The Regent Beijing - A good value-for-money old star-rated hotel

The hotel has an excellent location, right next to Exit C of Dengshikou Station on Line 5, just over 500 meters (less than 10 minutes' walk) from Wangfujing Pedestrian Street. It's surrounded by various high-end hotels, with The Peninsula and Waldorf Astoria nearby. This was my first stay at a Regent brand hotel. The price of 700+ per night was acceptable, and overall it offered good value. They called a day in advance to inquire about room preferences and prepared buckwheat pillows accordingly. The room has a vintage official-style decor. A common issue with older hotels is the lack of bedside power outlets, but this hotel has added small power strips on both sides of the bed, solving this problem well. The fitness center and swimming pool are both on the 5th floor. The gym is quite spacious with well-maintained, albeit older equipment, and includes a separate aerobics room with ample space. The pool gets quite crowded with families on weekends. The hotel offers two types of afternoon tea: a complimentary set in the lounge, and a paid promotional afternoon tea in the lobby (which is often fully booked on weekends - reservations are reportedly needed). The breakfast restaurant on the 2nd floor gets crowded before 7am. The variety and quality are average - nothing special. The lounge offers more refined options: besides sausages, fried dough sticks, and congee, there are small portions of roasted chicken, mushrooms, seafood steamed eggs, fried rice, and noodles. Most importantly, there's an extensive à la carte menu including beef noodles, lobster steamed eggs, various omelets, and Western breakfast items - far superior to the 2nd floor options in my opinion, plus it's quieter with fewer people. For this location and price point, it's really quite good.