When I was looking for hotels to stay in during my first ever visit to China I decided I wanted to stay outside the city centres because of the infamous summer heat and air pollution, and I found myself seduced by the Aman group’s properties in Shanghai and in Beijing, so I booked to stay at both of them.  Aman Summer Palace is actually right next to the former Qing dynasty Emperor and Empress’ summer palace and grounds; a UNESCO World Heritage and very popular tourist site.  In fact what is now the Aman hotel used to be buildings where visiting dignitaries stayed while they waited for an audience with the Empress Dowager Cixi in her Summer Palace.  With identically styled buildings, it really is like sleeping in a world heritage site, but with modern day conveniences and luxuries!  There’s even a ‘secret’ locked doorway from the hotel, which is opened whenever you choose to visit the beautiful sights in the Summer Palace and its 290 hectares of grounds and lakes. No queues, no ticket to buy.

We’d travelled to Beijing by high speed train from Shanghai, and I’d arranged for a car to meet us and take us to the Aman Summer Palace. But this wasn’t as easy as being met at an airport because Beijing South train station is enormous, and, on a Friday evening, bursting at the seams.  When we descended from our arrival platform to the main concourse we couldn’t find anyone meeting us, so I walked around the station concourse in all directions and still couldn’t find our driver. I then phoned the hotel and they phoned the driver and told me he was “at Exit 4”. But I could only see a North and a South exit.  They told me to use the North exit, which I did, but found it only lead to a bus station.  After another couple of calls to the hotel we finally met up with our driver.  It had taken an hour of walking through the station in 40 degree heat, and I wasn’t happy!  (Learning point for the hotel: make better, more accurate arrangements for guest collections from the train station, and an English speaking driver would be appreciated.)

We arrived at Aman Summer Palace about 45 minutes later, tired, hot and frustrated, and were met by duty manager Luke, who was very apologetic for our station experience, and who upgraded us from the Courtyard room I’d booked through Amex at CNY4800/night (c £539) to one of their largest room types; a Deluxe Courtyard Suite, and he’d left us a bottle of Champagne on ice in the room. I happily accepted this kind offer of ‘service recovery’.

Our suite was one of four housed in three buildings around “courtyard No. 5”, a calm space with very old trees, grass and stone pathways. We entered a hallway with Qing dynasty artworks, a table and chairs which was shared with the next-door suite. And when we walked into the suite itself my breath was taken by the size and beautiful historic design of the place!  It was unlike anywhere I’d stayed before, a real historic gem.  There was a large living area with a low table, sofas and chairs, a double height wood-beamed ‘A-frame’ ceiling, plus a writing desk and chair, and charming wooden latticed panelling all around.  Windows to the courtyard were draped with bamboo blinds, and ahead of us was the bedroom, which was a small cosy space filled by a wooden four-poster king size bed on a raised platform.  Gosh it looked romantic!

Off to the side of the living room was a spacious dressing area with twin wardrobes and a vanity table (but few drawers for our clothes), and this area led into the bathroom area which comprised a free-standing bathtub, a roomy shower cubicle, a toilet and twin wash-basins, all with antique-looking taps and fittings.

After unpacking we went to the hotel’s bar, because we were told we could order light meals there. But when we entered the staff first ignored us, and when we ordered our cocktails they just stood chatting instead of making the drinks.  Unfortunately this really annoyed me, so we left and went to the “arrival pavilion” to lodge a complaint with Luke.  Later on we had some room service food delivered. Meh.

The next morning we had a number of hotel managers come to meet us to apologise for our poor experiences the night before, and from then until we checked out four days later, every interaction we had with any staff member was faultless, friendly and highly professional.  We received service at the highest of standards: everyone addressed me as “Mr. Mark” and appeared to go out of their way to make our stay enjoyable and memorable.  At breakfast each morning there was an expansive buffet plus a la carte cooked dishes, and the staff smartly noted our preferences and offered to bring the same to us each day without us needing to order, such as really crispy bacon with my Eggs Benedict.  I found that although the general waiting staff had enough English to do their job, they struggled to understand me when I tried to have broader conversations with them.  But each of the managers I met were very good at English and I really appreciated the warmth, help and support they gave us throughout our stay.  F&B Director, Mr. Sun, even insisted on creating a special dinner for us, featuring Peking Duck, which we enjoyed in the hotel’s Chinese restaurant one evening, with Mr Sun’s compliments.

The breakfast room becomes a Japanese restaurant in the evening, where we had a multi-course “omakase” one night.  The food was good but I was disappointed that “the counter” where we usually love to sit in a Japanese restaurant, was too low, so we couldn’t actually see the chefs prep and cook the food. 7/10

 

Another evening we ate in the third restaurant, which serves Western dishes, choosing the Tasting Menu and wine flight. The latter was better than the former; too many of the dishes had unusual combinations of ingredients and too many items which just should not have been on the same plate together.  It was a good meal, but only 5/10.

And during that meal, on our last night, Front Desk Manager, Becky, came to tell us that she’d been checking our flight out of Beijing and found it had been cancelled!  What terrific proactive service; China Southern Airlines hadn’t contacted me, but thanks to Becky I had time to rebook onto another flight.

Aman Summer Palace offers guests a long list of DVDs to watch in your bedroom: we watched The Last Emperor to remind ourselves of the dynastic/political context at the time the Summer Place was used, as well as the Forbidden City, which we visited during a handful of tours we arranged through our hotel before arrival.  Mr A and I had a private BMW, with a driver and a very good English speaking guide called Cathy.  I can highly commend booking one of these tours, to make the most of your time in Beijing. Cathy was very flexible with our itineraries so that we didn’t encounter the busiest times at our destinations, and also took us to find a pharmacy when we needed one.  Chilled water and towels were provided every time we got back in the car, which was very helpful as Beijing was enduring record high August temperatures.  The car journey from Aman Summer Place to Tian’an Men in central Beijing was only about 30 minutes.  In the old days it took the Imperial Household a day by barge on the canals.

I was amazed to see that the hotel has two huge basement floors. You enter a lift in the historic Arrival Pavilion and when the doors reopen you’re hit by the stylish and very modern design normally associated with the Aman group – high ceilings, clean lines, brilliant white walls, bare stone, water features and lots of wood, with everywhere dimly lit and quiet to create a calming yet seductive ambience.  The “Wellness Centre” covers 5,000 square metres, with 9 double treatment rooms, very large and well equipped changing rooms with sauna, steam room, hot jet ‘jacuzzi’ type pools plus colder plunge pools, plus a beautiful 25m swimming pool.  There are also yoga/pilates rooms, a large well equipped gym, and TWO squash courts (with rackets to borrow) and a ping pong table.  It’s really breathtaking, and amazing that this has been constructed underneath 200 year old buildings.

I had a ‘traditional’ Chinese massage in one of the treatment rooms, which was good, and a bit different to other massages in that you’re given silk pyjamas to wear – the masseuse doesn’t touch your skin or use oils.  The changing rooms also have partly screened off ‘relaxation lounges’ where you can while away the time reading.  I truly think this was the best hotel ‘spa’ facility I’ve ever seen.

Also in the basement is a private screening room, seating about 30, but reservable for just two people to watch a film from an extensive menu.  Mr A and I watched a recent Jackie Chan ‘gangster’ film, and the hotel brought us pop corn and drinks for the occasion.

I thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Aman Summer Palace. The historic buildings and bedrooms are so beautiful, the underground wellness facilities are incredible, and the level of customer service is superb.  Room Division Manager Kevin was especially friendly and helpful – he even offered to help me three days after we left, with a problem I had with my airline!

But….a few things niggled me……

First, our suite had tea, but not coffee, making facilities. One could easily call for coffee in the morning, or if you order a wake-up call they tend to offer you a coffee delivery at the same time.

2. It was extremely hot and humid during our visit and I don’t believe our suite’s aircon was up to the job. But they put a couple of dehumidifiers in the suite for us, and we were pretty comfortable.

Finally, although there is good, fast wi-fi throughout the hotel, it is unbelievably hard to access and use the internet. This is all down to the Great Firewall of China, but some other high end hotels can get around the restrictions (including the Aman in Shanghai).  I think the state blocks more things in Beijing because it’s the capital and there are lots of government and Party activities going on.

Overall I score the Aman Summer Palace 9.5/10.  There can’t be many hotels in the world as special as this.