I completed a four night stay here recently, checking in on Friday of opening weekend. I want to preface that I expected not everything to run completely smoothly given the hotel had just opened two days prior. That said, I had originally booked the Andaz with a SUA, but was excited to switch to the Alila also using a SUA when I realized my trip dates coincided with the opening.

Focusing on just the hard product, I do think the hotel overall feels like an oasis in the middle of the city once you're inside, and I did like the location generally speaking as a first time visitor to Shanghai. The main lobby has a lovely inner courtyard/pavilion area that leads to their rooftop bar with expansive views of the surrounding areas. The view and vibes however are much better at night, at least for me, as there is major construction happening right next to the hotel that is honestly quite the eye sore. My SUA was confirmed into a Deluxe Suite King, and overall I liked the suite, with a large living room that opens into the bedroom with sliding doors and a large bathroom. The suite(s) all seem to look exactly the same as the Pavilion Suite pictured on the site, which I'll touch on more.

Unfortunately, the service is where things fell short and the issues to me come across as more than just opening weekend kinks and more a lack of proper training of the staff. It's also possible perhaps my own expectations of the service level or understanding of the Alila brand were too high, especially without much context on what I should expect from the local market. To try to summarize my experience:

• Check-in
  • I arrived at the hotel after 6pm, and my suite was not yet ready for me despite having done online check-in earlier in the day already.
  • While not necessarily expected, I also wanted to note there was nothing noteworthy about the check-in experience, whether in the form of a welcome drink or anything else.
  • When I did get my suite assigned and was escorted up to 29, we discovered that the suite was actually already occupied by another guest.
  • I needed to wait another 20 minutes for them to find a new room for me, and then was assigned a new suite on an even lower floor (27 out of 40); I had asked for a high floor at check-in, so that was disappointing, especially as I had seen in the app that they were still selling Residence Suite Kings for the nights of my stay.
• Breakfast
  • On Saturday morning, it seemed clear that there are not enough space/tables for the number of guests; I went down around 10am (breakfast ends at 11am on weekends) and there was a line of about 7-8 parties before me so I waited for about 20 minutes.
  • When I was brought to my table, they brought me to a table before it had been cleaned which is just odd to me; I noticed they did this to other parties as well so if this is their usual service flow then I'm not sure I understand it. For me, having the guest wait a few extra minutes to show them to a properly cleaned table would be a more elevated experience.
  • Service at breakfast was quite lacking, at one point I had five empty glasses in front of me (between water, juice, and coffee) and none of them were cleared for at least 15 minutes.
  • Getting a correct order seemed impossible as well. I was given hot coffee instead of iced coffee, a wonton soup I ordered was never delivered, and they also tried to give my iced coffee to the table next to me. I noticed orders going to the wrong table several times around me.
  • Service is also just confusing--the concept is that you order from the menu as much as you like (versus a buffet, although they did have some fruits and pastries out for self-serve), but when I asked for coffee, juice, and water, they pointed to juices and said I could get that myself while taking my coffee and water order.
  • The food was frankly not very good in my opinion, and the portion sizes are tiny. If you're used to a buffet or western portions, I would highly recommend ordering generously. Overall, I just didn't appreciate this concept versus the typical breakfast buffet you would find at most other hotels.
  • To their credit, breakfast on Monday morning was much calmer, with no wait for a table. But service was still not very polished, with empty cups/plates lingering on my table longer than they should, especially if it's not as busy in the restaurant anymore.
• Housekeeping
  • My suite didn't have any toiletries in the bath/shower upon arrival; when I called, they first only brought me shampoo so I had to ask the housekeeping lady who came up to also provide the others.
  • The rooms don't come with an iron, ironing board, or a steamer, so I had to request for one; when the iron and ironing board were delivered, the iron was delivered without a power cord, so I had to call again for that. I also don't understand not having these in every room, given this is a city hotel that presumably will attract business travelers (which included me).
  • The minibar is stocked and meant to be refreshed daily; I had two drinks from the fridge and two of the Nespresso pods the first night, and none of those were replenished the next day after housekeeping visited my room. Other nights they did better.
  • I didn't notice or recall any material turndown service, other than providing waters in the evening.
• Suites
  • As mentioned previously, I had asked for a suite on a high floor and was disappointed that they could only procure a suite for me on 27 even though it was well into the evening and they had already previously assigned me to an occupied suite. The agent offered to check for availability the following nights and move me if something opened up, which I appreciated.
  • My first night, I was in a corner suite that seemed to actually match the text description of the Pavilion Suite, which is actually categorized lower than the Deluxe Suite (what the SUA confirms into). I asked the agent to confirm if I was in the right suite type, which she did, so take that as you will.
  • The following night, the agent did confirm that a Resident Suite King had opened up on a higher floor and moved me to a non-corner suite on 36. Overall, the follow up was appreciated, but back to my confusion around the suites, while the layout seemed largely identical as my first suite, it still seemed to be a bit smaller in size. Despite that, I definitely preferred the higher floor as the view was properly clearing more adjacent buildings.
  • All in all, I know the floor/further upgrade is not guaranteed so I appreciated the follow up and providing a new suite to me. However, I find the suite categorizations on the site to be confusing as they didn't seem to match up very well with my actual experience of suites I stayed in, but feel free to take that with a grain of salt.

While mistakes happen, I would say service recovery is where hotels can shine, and I can't say I'm all that impressed here. With the check-in issues, they initially offered me a free drink(s) at the bar while I waited; I let them know I appreciated the offer, but I wasn't interested in any drinks right then but would look forward to perhaps getting drinks later on. The agent said she would follow up with me and later messaged me (she gave me her WeChat) that they would comp 500 CNY off any charges from the bar at the end of my stay. Fast forward to check out, the agent that morning (a different person) had no knowledge of this offer and didn't see anything noting it, but since I had the WeChat message, fortunately I was able to show her from my phone and she did wipe the charges. Nonetheless, the whole interaction was clunky and I was underwhelmed by both the offer in general (take it as you will, but in my experience other luxury hotels have been much more generous for such a subpar check-in experience) and the execution of it.

I can't say that I hated my stay or would actively recommend folks to stay away. At least with the hard product, I enjoyed the facilities, the suites were generally well-appointed, and the location was good for my sightseeing purposes. However, if you were looking to stay here expecting a true luxury experience including the soft product, that is definitely not what I feel as though I experienced and would recommend managing your expectations when it comes to the service level here.