It isn’t too late to make arrangements to attend the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, August 8th to 24th, though you’ll pay a premium for waiting until the (relative) last minute.

The hotel with vacancies closest to most sporting venues is the Best Western Olympic Stadium Hotel. We found rooms available during the games for $627 a night. That makes the Best Western your best Olympic hotel option.

Other hotels of reasonable quality in the Beijing city center include the Red Wall Hotel (5,800 yuan / US$805), the Forbidden City Hotel (5,858 yuan / US$815) and the Howard Johnson Regal Court Hotel (6,000 yuan / US$835).

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The 25-story Fairmont Beijing enjoys a premier downtown location near business and shopping areas such as the Capital Tower, LG Building, China World Complex and Oriental Plaza as well as eminent landmarks including the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven and Tiananmen Square.

The hotel will feature 235 spacious guestrooms, restaurants and bars including a library lounge, function space together with a multi-purpose theatre, a business center and a 1000 square meter Willow Stream Spa offering fitness facilities and a swimming pool. The award-winning architectural firm Paul Tange & Associates has been selected for the project. The Japan-based firm is renowned for creating structures that not only reflect a building’s design but also encompass its role in the community in which it is located.

With the opening of the landmark Fairmont San Francisco in 1907, one of the world’s leading luxury hotel brands was born. The grand collection of fabled castles, secluded lodges, storied meeting places and modern retreats have hosted the rich and famous, kings and queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers and stars of the stage and screen. During 2007, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is proud to mark its centenary and guests at hotels from North America and Europe to the Middle East are invited to join the celebrations.

“We are delighted to be working in conjunction with Dr. Chan Chai and the Reignwood Group to develop Fairmont Beijing,” said Chris Cahill, Fairmont’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “Fairmont has offered warm hospitality in unforgettable locations since 1907, when The Fairmont San Francisco first opened its doors. We are excited to continue our tradition of providing service excellence to guests in Beijing with one of fastest growing companies in China.”

Fairmont Beijing joins other recently announced projects in the region, including Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai and a future hotel development project on Macao’s Cotai Strip

Nancy Nie of 4 Banqiao Courtyard Guesthouse, located in Beijing, China shares her intimate story of opening the successful 18-room traditional courtyard-style guesthouse and gives us a locals perspective of the magic surrounding the historical and fascinating city.

Tell us a little bit about what it is you do at 4 Banqiao Courtyard?

There are many new friends come to my warm and nice guesthouse everyday. I like to know them and enjoy the funny and beautiful thing with all my friends.

What inspired you to get into your line of work?

The reason is that I am very interested in traditional architecture and Chinese culture, and I chase the joy and originality in my life.

Tell us what makes your property unique.

4 Banqiao locates in Dongzhimen quadrangles protection area, and there are citizens’ residences in the neighborhood, which shows the real life of Beijing people. Old quadrangle, the courtyard which plant pomegranate tree, bright platform, the Chinese traditional furniture are all designed by young designers. Our public lounge is the most distinguished, it mixes with the old house, traditional furniture and modern life together. Guests living here can have tea, coffee, go on line, watch TV and chat with guests from other countries. I always provide the travel suggestions to my guests including food, travel, culture exhibition, art and so on.

What is special about the Location of your property?

Our guesthouse’s location is very unusual, 2 minutes walk to subway station. Subway line 5 south to Tiantan Park, Hongqiao Market, east to Silk Market, north to Olympic Village, west to Old Palace and Tian’anmen Square. It just takes 30 minutes drive to Capital Airport. 10 minutes walk to very famous historical view Lama Temple. 15 minutes go to Nanluoguxiang by bike, west to Houhai, the YandaiXiejie is the place which you can’t miss. The east of 4 Banqiao is Dongzhimen flyover, it is the largest transport center in Beijing, guests can take subway, city train, bus, taxi to everywhere. Before 2008 Olympic Games, the second waiting airplane hall of the Capital Airport will be finished, at that time, it just takes guests 10 minutes to arrive by subway from our guesthouse.

Tell us about your clientele, who are they and where do they come from?

Most of our guests are foreigners, they come from Europe, USA, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Designers also like to live in my guesthouse.

What are a few of your favorite rooms/suites on the property?

Suite 117#,118# are very fit for family which have two children. 117#: Chinese traditional screen divides the room into two space. It is the lane outside the window, in the morning, you will listen street vendors selling breakfast and articles of daily use, it’s very interesting. 118#: The shape of south window is very special, open the window, you can touch the grey roof of neighborhood. See from the 118#, there are traditional architectures and trees around you. Drink tea and have a rest in this room, you may forget you are in the international metropolis -Beijing.

Is there anything not to be missed at your property?

There is a bomb shelter in our guesthouse’s courtyard, people can go down, go through it and come out from another exit. We plan to reserve red wine in it. In our courtyard, you can feed the gold fish and teach the myna to speak.

Tell us something unusual about your property that guests might not know.

The platform is a good place to have a rest. In the morning, you can read book, take a nap, search for internet, or send travel pictures to your friends while drinking coffee. In the evening, you can watch moon and star, they are very nice . I always have the doubt “ Am I in Beijing?” when I do it.

Beijing is a fascinating city, what is it that you recommend your visitors see and do while they are visiting?

Nanluoguxiang is a walking street, there are many stores to sell artistic products. Yandaixiejie in Houhai is the place you can’t miss. And Gongwangfu(Gong Prince’s Palace) is also a good choice to have a visit. It is located at Lvliuyin Street in Houhai. Which is a intact one among the palaces of princes. In Qing Dynast, it the palace of treacherous court official- Heshen. It has a good geographic house, sophisticated technology,which shows the mixture of royal’s architecture and folk’s style.

To get a real taste of Beijing, what restaurants nearby do you recommend to your visitors?

Donghuamen night market is wonderful for you to have Beijing local snacks. You can go there by subway line 5.

Lastly, If you only had one day in Beijing, where would you go and what would you do

In the morning, you can go to Lama Temple and Confucius Temple. 10 minutes to walk there. Lama Temple is the biggest lama temple in Beijing, which is the treasure trove of Han Nationality , Magol, Manchu, Tibetan Nationality’s arts and culture. In the first day of lunar new year, the Buddhists wait to prey from 3:00 am. On the opposite of Lama Temple is Guozijian (Imperial Academy), there are lots of all kinds of shops. When you are tired, you could have a cup of coffee in Xiuguan Coffee Shop also could go to Yiyuan to have toast duck. Besides, Guijie has hundreds of restaurants of various styles of cuisines for you to choose. In the afternoon, you could start from 4 Banqiao, take subway line 5 to Tiantan Park, which is the biggest ancient sacrifice architecture complex in China. At the opposite of it is Hongqiao Market. At dusk, you could go to Nanluoguxiang, at which you can have a taste of Chinese cheese and almond tea besides shopping. In the evening, you can eat instant-boiled mutton, and go off to the bright lights. In the summer evening, a boat with red lanterns sailing in the lake, an artist plays the koto at the end of boat, visitors eat, drink and enjoy the beautiful Houhai’s evening.

That concludes our interview!

Thank you Nancy for sharing and participating in this interview for TravelerWIRE.

Click here to Book your stay at 4 Banqiao Courtyard Guesthouse in Beijing.