In the lead-up to the Olympics, Beijing has been gifted a number of gorgeous new hotels, with more international heavyweights expected to open in the coming months. But despite the heady heights and wacky new designs, one property still stands apart – the city’s oldest.

The century-old Beijing Hotel, which stretches mismatched wings along stately Chang’an Avenue just down the road from the Forbidden City, is something of a Beijing institution. When the Beaux Arts-style building (the present-day Raffles) opened in 1917, it boasted the city’s first private baths with flush toilets, and telephones in each room. Back then, Chinese and foreign luminaries and gilded globetrotters sipped French champagne on the roof terrace overlooking the watchtowers of the Forbidden City. Later Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai banqueted here to celebrate the inauguration of the People’s Republic in 1949 and it became the venue for all major functions prior to the opening of the Great Hall of the People in 1958.

Despite now being sandwiched between more dour wings of the greater Beijing Hotel, a USD 12 million renovation by Raffles Hotels & Resorts in 2006 has revived the nostalgia and romance of its early 20th-century heyday, while discreetly integrating modern toys for today’s travel elite. Behind the colonnaded peachy façade, a sepia-toned lobby strung with crystal chandeliers greets guests with a blend of French whimsy and Chinoisserie. At its centre, a marble staircase and polished timber hallways laid with Oriental rugs lead off to the 171 guestrooms and suites.

Like its sister property in Singapore, Raffles Beijing excels at old-world residential charm – and the guestrooms are perhaps most charming of all. We particularly like the nine Personality Suites, dedicated to luminaries associated with the hotel – from Deng Xiao Ping to George Bernard Shaw and Charles de Gaulle (who forged bilateral diplomatic ties between China and France here in 1964).

The split-level suites are luxuriously appointed with a raised four-poster bed, chaise lounges, heavy brocade drapes and original parquet floors. Black and white archival photographs of famous figures hang on silk wallpapered walls and flat screen TVs are disguised in gilt gold frames. Bathrooms running the full length of the room are equipped with double vanities and a whirlpool bath, leading through to a separate toilet with views over Chang’an Da Jie through the wooden shutters. Signature Raffles touches like batik slippers, Amrita bath products and 24-hour on-call valet are available to every guest.

Behind the original building, a skylit atrium connects a ‘90s tower which now houses 77 Raffles Inc Executive Rooms – more modern accommodation equipped for corporate travelers, with access to a sleek executive lounge. There is also a gym, indoor swimming pool, spa (unfortunately not a Raffles’ Amrita Spa, but a more low-key salon run by an outside provider), and all-day dining restaurant East 33, whose odd fusion of Italian and Chinese cuisine and decor doesn’t quite meet the lofty standards of the rest of the hotel.

Back in the heritage building (definitely our preference), signature French restaurant Jaan seats just 40 beneath vaulted arches and right next to the original 1926 sprung wooden dance floor that Sun Yat Sen once twirled across. La Vie is a delightful setting for classic high tea accompanied by a string quartet, or sidle up to the distinguished Writer’s Bar for a ‘Beijing Sling’ cocktail (adapted from the famous recipe of its Singapore parent) and soak in the history of this fabled hotel.