BAforme

I am travelling to Shanghai next week. Our company uses various hotels. The Peninsula, PuLi and Shangri-La. Can you offer any advice as to the best hotel for business. I will need meeting rooms and possibly private dining. Thanks for your help

BENLEE

If budget is not a significant constraint, Peninsula will be my recommendation. Very posh rooms and equipped with all the latest gizmos and gadgets that a business traveler will need, and being a Peninsula, it's top tier luxury. They have meeting rooms but you have to pay for it though.

On the other hand, if budget is a factor and you don't mind more modest but still very comfortable accommodation, I will recommend a new found favorite of my, the Shangri-la Kerry Pudong. It has a great club lounge with lots of meeting room and near to airport and a world class fitness centre. If you book the club rooms value rate, they will include round trip airport transfer, club lounge access with breakfast, evening cocktail, all day beverages, free internet ( standard for all Shangri-las ) including in the club lounge, free laundry and two hours free use of meeting room per day.

The Puli is a boutique hotel. It's very nice but I don't think suitable for business travelers.

allstar_yvr

I'd recommend the Park Hyatt Shanghai. Very modern with great facilities. Definitely a 'wow' factor as well.

moondog

Where are you meetings? All else being equal, I would honestly recommend the Portman. I know it receives mixed reviews, and is old (by China standards), but the location is very central, best concierge in town (IMO), and there are lots of nice restaurants in/near Shanghai Center. I'm sure the Puli is nicer (~300 meters away), but it has yet to establish itself as a center for business.

GetSetJetSet

I'd have to advise against this. The Portman is in my opinion a terrible, terrible hotel

moondog

Come on! It is not terrible. I put a billionaire up there last week, and he was happy as a clam. You can rave all you want about the Penn and the Park Hyatt, but their locations are terrible for most business travelers. Plus, it's 1/3 the price.

TRAVELSIG

OP: Where are your meetings? Pudong or Shanghai?

There are many good luxury hotels in China. Given your need for meeting rooms etc, I can suggest if your meetings are in Pudong the Shangri-La Horizon Club level as you get 2 hours free meeting room per day, and they are large enough to work comfortably in. It is also a very easy hotel for your colleagues/guests to get to if they are arriving from surrounding areas (a big plus as entering Shanghai proper can be a nightmare at the wrong time of day).

GetSetJetSet

Last time I was in Shanghai the Pen and Park Hyatt were still under construction so it was the Portman by default. It was not my favorite hotel.

MikeFromTokyo

The Peninsula Shanghai.

bearbrick

A gentle reminder:

The Portman shanghai was the original Peninsula , a hundred years ago...

Kagehitokiri

shanghai centre opened 1990, hotel was SL until RC took over in 1998

pen/etc shanghai history looks like >
1896-1948 palace (opened 1875) (rebuilt 1908) (now swatch art peace hotel)
1915-1954 astor (opened 1846 by peter felix richards - ironic middle name) (rebuilt 1910) (now pujiang hotel)
1920-1926 kalee (opened 1903) (?)
1924-1930 majestic (torn down 1933)

switching to HK >
http://m.hshgroup.com/en/About-Hongk...1866-1900.aspx
is that LMO site? what would have happened if it had been nearby MO site...

https://www.hongkongheritage.org/html/eng/index.html
very cool site

its amazing how many newspapers from that time are online
searching for above hotels and years gets a lot of results

also in pen magazine for example >
http://www.pagegangster.com/p/WyZXo/20/
think i linked more about pen magazine in lounge thread

wrxmom

Peninsula:

Just a few benefits include:

1) in room FAX
2) Free long distance calls via VOIP

moondog

The Portman changed flags in 1997. I know this because I was there during the "handover" and RC ran a media campaign around it, "the lion is coming to town."

I'm looking forward to the new Shangri-La in Jing'an. It has its own subway entrance* (talk about guanxi).

*ETA: The subway entrance thing is significant because the Shangri-La is not all that close to the subway itself.

seiknujnama

RC Portman Shanghai is very close to one of the original HSH hotels "The Majestic", not exactly same site.

TO BAforme: Peninsula has better meeting facility and private dinning options, and the room design is much better than others.

bearbrick

l
no no , the Portman shanghai at the Shanghai centre ....all those years ago was a Peninsula hotel ...originally opened and managed by Pen then......followed by SL and now RC...the other hotel in China the Pen was operating around that time was the Garden in Guangzhou......john portman was doing another building in either spore or china then........i ferget.