Just returned from a stay at the St. Regis and think it worth noting several points, perhaps some of which are just mine own idiosyncracies, but which I don't think should exist in a 5-star hotel anywhere in the world.
(1): Hotel is a bit in the sticks. It should be noted that the nearby Dongfang Road subway station is closed and will be for at least 6 more months. The closest stations are about 1 km in either direction.
(2): Concierge service in the hotel stinks - I would use harsher words for it, but they would get edited. The only two times I asked them to help me get to a specific place (once for a dinner meeting) in Shanghai by cab, they ended up getting me (a) lost - which resulted in a 12-minute cell phone (international - mine) conversation between the Guest Services Manager and the taxi driver and (b) dropped off about 2 km away from where I wanted to be since the concierge had a "better idea about how to get where I was going", which was a spot on the pedestrian-only Nanjing Road.
(3): Despite the fact that the hotel has three "Ladies only" floors, the bellmen continually deferred to me rather than my female traveling companion who had more luggage. Now I know this is culturally correct amongst Asians and I don't bridle when my company driver does it (although we've tried to correct him), but in a Western hotel, there's no excuse.
(4): The Executive Lounge is a poor excuse for a club. Compared - for example, to the Hilton Beijing, it's like having brunch at a 4 Points. There was hardly anything on offer at breakfast and no edible food at Happy Hour. Only three lonely bottles of liquor - Chivas, Jack Daniels, and Remy Martin - graced the Happy hour bar.
(5): The bell staff were overly aggressive in getting rid of cab drivers after they dropped us off. One time the guy (who was in a grey suit, not the liveried bellmen) started yelling and waving about two feet from my head while I still had my hand in the cab waiting to get the receipt.
I will say that the rooms were beautiful and well appointed. I had no complaints about the accomodation.