Shanghai St. Regis Jingan - 5* facilities, mixed service

100   Recommended
Room 4302 , Suite
November 3, 2017 by

 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended
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St. Regis Shanghai
 Map | 1 Review | 100% Recommended

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Room 4302

Suite

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
Stats
Room
Suite

Check In

Up arrival, was immediately directed to a nice desk area to process check-in. Unfortunately, while the agent was friendly, it was not a 5* experience. He made sure to recognize my SPG platinum status, but when I asked whether a suite upgrade was available he said the hotel was full. It was only when I showed him that base level suites were available on the SPG website, that he made a call and assigned me a suite on the 42nd floor. He also didn't go through any of the included amenities (ie butler service, or the fact that they do host an SPG platinum hour) other than the fact the non-alcholic minibar was included, which is a nice plus. 

 

 

Room

WOW! Easily one of the nicest suites I've stayed in, with incredible hardware and facilities. I won't do much dialouge here and let the photos do most of the talking. It was stunning, and the room was very well-done and felt very new.

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Corner View Bedroom w/ TV

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Bathtub with a view

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Next generation Japanese toilet

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Bedroom view into closet and bathroom

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Walk in closet

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Living room

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Desk Area

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Guest Half-Bathroom

Service

Service was a mixed-bag. I'd summarise as well-intentioned but poorly executed.

Examples:

-During check-in was not informed of many of the included amenities. (for ex: Butler Service & SPG Platinum happy hour)

-I used the pool one day, and asked if there was a jacuzzi, they told me there was one in the Spa, but I had to make an appointment (odd?). So I made an appointment, but in the end it was just a jacuzzi in another locker room located down the hall from the fitness center locker room. Very odd layout and poorly explained.

-As mentioned in the other review, many staff members seemed bored. I don't blame them as it's a very large hotel and often not very busy.

 

Positive examples:

-Butler service was great, tea came promptly, and items pressed within 3 hours.

-Breakfast service was proactive and very friendly. 

 

Dining

I had two experiences, one was breakfast all four mornings. Unfortunately the breakfast bufet did not live up the the grandeur of the room it was held in. The Chinese breakfast looked lovely, but the Western breakfast (especially the hot options) was definitely lacking when compared with similiar 5* hotels (Waldorf, W, Park Hyatt) in the area.

The second was at the St. Regis Bar. After calling down to see if they hosted a happy hour for SPG platinums (yes, one-hour from 6:30pm to 7:30pm), I arrived and they gave me the menu for the general buy-1-get-1 free happy hour, only when I pressed they gave me the actual SPG platinum menu from the bottom of a pile, which leads me to believe not many people know about this benefit. It is a nice place to spend an hour to enjoy some free drinks. They proactively brought out some small snacks as well. I had to sign a $0 check at the end.

 

Location

Stellar location within easy walking distance of West Nanjing Subway station. Lots of great resturaunts in the area (JingAn). No, it doesn't have the bund "wow" location, but for someone who spends a lot of time in Shanghai, JingAn is a much better area with easy access to bars/food/nightlife.

Gym

Gym was good and  a mixture of free-weights (wohoo) and machines. They were stocked with plenty of bottled water.Nice locker rooms! Pool was also of high quality, but it is located in the basement, so while it has a skylight it is more of a lap pool than a "spend the day by the pool" facility.

Overall

I'm at such a crossroad here as the facilities are so beautiful, and the room stunning. With a little more effort this could be a hotel worthy of the St. Regis brand. Unfortunately on this visit the service let it down. 

That being said, the most important thing to me (and I assume many other travellers) is the room and location. Both of those things got an A+ from me on this visit, and because of that I wouldn't hesitate to go back.

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