After getting a great deal on Expedia for a Fashion Suite (US $175) we where so happy to find a hotel that lived up to all the hype. The room was huge, with a great walk in robe and huge bathroom with a very large round bath. As written in most reviews the beds are hard, but after all the walking you will do, you will tend to sleep on anything. The computer in the room was great for looking up travel sites whilst in Beijing and searching for directions to places.

The staff are all very friendly and helpful. I probably would not bother with the breakfast as there are so many local places to eat in Beijing for next to nothing. The location of the Kapok is possible the best in Beijing. You can actually walk to the Forbidden Palace as it is only about 300 metres down the road. The main shopping strip of Beijing and the night food markets are also very close by.

Overall if you are thinking of booking here I would say do it before word gets out and everyone wants to stay here.

I travelled to this hotel with my husband and 17 month old daughter. We booked directly with the hotel to ensure we got a cot for the baby, and they were prepared to match the lowest available price we had found (we paid 768RMB for a double, no breakfast). We could have paid extra and gotten one breakfast thrown into the price, but there is no need - there are so many little shops and restaurants around - including the standard fast food places in a busy shopping mall about 5 minutes walk away.

We were very pleasantly surprised when, on arrival, we could check in prior to the usual check-in time, and were upgraded to a suite for no extra cost! The suite was on the second floor and I worried about the street noise, but there was no problem in the end. While you can hear a few cars, there is very little noise at night.

The suite was comfortable and spacious. One thing I was concerned about was the glassed bathroom - but there are two sets of curtains, block out on the inside and privacy curtains on the outside of the glass wall of the bathroom - so if you are travelling with someone who needs privacy, this can be assured. We used the curtain at night when we didn't want to wake our daughter with bright light.

Another bonus was a free internet connection in the room (the suite provided a computer). There was tea and coffee making facilities but no free tea or coffee - so bring some (or buy some in the many tea shops) if you want to save some money. There is a little shop just across the road where we got drinks and milk for the baby.

The staff are friendly and all speak some English.

The only downsides were: a very hard bed (I am getting used to this in this part of the world) and the fact that our credit card deposit had been lost when we were checking out. So far there has been no unexpected charge on our credit card, but I am keeping my eye on our account, just in case.

I can only subscribe to what the other travellers have said about the KAPOK. The location is great if you want to tackle all sightseeing spots in central Beijing, Forbidden City, Tienanmen etc. The Hotel rooms have nice and modern furnishing, bathrooms are striking. Downside is the WLAN connections not working and the PC available in each Room only being able to display Windows messages, boxes in Mandarin.
The beds are hard....as others have mentioned which is the only downside.
If you plan to leave for business trips to areas outside the first 2 rings in the early morning, expect heavy morning traffic and bear in mind that your taxi trip from the KAPOK may take quite a long time due. We ended up taking the METRO at WANFUJIN after havint been resufed by several taxis to take us to Ring 5 due to the congestions.

We just finished our 3 nights at this hotel, and it is really top notch excellent. There are many factors that make this one of the top hotels in Beijing. First, the location is outstanding, just 3 minute walk to Forbidden City and 5-10 minutes to Tiananmen Square. In the opposite direction, you walk for 5 minutes, and you're in the commercial center of Beijing. Despite the central location, the hotel is on a quiet street with not a lot of noise. There is a bicycle rental place just across the river (2 minutes walk), so if you want to do a bicycle tour, it's very easy. Also, there is a really great massage place and spa just 1 minute walk towards the Forbidden City, where you can get anything from Chinese to Foot massage at very good prices (we payed an equivalent of US $20 for 1 hour Chinese massage (which by the way is kind of harsh but interesting to experience).

Second, the rooms are spectacular. We booked a basic double but got upgraded to a suite on the 5th floor and it was completely 5-stars, including a computer with connection to fast internet, flat screen tv, a large spa-sized bathtub, and an overall clean and deluxe finish. The bed was maybe a bit hard, but that's not much of a complaint. The hotel overall is very clean and stylish.

Finally, the staff are very helpful and friendly. They helped us arrange a car to the Great Wall, and the price they gave us was actually the same as what Lonely Planet quotes as a minimum. By the way, if you're planning to see the GW, go early in the morning (we left at 6am) and head south on the wall when you get to Badaling. We did this and had the wall all to ourselves for 2 hours. It was magical. By the time we were coming back, the tour buses have just pulled up, and there were literally thousands of people there.

Overall, I highly recommend Kapok. In fact, if I ever came back to Beijing, I would not stay anywhere else. This one is a gem.