I visited Shanghai last year and stayed 5 nights at the (Legacy Category 3, 15,000 points) Marriott City Centre. At the time the Renaissance Yu Gardens was a legacy category 4 at 20,000 points. Now they’ve swapped places and the Marriott is a Cat 4 at 25,000 points and the Ren is a Cat 3 at 17,500. I asked for opinions and info and was advised that both were well positioned for a 5-night tourist visit to Shanghai. The prevailing opinions were that the Marriott was slightly more upscale with a better lounge, but both were good choices. As for Gold treatment, that’s more difficult to know, Gold is a new status, it’s principal benefit being non-suite room upgrades. Here it depends how you luck out on checkin, if the property is sold out your upgrade chances will be poor, even as a (legacy) PlatPremier I wasn’t upgraded at the Shanghai Marriott as the property was sold out the whole week of my stay. I know, I checked! If it’s not sold out, well China is very well known for respecting status, so you should get a nice room.