Front of property

Reviews of Redwall Hotel

3 out of 5
Redwall Hotel
No.31 North Shatan Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, Beijing

Reviews

6.8
Rating 10 - Excellent. 71 out of 494 reviews" "
Rating 8 - Good. 178 out of 494 reviews" "
Rating 6 - Okay. 138 out of 494 reviews" "
Rating 4 - Poor. 71 out of 494 reviews" "
Rating 2 - Terrible. 36 out of 494 reviews" "

6.8/10

Cleanliness

7.2/10

Staff & service

6.2/10

Property conditions & facilities

Reviews

2/10 Terrible

Tim, Brusbane

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Four walls, a roof and a locked door
The hotel might have been a 3 star rating 20 years ago. Since then the only refurbishment has been to replace the television. The whole interior needs to the stripped out and renovated. The shining light was the laundry which removed a bad stain from a shirt.

10/10 Excellent

JAMES H, Oklahoma City

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
In Beijing last week
The staff is professional and do make the efforts to be hospitable and accomadating. Be patient and smile and the same will be returned. Beware of the money exchange rate. When the various drivers say '3' be sure it is not '300'. It may be $.50 or $5.00. Get the hotel to call you a cab. Men: beware of women who ask "where you from". These little darlings, work at getting a lot of your money. Get it, it is a scam. Overall great visit. Schedule time to rest, the excursions can be exhausting.

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Good location, close to forbidden city
Reception stuffed our booking and put us in a twin room, we booked a double room for a 6 night stay. At first we thought we'd just roll with the punches but upon closer inspection, the beds were dirty (still had hair from the previous guests in them), the bathroom was filthy. Asked to change room, hotel put us up in a different wing, in a cleaner-ish room but closer to the street. On Saturday and Sunday morning, it gets very noisy from the tour groups and tour buses on the street. The tour desk at the hotel were a joke. We booked an acrobatic show and rented a private car to go to the Great Wall. The driver didn't speak English (we assured he would) and literally begged for tips. The acrobatic show was a one-way drive, we wouldn't have minded if only we were told about it when booking. We had to arrange our own taxi for the return leg. Taxis seem to be very picky with fares in Beijing. For the Great wall day trip, again, we weren't told that we would have to fork out extra for the tolls (both ways). That's after deciphering what the driver was trying to say. Not his fault this time, but the tour operator somehow "forgot" to tell us these 'minor' details, even after we asked for confirmation that everything would be taken care of.

8/10 Good

Galen, Terrebonne, Oregon

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Location
I had a very good stay and hotel staff were very helpful.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Jackie, Jane & Scott from Brisbane, Australia
We were pleasantly surprised by the hotel. As we hadn't paid much we were a bit concerned however the room was clean and the staff made up the room everyday. The staff were friendly, even with the language barrier we managed to work things out. Lots of smiling, signing and nodding. The hotel is a little shabby around the edges and could use an upgrade but don't let this put you off booking.

4/10 Poor

Douglas, Tokyo

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Past it's prime
Hotel is well past it's prime. Dark hallways, peeling wallpaper, unfriendly staff. Despite showing my Hotels.com reservation confirmation it took five staff and twenty minutes to find my information. Close to the Forbidden City and only worth the money if you pay less than half of the insanely high regular room rates.

6/10 Okay

Kon L.

Liked: Staff & service
Great location near the Forbidden City
Great location, within walking distance of the Forbidden City. The lobby/check-in area was nice. Room was small and lighting was quite dim. Breakfast was buffet style with good Chinese and Western selections. Concierge was very helpful, helped us arranged a private car and driver for a day trip to the Great Wall at Mutianyu and the Summer Palace at a very reasonable price. If you will be out sight-seeing most of the day, this is definitely a practical and economical lodging option.

6/10 Okay

John, Dubai

Liked: Cleanliness
Non English speaking
Hotel was just OK. Hardly anyone speak English. Room is very small size Taxi and Motor riksha drivers near hotel dont speak English and are very rude. Taxi and motor riksha drivers near hotel cheat you asking for Euro and US$

4/10 Poor

Jerry, China 10 years

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Good location but crap service and facilities
I booked the economy King sized room to find that not only was it the size of a postage stamp but the bed was not much bigger than a single bed. the entire room stank of smoke and when I complained about it was told there were no other rooms available, despite the hotel appearing to be less than 20% full. Certainly there were not many people wandering around the hotel corridors or lobby at an time and the reception didn't appear very busy. The guaranteed high speed internet didn't work and we were connected a slow speed router for wifi, the IT guy was great getting it fixed up and operating in s very short period of time but then apologising for the slowness of it. Final complaint about the size of the bed: when I asked the cleaner if they had any smaller beds she replied this was the smallest and when I asked the reception why I didn't get a King sized bed they replied this is our hotel's king sized bed. Even the large rooms I saw when looking around were quite small, this is an overnight stay hotel, not a few days. Obviously what they write in their advertising and what they present to their clients are not the same.

4/10 Poor

Lincoln, Melbourne

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
Last time, never again
Stayed here many times before, however hotel has spent little money on upkeep/maintenance. Very disappointing to see wall paper peeling off the walls and rooms smelling of fresh paint (touch ups less than 24 hours prior to having guests staying in them). Many good hotel in this area, let alone Beijing, so spend your money on a better hotel.

6/10 Okay

Jonathan, NYC

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities
You get what you pay for
It was all fine. I got a cheap rate, $46/night for a room with a window and a king bed. Location is convenient to Forbidden City but not a whole lot else.

6/10 Okay

Gary, Philippines

Disliked: Staff & service
Just OK.
Room is clean, staffs are corteous but cannot speak English.

8/10 Good

Galen, Terrebonne, Oregon

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great place to stay
I stayed for 29 days at this hotel and staff was very good to work with through out my stay.

8/10 Good

Dave, Vancouver BC Canada

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
close to Forbiden City in Beijing
This is my second stay at this hotel which has a good location, friendly staff and comfortable room

8/10 Good

Galen, Terrebonne, Oregon

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great location.
Close to a great many historical sights as well as the Dongsi subway line just down the street.

4/10 Poor

Verified traveller

Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Very basic hotel not a nice area
Although a kettle and cups and saucers were available no tea or coffee or milk only 3 green tea bags which we used and rang down for some more to be sent up to the room, to be told if we wanted more we would have to pay for them,which we thought was poor. Staff spoke very little English

8/10 Good

Galen, Terrebonne, OREGON.

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
A great place to stay on a budget
A great place to stay on a budget & next to Forbidden City as well as many other historical sights.

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Beyond bad
This is where location, location, location simply does not matter anymore. The carpet was disgusting, the bed so hard that I had a constant backache, and all the staff was concerned with was to sell me overprized guides and show tickets (that you can easily get yourself and a taxi for a fraction of the cost) Most importantly: False advertising, as the economy king bed room actually shows a picture of a standard room, you won't even have enough space to get around your bed. The staff was unhelpful in this matter. Whatever you do, never get room 1302!!! My neighbor had moved, now I know why.

2/10 Terrible

Sathish, Durban

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Book Any Other Hotel
Horrid

10/10 Excellent

Britta, American

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Chinese hotel
Unique building, quaint rooms, loved the atmosphere. It's great for the location, can be hard to get to if you don't speak Mandarin.

8/10 Good

Roger, Toronto

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Clean and well kept.
I had a great stay at Redwall. Well worth the cost I paid. Room was very clean and spacious. Nice big window overlooking street outside. House keeping service was great, always replenishing amenities everyday. My only complaint would be that While helpful, I found some of the staff to be a bit pushy on promoting tours to me. I must have been asked about a tour 5 or 6 times during my 3 night stay there. Also, the location is good, but still a little walk (10-15 min) from the nearest metro station. Not a big deal though, and there are ALOT of buses available, and in addition they are bulding a new metro station that will be a bit closer. All in all well worth he money. Would stay here again.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
We were very comfortable on the ground floor level where it was cooler. The shower could have been a little cleaner as there was mold in the corners. We enjoyed the Western restaurant they had right on the premises which offered pizza and spaghetti and other things.

6/10 Okay

Austin, Boston

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Cheap Hotel
The hotel was OK for the price. The location was great. The room we took was small and dark, but clean enough. I'd recommend this place for people on a tight budget. Otherwise spend just a bit of extra money to get something much nicer.

2/10 Terrible

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not worth it..
The staff was no help. There was no coffee in the room. Everyone was smoking in every room. Room was very dirty, there was food in the drewer and had mold in it. Overall I hated it. I stayed for 3 days and wanted to leave ASAP.. Never again trying to be cheap in china.

10/10 Excellent

David, Ottawa, Canada

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
good location
everything is fine except there is no Wireless Internet in the room.

6/10 Okay

ZhuFei

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Location good--inside fair to dirty
Solid location. If you have no expectations. It is a safe relatively and clean hotel. Positives- they allow check-in very early in the morning; housekeeping staff; wifi in lobby; location; room cost. Negatives- the bell boys do nothing but try to broker/barter tours, events, and transportation (just provide honest service); rooms are old and stained I've stayed here four times over the past six year. I won't stay again. Time for some refurbishments.

4/10 Poor

Huey

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Hotel not close to city center
We had an upgrade to a two twin size bed room. They claim to have all the facility but it was not there - there were no wifi in room, except in the lobby which the internet was not that fast - no soaking bathtub - when taking a shower, there were no proper barrier, water was flowing everywhere in the bathroom after you finish - the walkway to our room was like a maze, getting off the lift and walking to our room takes forever. In this day and age you would thought people be clever enough to design a walkway that is easy for customers to get to their room.

6/10 Okay

EH, Dallas

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
cheap but old
The hotel needs a lot of work. It was close to the Forbidden City, which was helpful, but there were very few resturants within walking distance (less than 20 min.). The concierge service was not helpful.

6/10 Okay

Teresa, Ontario

Liked: Cleanliness
Great Location for local sites!!!!
I choose this hotel because it is located near Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, and the National Art Museum of China, and a beautiful Park. Having said that it is also located in an older part of Beijing, not the kind of area where you would feel comfortable walking at night. The hotel rooms are a little worn, but for the price you can't beat it. There is an alley down the street that has a few good restaurants, and also fruit vendors, convenience stores. They have a tour office in the lobby where you can book your tours, don't be shy to negotiate the price ( didn't learn that until the end).

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort

10/10 Excellent

TH, Malaysia

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Hotel is in an ideal location.l
the staff were friendly and helpful. Hotel is clean and conveniently located with subway station and bus stops, Shops around hotel provide amenities such as convenient stores, restaurants, fruit stores, etc.

6/10 Okay

serafina, london

Disliked: Staff & service, property conditions & facilities
the location of the hotel is not to bad
Staff doesnt talk any language rather then chinese.my room wasnt ready when l arrived and even l ask not smoking the room smell of cigarette.the fridge was with some of the drink missing so l had to check and report to the desk incase of some charge at the end. not to bad to be reach from the airport just £2.30 2 change and a bus. Near the hotel there is a little market with few restaurant . Bed very hard normal with a pillow like a stone. overall the housekeeper was tidy the room everyday and bring always new toothbrush. check in and check out was ok

6/10 Okay

gustavo, new york

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
it is okey for the price , some problem with lenguage ,, perfet locatiom for forbidden city

8/10 Good

Windson Wong

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

2/10 Terrible

Eric, Utah

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Worst Hotel and Staff i have ever experienced!
The information found on most sites (including expedia) that review this hotel are not up to date or are blatantly using misleading information they are promoting staying here. The staff gave my room away and tried to say they were sold out and offered me a lousy room in the back. After talking to the manager a room amazingly opened up. However, the next day they had me move because they said it was an upgrade further inconveniencing me. The room i finally ended up in was dirty, the carpet was wet under the desk and the heater didn't work. I will never stay here again or recommend this hotel to anyone.

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Disliked: Room comfort
It's a long walk from the subway to hotel. Received a free upgrade as there was no single room available. The 4th storey did not have a lift, so you need to walk a long distance from the lift that stops at 2nd floor. Staff are quite helpful.

2/10 Terrible

Chris, USA

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
NEVER AGAIN.
I have been there several times, and recommended to my friend to stay there. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. Our room was given away, even though we had told them about our late arrival, and we stayed in a freezing cold room. The manager promised me to not charge me for the first night, and then the next manager didn't do it. The bell boy lied to us in trying to convince us to book a taxi (twice the price) through them because there wouldn't be taxies early in the morning. Big lie. We had a taxi in seconds (never pay more than 100 RMB to the airport from Forbidden City).

6/10 Okay

friend, india

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Property conditions & facilities, room comfort
what u see is not what u got
i checked the hotel on expedia saw pics posted and booked a room that i liked as it was work and small holiday, but when i check in they say , sorry no room which u booked- makes sense? there is something cald availability dude. the internet does not work the staff dont no to fix it , and the wi fy is far from reality. the gud thing its close to a lot of stuff so if u r not gona b in the room go there .its impossible to confirm as they cant understand any english on phone .

6/10 Okay

cynthia, Singapore

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
The hotel is old but the room is quite big
First day from the airport to the redwall hotel, we told the taxi driver our hotel and he dont know where is it , so we show them our print out of the Hotel confirmation name and address to him but they couldn't read because all are in English words there's no chinese name and address for the hotel. That is the problem of comunication we face.

2/10 Terrible

EB, Utah

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Great Location to many sights..Terrible hotel
We arrived and the rooms we were given were small, one had no shower curtain. The next day they changed the rooms but they are all dingy and "worn out". The bell boys hustled tours and that seemed to be their main focus. The "western" restaurant was never open. The Chinese restaurant for breakfast was not included in the room. The charge was reasonable for their breakfast. Wifi is NOT included in the rooms as advertised. Ethernet is included and the hookup cable is 4" long. Our son tried the coffee in his room, it over flowed and he used the small hand towel to wipe the spill. The hotel charged for the soiled towel. A short walking distance is the Forbidden City, the drum tower, many shops, restaurants and bars. Be adventuresome and walk the alleys and find the hidden bars and shops there. If you travel by high speed train you can take the #109 bus 9 stops and catch the subway to the south station and save time ( no traffic to worry about ) and money.

6/10 Okay

Lucey, Vancouver

Liked: Staff & service
Disliked: Room comfort
Great location...
Room was too small; hardly room to turn around, but was cheap.

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

6/10 Okay

Richard, L.A Cali

Disliked: Staff & service
was alright
some rooms are good some are trashy most staff is ok but some are just rude. over all its alright good thing about it is its location . lacks wifi in room and internet is hard to logg into with lan

2/10 Terrible

frontseatgetter, New York

Disliked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Poor condition
The room was terrible condition old and very dirty. The carpet was so dirty and stained that I refused to walk on the floor even in socks. The furniture was also stained and dirty, peeling paint. The star rating is not the same as the western standard. On the postive: The bed was clean and so was the bathroom. The staff was plesant. The location is within walking distance to many sites. Although we were in Beijing for 8 days, we checked out of this hotel as soon as we could. This hotel is desperate need of a rennovation.

4/10 Poor

Nat, Perth WA

Disliked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Not as advertised
I arrived at the hotel with my two children and the receptionist was obviously displeased to arrange my check in. The staff speak very little English and communication is very difficult. I had arranged for train tickets to be delivered to the hotel by a third party and the staff claimed they knew nothing about it and were insisting I pay again. The room was decent, however is in a state of disrepair with peeling wall paper and large patches of mould on the walls and ceiling. Then general aroma of the hotel is of a sewer and when I turned on the a/c in our room it reeked of cigarette smoke. One friend of a staff member in the restaurant actually lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in my child's face.

8/10 Good

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, room comfort
Convenient Location
Second time I've stayed here, this time in a peak tourist season for local tourists. I speak Mandarin so the service was great. Unfortunately because of the influx of tourists, it was a very noisy stay - late arrivals and early departures - everyone robustly discussing their plans outside my room as they came and went. Traditional rooms comfortable and clean, but the wi-fi doesn't extend to the back - which is the main reason why I probably won't be returning unfortunately. Recommend this place for backpackers and casual tourist passing through town, but not if you need internet and work done.

10/10 Excellent

Alan, Manchester, England

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Excellent value for money
I've just spent 2 weeks at the Redwall hotel. I read dozens of reviews before booking my holiday and noted the comments about overall cleanliness, language issues and hard beds. I still booked and spent my 2 weeks in a western style executive room on the 3rd floor. I found the overall cleanliness to be very good although there were the occasional odd smells in the lobby. I had no problem getting Wifi in my room and the speed was ample for my needs. Language was destined to be an issue from the outset, and it was no worse than I expected. In my opinion, if people are going to find that a problem then they should consider a country that is a little closer to home. I managed to get by without knowing any Chinese other than please, thank you, yes, no, hello and goodbye. The rest is all part of the fun of the holiday. Smile, be polite and it's not that difficult to overcome most problems. As for the hard beds, the reviews are spot on. I have never slept on beds as hard in my life! Having said that, after couple of days, I got used to them. As a positive, they did my back the world of good. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Redwall and I would happily recommend it to anyone. The hotel staff are very friendly, patient and always willing to help.

6/10 Okay

Mitch, Beijing

Liked: Cleanliness, room comfort
Take it or leave it.
The redwall was neither great, but it wasn't bad either. It's located on the backside of the Forbidden city, which is about a 45 minute jaunt to the front where the entrance is and Tiananmen square is. The nearest subway is also in that area, a taxi would be need for quick travel. There is large bar/nightlife area north of here about a 30 minute walk. If you're okay taking taxi's the location is fine, but if you want to take the metro and save some cash you might to stay elsewhere if you don't to spend a good chunk of time walking.

4/10 Poor

Ai Eng

Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Staff & service
Good hotel but poor service
Good location behind Forbidden Palace. Its about 20mins walk to the nearest sub-way station.. Guest room is clean. Service from the staffs are average not particularly enthusiastic. The tour agency located within the hotel is untrustworthy. The tour guides pressurized guests to be punctual so that they can get us to 3 locations( a jade shop, a crystal shop and a local produce shop) to do shopping. On the way back instead of sending us back to hotel, they simply off loaded all of us near the bird nest stadium. As we are leaving on an early morning flight, the hotel is unable to pre-book a taxi for us. We have to wave down a taxi by the road side at 4:30 in the morning.

8/10 Good

dj, Santa Monica

Liked: Staff & service
Great location
Assistant manager Betty was a great help in translating with Chinese speaking friends. Rooms need work but they were clean. I stayed on 2 occations, total of 12 days. Location is great.