Introduction We were on vacation around China whilst planning decided to have a 1 night break where we would just relax, this Sofitel looked perfect for this, and it was!I am going to need to add some promotional material from the hotel at this point to share what they offer:An international hotel that blends French hospitality standards with Chinese influences Sofitel Shanghai Sheshan Oriental accommodates business and leisure travellers in 368 luxurious rooms and suites as well as 7 opulent three- to five-bedroom villas.Promo picture from Sofitel.com - front of hotelPicture from Smartshanghai.com - rear of hotelOn the premises you can find:4 restaurants: seafood, Chinese, Japanese and Mediterranean.A few bars: in the lobby, at/in the pool, a cigar bar and a health barPools pools pools! I am not sure how many there are, but they advertise having 4400 sqm of poolsWellbeing: an indoors fitness center, outdoor tennis courts, onsite Spa, sauna, hammam, table tennis, a jogging trackHairdresserShop (saw signs for it but didn't actually see anything more than vending machines that sold most things that you would need to compliment your stay)Kids entertainment: kids pools, kids playrooms (quite a few of them!), babysitting, you can find a brochure hereWith this you can already start to see how impressive this hotel is, it is huge! It is meant for the busy Shanghainese to take a short break away from life, and it works!At this point I must add that as we went in March, the outdoor pools were not operational (it would have been too cold for us anyway), in the room there was a letter saying that they would be ready on our check-out date, but when we asked about this they said that it would be ready for May. There were also some renovation works going on in the hotel (rooms, lifts, communal areas), and although we saw it and some workers, there were no disturbances to our stay (and no noise whatsoever).I don't know if it was because it was off peak, but it was a very quiet hotel, we hardly saw any other guests during our stay (we had the indoor pool to ourselves, there was nobody else at the lobby bar when we went for a drink, the lounge only had a few tables occupied) except at the (main?) restaurant that was really crowded for lunch.No for my impressions of this hotel, where I will share with you our flawless experience here!(note that I cannot add comments below each photo as there are too many and writing this review has made my computer crash 3 times already, please ask if you have any questions on any of the pictures) Location The location of the hotel is what we expected, good links to public transport: take metro line 9 to Sheshan, then it is about 2km's from the station. We tried walking there, but the infrastructure was not great so on the way back we took a taxi and it cost us 14 Yuan, so don't try to walk.View from metro line 9, you can see the complex from a distance. Check In We booked the hotel 3 days before our stay, and for the first time ever in my experience at accor hotels, I got the following welcome email from the hotel 2 days after bookingear Ikaz,Warm Greetings from Sofitel Shanghai Sheshan Oriental.We are feeling honored to be your host during your time in Shanghai.This time you booked one Twin Bed Room,we have already upgrade the room to a Prestige Suite Room. I am delighted to inform you that due to your Le Club Platinum level, you can enjoy a free early check in and a free late check out until 5pm during your stay with us.In order to provide you a “Magnifique” experience, I would like to ask you if you would have any preferences or if you would be able to tell me an approximate arrival time, so that we can prepare your room in advance.Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any other requests or would like to get some more information about our hotel and Shanghai.We are looking forward to your arrival.Best regardsGuest Relation OfficerI stated my room preference (I somehow booked a twin so requested a king) and gave my arrival time.When we arrived at the hotel (walking from the metro station), it was so huge that we were not sure what building to go to for check-in, and the security staff did not understand us due to the language barrier, so I asked for "Sofitel" and he pointed me to the correct direction/building.Seeing us arrive with our luggage (a backpack each and a wheelie carry-on, so not overloaded with stuff), the people outside didn't offer any help and didn't even acknowledge us. At the check-in desk we were greeted and recognised as platinium members, and they confirmed our upgrade. This part of our experience was not particularly good or bad, but it was efficient. The English of the staff was not the best.We were told about the lounge on the 5th floor and directed to the lifts closest to our room. They did not tell us our room number as it was written on the keycard holder, but it was so badly written that we struggled to read the room number, we could see that it was room 8xxx. We got to the lift and there was no 8th floor, so we were a bit confused, but tried the 5th floor to ask the lounge and found our room on that floor. The room numbering system was a bit confusing.It would have also been possible to check-in in the lounge as a platinium member. Room Once we got to our room, we were once again impressed. In the lounge area there is a desk with the welcome letters, a couple of couches, our welcome gift, a TV, a nespresso machine with 6 caps, a kettle (with instant coffee and teas), the minibar (with 5 types of mugs/glass pairs: coffee, wine, champagne, spirits and tall glasses!), a balcony (with a table and one chair) and the first bathroom."Smart" switches, a lot easier to find out how to switch off the last light with this like it's often the case in some hotels.Separated by a door the bedroom part, with a nice bed, another TV, a full sized bathroom (with 2 doors, that didn't serve much purpose to be honest), another balcony (with a table and one chair again).On the bed side table were a couple of chocolates and some bottles of water.View from the balcony, you can see the artificial beach on the top leftView from the balcony, with the nature reserve in the background.View of the floor plan, with a red dot where the suite it, in the 3rd section of the hotel from the left. The lounge is the middle section.I was also impressed with the wifi offering, there is an individual wifi network for each room in the hotel! So our wifi network name was our room number (not the password, the actual network we connected to). I would expect this to ensure good quality wifi for all (it worked fine in our room). This does mean that we needed to log back in to the generic hotel wifi when we were in the lounge or bar.So a great suite, good quality furnishings, and only 2 tiny issues:The glasses in the bar were not checked before we checked in, there was one missing and one was broken in the drawer (leaving us with "only" 6 glasses to chose from)The door-windows did not seal properly, so it wasn't soundproof, this was absolutely no issue for our stay, but I am guessing that it could be during the summer with kids playing in the pool downstairs in the morning. Bathroom The room had 2 bathrooms, a small one in the lounge area with just a WC and a sink:And the main bathroom in the room area, with a shower, a bathtub, a WC and a sink. The amenities are from the brand Lanvin.The cupboard for the coat hangers and with the safe was in the bathroom.The only problem oif the bathroom is that the shower floor is made of anti grip that actually hurts the feet. Platinium Benefits A major plus of this hotel was the treatment that we received as platinium members:Welcome email before arrivalGuaranteed upgrade to prestige suite confirmed before arrival (proactive, we didn't request)Guaranteed early check-in and late check-out (until 5pm) before arrival3 Welcome letters, 2 addressed to me (one from the club millesime manager and one from the hotel manager), and one generic about the late check-out2 drink vouchers (not provided at check-in, they were waiting for us in the room)Lounge accessFree local calls2 hours free use of the meeting room per day (in the lounge)Welcome giftWelcome giftWelcome lettersFree drinks in the lobby bar, as gold or platinium we were allowed 100 CNY per person (Silver members might get a lower amount). Cocktails cost between 88 and 128 CNY. Club Millesime lounge We were granted access to the lounge thanks to my platinium status, here is what they offer:Open between 06:30 to 23:00Breakfast buffet from 06:30 to 10:30Afternoon tea from 13:00 to 16:00Happy hour from 17:00 to 19:00 For the happy hour there was a buffet, and cooked dishes that you could order (about 6-8 cooked options) and apparently coktails, they did not have a menu for the cooked options or the coktails so I am not sure exactly what there was. We took spring rolls, fish, beef and noodles from the cooked options, and they came in small tapas portions.Here are the buffet options: For breakfast the options were a lot more choices than during the happy hour (including cooked to order pancakes and waffles): For afternoon tea there were 2 cake options, some fresh fruit and soft/hot drinks: Overall the best part of the lounge was the staff! They were great from the moment we arrived (they even called me in the room to return a pair of glasses that we left on the table). They didn't replenish the food when there was none left, but that could be due to the low number of guests (we saw about 10 guests throughout the stay).Regarding the food offering, the happy hour was good enough for us as a meal for dinner, the breakfast was great and the afternoon tea was nothing special.They could maybe add a menu with the options that are not self-serve. Amenities Here are some random pictures that we took whilst walking around the propertyLobby bar seatingView of some of the downstairs restaurant seating from the lobbyPiano in the lobbyPool barPrivate artificial beachSofitel So Spa Villas (overwater)SpaA garden behind the hotel on the hotel groundsChildrens playgroundOutdoor tennis courtsOne of the rooms being renovated - here a pool access room. Note the possible lack of privacyYou can see some rooms with direct pool accessSome of the villa's behind the hotel, I am not sure if these are the ones that are part of the hotel (they have 5 room villas for guests)The restaurant below the lobbyAnother childrens play areaVending machinesKaraoke machinesChildren's entertainmentMore entertainmentFitness roomAnother kids area Overall We also went swimming in the pool and it was empty, and as we arrived a lifeguart came out to monitor us (I guess they need to because there are usually a lot of children around). Swim caps are compulsary to use the indoors swimming pool to. Overall we had a perfect stay here, away from everything, very relaxing and a great night sleep. The hotel is huge and has anything that you need for a weekend away and everything is available inside the hotel. The only bad points that we noted are nothing bad, just small possible improvements.