Maelstrom

Introduction I’ll preface by saying this is my fifth (or so) stay at this hotel in the last year. Each stay has been very comfortable and enjoyable, without any major issues. We have received full Le Club recognition and benefits for each stay we have had here without prompt.This review is solely for my most recent stay at the hotel. Location The hotel is located on the Pudong side of the river, with the Century Avenue metro station (line 4) a 10-minute walk away. There are some banks nearby and a Starbucks in the adjacent office building, but very little in the way of other nearby restaurants. The location is also not too convenient for seeing the sites, as being on Line 4 requires a few interchanges to get anywhere else. That said, the price point for this hotel reflects this, and is almost always priced very competitively.The hotel as seen from the entrance of the Century Avenue metro station Check In We arrived late in the evening and there were no other guests checking in, so we were processed quickly and sent on our way. Drink vouchers were given without prompt. We were informed we had received an upgrade. Room We received a three category upgrade from a Standard Room to a Junior Suite. The suite had a fantastic corner location, with views of both the Lujiazui financial district and the river. The welcome gift was already in the room when we arrived. The room featured the usual comfortable Novotel bed, a small couch, a working desk, small dining table with two chairs, coffee table and sofa. Bedside power points are easily accessible. The bedside lighting, while convenient, is difficult to use because the labelling was pretty much worn away. There are also power points on the working desk and on the wall next to the dining table. The bathroom was large with the usual Novotel amenities. The shower had a bad drain smell, but simply closing the shower door mitigated this somewhat. A Handy Phone is also provided for all rooms. Dining The hotel was a new, much more generous, welcome drinks list: The breakfast in the lounge was not offered for our stay, so our platinum-inclusive breakfast was transferred to the restaurant, which is always decent.Happy Hour has a decent section (8) of hot foods, plus plenty of cold options. The hot foods were quite good and it is easily to fill up as dinner here. The standard sort of selection of spirits and wines are offered (I forgot to take photos). We dined for an early dinner, which was OK. I ordered a Medium steak, which was actually two bacon-wrapped eye fillets. One was cooked perfectly, the other was rare. I asked them to cook the rare steak a ‘bit longer’ and it came back well done, which was disappointing. I forgot to get photos of the dinner, but the meals were decent, aside from half of my steak being turned to a lump of charcoal. Overall The location is not great for seeing the sites, but the pricing for the hotel is almost always very competitive. We find it works for our needs when we are in Shanghai, as we do not need to rush around seeing the sites. We always receive excellent Le Club recognition at this hotel, the service is good and the food is yummy.