Stunning Rosewood Beijing more than lives up to the hotel hype

Wrong. In 2011, Rosewood Hotels & Resorts was bought by New World Hospitality, an offshoot of Hong Kong's New World Development, so it's one of our own. The deal included such famously upscale American hotels as Mansion on Turtle Creek, in Dallas, and The Carlyle, in New York, as well as de Crillon, in Paris, France.

Yes. And now Rosewood has opened its first mainland hotel, in Beijing's central business district, right in front of that other iconic building, CCTV's headquarters, aka The Underpants.

Fabulously. This writer was so impressed by the size and opulence of her room, she thought she'd been upgraded to a suite. She hadn't; the average size of the 283 rooms is 50 square metres. Even in the luxurious suites, however, we're not talking retina-burning bling. This is tasteful territory.

Exactly, it's all in the detail. Each room, for instance, contains a selection of books, including one of China's four great novels, which you can read while lying on your chaise longue. If that's not enough literature, there are mini-libraries with art and history books in each corridor. The room lighting is excellent and clearly labelled. A digital clock is set into a wall in the bathroom (above); there's plenty of space for toiletries; and a dressing table has been built into every walk-in wardrobe. It's unusually female-friendly and free of weird gimmickry.