Originally Posted by lost_in_translation

Three stays at Marriott properties in Shanghai in the last week so thoughts below:

Portman RC - I'm somewhat unclear why this place is still flagged as a Ritz-Carlton, it needs a massive amount of investment and there are standard Marriotts in Asia (FS Marriotts, not JW!) that I would probably rather stay at. Lobby is very pretty and up to RC standards, but the minute you get upstairs it's clear this place in stuck in a complete time warp. Checked in with two colleagues at about 1am for a quick overnight stay following a late flight from Hong Kong, the welcome we received is probably best described as cold and formal. We were fortunately all upgraded one category to a Shanghai View room (no mention of this at check in but was clear when we got to the rooms). Despite all three rooms being booked through my Marriott account and my colleague having zero status I was given the tiniest room on the floor whilst he got one that was probably 50% bigger. I asked if I could have a late check out and was told the latest I could have was 2pm, this was useless as I wouldn't be finished with meetings by then. It felt a bit like I wasn't going to get anywhere arguing so I let the fact that I was technically guaranteed a 4pm check out drop to ensure I got at least a couple of hours of sleep. I note this is also the only booking of the three that has not posted to my Marriott account yet despite being the first stay! Ordered room service on getting to the room which was a burger that looked very nice but with literally zero flavour and that took quite some time to arrive. Rooms are even more dated than the photos make them appear online, the shower had little water pressure and wouldn't stay in place, there is no iron in the room (surely this is a basic requirement for a business hotel?) and the bed was pretty lumpy and not hugely comfortable. Checked out at about 8am and won't be going back. The location is nice if you're looking to do some overpriced shopping, I suppose.