China World Hotel, Beijing

I’ve recently been traveling a lot for work and while business travel is very tiring, it does sometimes come with its perks. My perk came in the form of a gorgeous hotel when I had to make an overnight trip to Beijing for a meeting. My office had very generously put us up in a new swanky hotel smack in the middle of Beijing’s business area, right next to the China World Trade Centre - The China World Hotel.

The lobby was amazingly opulent when we walked in and filled with gold and gilt everywhere. It had a most impressive dome ceiling with the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar around the dome from which hung a huge chandelier. While we were checking in, we were asked if we wished to upgrade to their Horizon Club floor for slightly more as they were running a promotion that month. My boss agreed to opt for that since it came with free breakfast, snacks and drinks during Happy Hour and best of all, free internet! Yippee!

We were given rooms on the second highest floor in their specially designed Club Rooms. It had a luxuriously soft king-sized bed with lovely soft sheets. The bathroom was simply fantastic with an interesting curved shower stall and long bath and filled with the most amenities I’ve ever seen in a bathroom. They had toothbrushes, shampoo and shower gels by Aigner, a shower puff, mouthwash and even a tiny little green nail clipper! They really did think of everything! They gave 2 little peaches everyday and the room came with butler and turndown service whenever you wished.

My only grouse during that trip was that we were so busy that we didn’t have much chance to enjoy the room at all! The only thing I made the most of was the free internet! I couldn’t help thinking how nice it would be if I had been there on holiday with all the time in the world to luxuriate in the beautiful room. The tiny little downside to that is that I wouldn’t be able to afford such a hotel on a personal holiday! Ah…can’t have your cake and eat it too!