The Peninsula Beijing: Adding zing to classic

While the trend of millennial hotels is to create even smaller guest spaces, the $US123 million ($165 million) total refurb of The Peninsula Beijing has bucked that by turning 525 rooms into 230 suites with the standard size a healthy 65 square metres.

Each guest space in the iconic hotel, a stone's throw from Tiananmen Square, has a separate bedroom, living room, bathroom and dressing room, with standard rooms now the largest in China.

Sixty-one suites comprise 25 per cent of the hotel inventory – the highest percentage in The Peninsula group. A loft-style collection of duplex rooms on the top floor feature floor-to-ceiling windows, affording expansive views over Beijing from the master bedroom upstairs, and from the entry lobby and living room downstairs.

Not enough space? Seventeen 165-square-metre Beijing Suites feature large living and dining areas, private dressing rooms adjoining the master bedroom and a cinema room.

Inside, the entire hotel has been redecorated in a mode that celebrates the architectural, artistic and cultural traditions of China.

Peninsula collaborator, designer Henry Leung of CAP Atelier, has combined traditional motifs, colours and textures with cutting-edge in-room technology delivered in 11 languages.

The lobby has been reconfigured into a grand three-storey space with intricate handcrafted details, and all the restaurants, including the famed flagship Huang Ting, have been overhauled, including their menus, which now focus on genuinely local and sustainable produce.

With an ethos of connecting guests to the China beyond The Peninsula's luxurious walls, the hotel collaborated with Michael Suh, executive director at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Beijing, and designer Henry Leung, on a collection of specially commissioned paintings, sculptures and installations. The Peninsula Beijing's art residency program, in conjunction with MoCA Beijing, gives aspiring artists the chance to live and work for three months in a purpose-built studio and guestroom on the 14th floor, with the artworks created during their stay exhibited in a new gallery on the third floor.

From RMB2100 ($408) a room until February 28. See Beijing.peninsula.com