This is a reflection of what I have gathered after visiting Beijing.

Airport
When we first stepped into the Beijing International Airport, its size certainly amazes me. Unfortunately, that was also it. I actually felt the airport conveys a coldness to its visitors. Lights were turned off to preserve electricity; so the airport was kind of dark. Also, the little amount of skylight was not of much help. Line-ups were not too bad since there weren’t many arrivals, but the line-ups for health check was quite messy and unclear, with signs only and not many personnel helping. Customs and immigration were both good, but as expected – cold. Once we got out, we tried to find tourists information: useless!!! I found a spot that says “Tourist Information.” However, all the assistance I have got was they tried to scam me into a taxi ride to the hotel for RMB350, without much explanation. There was no map of Beijing available. No help whatsoever, greatly disappointed! Anyway, we have decided to take a real taxi instead – wise choice of ours, since the ride only cost us RMB95. What a rip-off the so-called tourist information was trying on us. I got a very bad first impression of the city already.

Hotel
We stayed at a business hotel right on the fourth ring. The front desk is absolutely useless. The girls didn’t even know how far the closest subway station is! We had to ask for direction while we walked down the street. Moreover, they don’t really speak English, this was bad for a business hotel.
About the room itself. I didn’t book a non-smoking room in advance (well, I have forgotten that Beijing does not have a no indoor smoking policy). So, we could only make the request when checking in. This hotel was very popular and there was no room left on the day we checked in. So, the receptionist told us she would ask housekeeping to freshen up the room for us. Then I asked her if we could switch to another non-smoking room if it became available. She told us in a very demanding, condescending almost yelling kind of tone: after we have freshened it up, it would be the same as a non-smoking room. You would not need to switch. Wow! I told myself! That was some customer service! Well, we stayed there for a bargain, so, I didn’t not ask them any more questions than necessary.