北京合德緣四合院酒店

Location, location, location

- Extremely cheap price for dorm living (and good prices for the regular rooms) right in the heart of Qianmen. Two minutes from the main walking street in Qianmen (with some western-style food as long as sort of a Disney version of Hutong life), a short walk to Qianmen subway, walkable to everything in and around Tian'anmen Square, not too far from the Temple of Heaven. - Really cool looking lobby areas. - Comfy bar with cheap Tsingtao, wifi, charging outlets. Didn't eat the food but it looked ok. Good place to unwind after a long, hot day in Beijing. - Really friendly staff though some had zero English and others were a bit limited.

- The dorm room was pretty bare bones. Nice aircon but it was strangely in the little sitting room rather than the sleeping area so had to really work to keep things cool. - Shared bathrooms were typical Chinese squat toilets. If you're not used to these and have trouble using them, you should find your way to some of the coffee shops on Qianmen Street that have western-style toilets. - Not much at all in the way of housekeeping once you're checked in. - The actual hutong the hotel is on is somewhat seedy - some weird sex shops and brothels along there. Didn't seem dangerous, really, but I'm not sure I'd want to bring a family down a street like that regularly.