Location:

Good location. A street away from QianMen Pedestrian Street where there are shops, restaurant (the famous Quan Ju De is there too!), H&M, Uniqlo, SDeer (this is a Chinese brand from Suzhou and i love their dresses) and many small souvenir shops.. Lots of small shops and local eateries in MeiShi street where the hostel is. You will be spoilt for choices. However, the hostel itself does not have big neon signboard which is very obvious. So open your eyes wide to spot the hostel. Train station is abt 5 mins walk away and its very near Tian An Men Square. Forbidden City is 10 minutes walk away.

Lobby:

Typical hostel style setting - 2 computer terminals, non-airconed, lots of fellow backpackers sitting around. Its quite small but and dark. Towards the last few days of my stay they did bring in a portable aircon - mid of summer that's why.

Courtyard:

They have a courtyard in the middle of the hostel about 50 sqm. They serve breakfast and drinks at night (both payable).

Room:

Mine was an ensuite with bathroom. The room is clean and neat, no doubt basic. Paint is peeling at a corner. Bed seems like its from Ikea. Bed is hard. Pillow is flat but typical China. The partition is very thin. Hence, whatever you do, your neighbours heards it all. Thank god my neighbour was pretty quiet throughout my stay. Toilet is considered clean thou the shower curtain should be changed. Housekeeping is part of the services provided. They will make up your bed, clear the thrash and generally maintain the neatness of the room for you.

Service:

Generally the staff are friendly and helpful. I asked for a late check out and he agreed almost immediately. Appreciate that.

Interesting Fact:

Was told that this used to be a brothel on my last day. Interesting heritage with lotsa red lanterns at night.

The location is as good as it gets in Beijing, walking distance to key sights and 5 minutes from the central subway line. Additionally, the other travelers provide diverse and entertaining company. That said, this is not a hotel, it is a budget hostel, people expecting hotel level service and rooms for $10USD/night/person are expecting too much. The dorm rooms are nice, the privates not so much. We've stayed in 10+ hostels all over China and this is a favorite. Definitely the best budget place to stay in Beijing.

while this hostel was a bit pricy for what it offered accommodation wise, the location was perfect. easy access to the subway on the fringes of tianamen square. the rooms seemed a bit old and scruffy looking and the prices weren't exactly the best. it seems like accommodation in this part of the city is hard to come by, especially at the time i was there and this was the only option.

We stayed at this hostel for five nights in July this year and it was by far our favourite home from home during our trip!

Environment / Room:
The hostel is situated in a lovely traditional courtyard building and it's location is extremely convenient for visiting Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City besides being only a short walk away from Qianmen metro station. We stayed in a double ensuite room which was very clean and had good shower and air conditioning units. We also had wifi access in the room. Clean linen and towels were provided.

Food and Service:
The food from the chinese menu at the hostel was excellent and really good value for money, as were the breakfast options. Can't comment on the western food as we didn't try it! Service was very efficent if not overly friendly. The hostel also sells a good selection of bottled water, soft drinks and beer for reasonable prices.

Overall we had a very enjoyable stay at Qianmen and would definitely recommend it to other travellers visiting Beijing,