A hidden gem hotel in Beijing with a low profile

Accor once collected four historic landmark hotels in China: Beijing Hotel Raffles, Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai, Sofitel Legend People's Grand Hotel in Xi'an, and Novotel Peace Hotel in Beijing. From Accor's brand positioning, Beijing Hotel was the flagship among these four historic landmark hotels. In December 2016, Beijing Hotel rebranded to NUO, a local luxury hotel brand jointly created by BTG and Kempinski. Although it is less famous than Raffles, it better fits the understated luxury temperament of Beijing Hotel and symbolizes the rise of local hotel brands. On the east side of Chang'an Avenue, there are four hotel buildings: VIP Building Hotel, Beijing Hotel NUO Aisong (newly renovated in 2022 with a new Chinese-style guest room), Beijing Hotel NUO Main Building, and Beijing Hotel New Building. Among them, the main building, which was built in the 1910s and opened in 1917, is a historic building that has recorded many stories over more than a century. The celebration banquet for the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in 1949 was held here. Historical figures such as Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and Dr. Sun Yat-sen have stayed here. The hotel has specially preserved nine celebrity suites, retaining the room decor from when nine celebrities stayed here, including President Charles de Gaulle, Marshal Montgomery, General Zhang Xueliang, writers George Bernard Shaw and Guo Moruo, among others. In addition to the nine celebrity suites, the hotel also has five 154㎡ chairman suites and one 888㎡ presidential suite, the largest in Beijing. The chairman suite I stayed in this time exudes a sense of history and understated luxury. Good hotels in and around Beijing are not as abundant as those in Shanghai. This NUO hotel is rich in stories and reasonably priced, but the room facilities are indeed old and may not be convenient for long stays. Highly recommended for friends visiting Beijing to book a night or two in a celebrity suite for the experience.