Staff speaks English, but with heavy accents. It took several attempts to ensure I understood what they were trying to communicate to me and vice versa. This hotel is close to Wangfujing, Tiananmen and a few subway stops, but I wouldn't say any of these are within walking distance for most Americans unless you live an active lifestyle. There are bikes for rent at this place that only cost you the deposit, thus making your "rental" free as long as you reasonably take care of the bike. Warning about these bikes: they aren't your super expensive Fuji mountain bike, they're the cheap, "just get me from Point A to B" kind of bikes. These are certainly great for short excursions. Beijing is a very bike-friendly city as long as you don't mind riding with traffic or with the heavy smog. There are bikes everywhere and the city is, for the most part, very flat.
The water from the shower cut off after a few minutes for me. I've since come to understand that water ration limits were imposed during my stay. My showers were only about 5-10 minutes long.
There is a tour desk for those who want to visit places like the Great Wall and Ming Tombs. The Great Wall tour was reasonably priced and lasted about 10 hours, with various stops along the way. Again, the guide was knowledgable, but hard to understand at times.
Overall, I was generally pleased with the hotel, but didn't spend much time there because I was out and about most of the time.