what should go into the classics. The Pina Colada, Dry Martini and Capririnia were excellent, well presented and made with fresh high quality ingredients. The Singapore sling was not very good, sorry guys, visit raffles in Singapore and get the recipe, I know what the recipe is, and it does not contain sprite :(. Anyway on the whole the bar was good. An excellent selection of fine single malt scotches, and the finest cognacs, they even had a bottle of 'The Richard Hennessey', which retails at £1100 a bottle, god only knows what a glass of it costs, I knew not to ask. But I had a Maccallan 18yo which is one of my favourite single malts. On the whole the bar prices were very reasonable, especially on the cocktails, very reasonable compared to other 5 star hotels anyway, I didn't feel for a moment like I was being ripped off, which is usually path of the course in most top hotels, so full marks to St Regis, for keeping the bar bills down.

I used the gym and pool once, and the facilities were excellent, probably the best I've used in a hotel, fully featured. The showers were great, with good pressure like in the rooms.

My wife had a massage in the spa on the last day, she said the treatments were excellent. And compared well with other top spas we have been to.

While she was in the spa, I was in the bowling alley, yes the bowling alley.
It was empty, 8 beautifully maintained lanes, and I was the only bowler, HEAVEN!!
I am no pro bowler by any stretch, but the house balls of which there was a wide range looked brand new,
The lanes were the best I've bowled on, much better then the battered ones I use in London now and again.

The Location of the hotel was excellent, walking distance to the subway, many restaurants and the silk market (in which you can buy anything). The overall location was very quiet, Its in Jianguomen near the US, UK, Thai and several other embassies. The subway (Jianguomen, which is an interchange for 2 lines), was about 3 short stops from the Forbidden City and Tiananmen square, about 1 stop from Beijing Rail Station (intercity), 2 from the temple of heaven (plus a walk), and I think 4 from the Lama temple. I liked the quiet and clean location, would suit the business traveller, the older traveller, and well basically the location is perfect for the sort of clientele the hotel would attract.

When we left the hotel, I had booked another car to the airport for 500RMB, I had an early flight, so we had breakfast at about 6:30, left breakfast at 7:15 and was in the airport by 8:30. The check-out was the most expedient ever, all the bill was accurate, the car was ready outside, our bags from the room were in it. Job Done.

All in all the St Regis hotel made the trip for me, I would recommend it to anyone. It was outstanding, as good as any hotel I've stayed in, and definitely the best city-based hotel I've stayed in. I will be looking out for St Regis on my other travels.