Seeing this thread reminded me that I neglected to report on my stay at this hotel a couple months back.

I was a little skeptical about the hotel, based upon early reports here. I have to say that the experience was extraordinary. I loved the hotel. I would consider returning to Shanghai if only to stay here again -- and there are very, very, very few hotels in the world where I would say that.

In the interest of full disclosure, it's certainly possible that my perceptions were somewhat skewed by a completely opposite experience across the river at the Portman Ritz Carlton where my friend and I walked away from a paid stay, in a club floor suite no less, to move to the Park Hyatt. The Ritz was so pathetic, having come from the Park Hyatt Tokyo, after a couple nights we decided to cut our losses and move over to this property. In spite of the high last-minute rate, we never regretted that decision for a moment.

I arranged a car from the Park Hyatt to pick us up at the Ritz for the move. Needless to say, that, along with our early check-out, raised an eyebrow or two at the Ritz.

From the moment we stepped out of the car at the PH, we were treated with a 5-star experience. We were greeted by a host, who took us through the hotel and to the lobby floor where we were greeted by a number of staff, including the director of rooms, who was there to greet me as a Diamond member personally. We were then handed off to our butler, who escorted us straight to our room to handle check-in procedures.

Upon arrival in the room, there was a problem. There were two of us and we wanted two beds, but there was only a King in the room. When I booked the reservation, only a King was available online, so I put a note in the note field that we required a room with two beds, or a rollaway bed. They missed that note. I was told the hotel does not provide any rollaway beds, but that they would arrange for another room for us with two beds. It was a larger, upgraded room, and not quite ready, so they invited us to stay in that room and they would move us when it was prepared. That took about a half-hour, then the butler came along with a bellman to gather us and our belongings to move us to the new room.

It's worth noting that the weather during this 24-hour period was terrible. We caught occasional glimpses through the clouds, but for the most part, we could see nothing. Clearly, the view from this hotel is one of its greatest features, but even without it, we were delighted with the stay.

The room was immaculate and extraordinarily comfortable, with seemingly every little detail covered. The bathroom, which has been discussed previously, was one of the finest I've experienced anywhere. The rain shower in the room must be experienced to be believed.

Delivered to us in our room was a delicious fruit tart and a bottle of red wine, with a welcoming note from the GM. The tart was better than anything I've ever had delivered to my room, anywhere. Truly magnificent. And the wine surprised me. It was a Chinese red wine that was completely acceptable.

At that point our butler took our jackets, slacks and shirts to be pressed for us and returned them within about an hour.

We arranged for dinner upstairs at 100 Century Avenue. A few minutes prior to our reservation, the doorbell rang. It was our butler, who had been notified via her PDA of our reservation so she had come to escort us. She waited until we were ready to go, then escorted us up to the restaurant, and all the way to our requested window table.

The restaurant was extremely busy. (It does not stand out in my memory that it was especially loud.) Unfortunately, the clouds were socked in, so we could see nothing out the window. That was a disappointment. We found the dinner to be excellent and the service to be good but not exceptional. (That still seems to be an issue in China, even in the finest restaurants.) We sampled from the three different cuisines, creating a five-star, trans-continental meal. We enjoyed everything very much, with the exception of a small steak, which was tough and poorly cooked, so I sent it back. All-in-all, it was an extraordinary meal. After dinner, we enjoyed cocktails and cigars in the 87th floor (lobby floor) bar, as the 100 Century Avenue bar was unfortunately closed for a private party -- the Formula One race was in town the same weekend, and the BMW team and owners, among other F1 big shots, were staying at the hotel. (Imagine the money flowing through the place. You could smell it, as it whisked by. )

We didn't have time to utilize the spa facilities, but did stop by to have a look around. The infinity pool, which seemed to flow over the edge, with the water dropping the 90 floors to the ground, was stunning. The facilities were in keeping with the rest of the hotel -- exceptional.

I would, and will, return to this property in a heartbeat. Our stay was an extraordinary experience from beginning to end.