Beijing 365 Inn Review

Overall Rating

Location, friendly staff, little place that does its job!

You get what you pay for.

First off: There are two branches of the 365 Inn in Beijing: one in the Qianmen area and one in xiaoxitian. My family stayed at the Qianmen branch for a total of 10 nights at the beginning and end of our trip to China in October 2007. We booked our rooms directly with the hotel manager. She was fairly easy to communicate with and extremely helpful in meeting our special needs. We had two rooms on the third floor and one room on the second. The rooms on the third floor are much nicer than the rooms on the second floor, which is a bit smelly from the sewers in the shared bathroom for people staying in dorms.

The rooms on the third floor were furnished with two western style (soft mattresses) queen sized beds - big enough for two people each - a TV (bad reception and only a few Chinese channels) a cupboard, a small table and two chairs. Rooms were fairly clean and albeit pretty small, absolutely adequate to our needs. Bathrooms were on the small size, and there was no seperate shower cabin so floors would get wet when we showered. However it was possible for us to take a warm shower at any time of the day. Toilets are western style (sit down).

The room on the second floor was a bit less luxurious :) A hard bed (Chinese style mattress ? was actually perfect for me), a chair and a small table with a TV. Bathroom was the same as on the third floor.

The staff members were extraordinarily friendly, especially towards the kids, and eager to please, but did not seem to be particularly knowledgeable about the sights and stuff. Several of them spoke quite decent English.

Shared facilities and rooms are fairly clean, you get fresh towels and toilet paper is stocked up every day. There's a locked room where you can leave your luggage and two computers in the lobby with free internet access. There is no common room at the hostel (for watching movies and stuff) and also no shared kitchen, but a nice and quite busy restaurant/bar in the lobby area. Restaurant is a bit pricey (especially for breakfast) but the food is ok, and the staff is really friendly and service-oriented.

The hostel is located on a busy street with lots of vendors and small shops, a 10 minutes walk to Tiananmen Square. We loved the hutong-area, bustling with life, and spent hours just wandering the narrow streets near the hostel and talking with the very friendly locals. The area is a bit noisy but quiets down at night.

We had a great time there and will definitely stay at the 365 Inn next time. In my opinion its pretty good value for money.

Bonus info: Just across the street is a nice restaurant that serves a decent duck for just 48 Yuan.