Seriously? The lobby bar must be one of the worst I've seen. Totally devoid of atmosphere. The club breakfast is ok-ish, you get fed but would not be close to saying it's good. Certainly not first rate. Service is hit and miss and the one server Sheila can be said to be near the level of being competent (addressing my name correctly during breakfast service helps). The rest of them have minimal interactions with the guests maybe due to lack of English proficiency.

I was really thinking about this hotel as well if looking for similar price range. Great location overlooking the people's park which is the green lungs of Huangpu area. Near to a few shopping malls as well.

A few points, if I might: I go to the lobby bar to meet friends over the cheese plate and some wine or beer. It's far more civilized than most that's available in the whole area. The Bund is poorly accessible so not much interest to go there at all.

And for me quality comes first, regarding the brekkie. If they do the basic French stuff (coffee, baguette, jam, cheese) right and offer some additional quality items like salmon then it's fine for me.

Servicewise, doesn't sound too good but then that's reality in Shanghai with the absurd real estate prices. Nobody wants to stay in entry level jobs for long.

Sorry if I seem stubborn but kind of close this place long ago as "my Puxi R&R spot". Must have been 2007 or so. ;)

The Sofitel itself is nothing special but the location is excellent -- if, as Moondog mentions, you're not bothered by folks approaching you on Nanjing Rd every 3 or 4 minutes to sell you something (it didn't bother us much, we just ignore the pitches).

As plats, we were supposedly upgraded from classic rooms to junior suites, but they were still very small. We had an $80 rate on Expedia and used some BRG vouchers, so the Radisson (which also has great location) would have been "too expensive" for us. :)

For leisure travellers, the nice thing about this area is that you're very close to many of the things you'd want to see (the Bund, the Shanghai Museum, the fake market on W. Nanjing) and transport options are great. As I mentioned in the visa-free thread, you can even get to PVG in 1:15 on the #2 line for 8 yuan.

That said, I wouldn't pay much for this hotel, and they wanted over $100 per room to upgrade us to a real club floor with breakfast and lounge privileges. We ate dumplings on the street for that.

That's a lot of dumplings!:) the only reason one gets the club level rooms is to get a cleaner more updated room. You're not missing much o the club lounge unless you're a heavy drinker.

Yeah, I was a little surprised that I couldn't "negotiate" an upgrade to the club level for a modest additional sum. A couple of years ago, I was successful in similar negotiations at the Suzhou Sofitel.

We do enjoy getting the breakfast buffet at the 4-star Western hotels in China, and it generally makes no sense to eat this meal without it being included in a reasonable club-level package. I think the price of breakfast at the Hyland is particularly absurd.

And, btw, those street dumplings are pretty cheap. We went to a nearby branch of the famous Yang's dumplings, and 4 very large dumplings were 6 yuan.

A quick update on our experience on Dec 23rd, 2013 as a paid stay as Accor Plat.

Checkin for elites is on the club floor, although there was no queue at lobby level and we waiting 5 or so minutes upstairs.
We were upgraded to a junior suite, which is nice enough but nothing special. 2 free small bottles of water were in the room, along with an insanely expensive bottle of evian available for purchase. We saw this in Vietnam and Dubai as well - crazy expensive evian. It's bizarre coming from the UK.

Club level snacks in the evening were nice. Cheeses/olives/breads/cured meats. Not enough to make a meal though. Good selection of wines too, although we just had a coke before going to the Circus.

Breakfast was good too - french influence showing in the pastries available. We had it in the lobby restaurant, although the club lounge was an option too we decided to take advantage of the better selection over the view.

The main problem, and reason I wouldn't stay again in the near future, is the deafening refurbishment works that were ongoing during our stay. They started around 930 and made the room uninhabitable during the day. Beware of this, it's really really bad!!

Interesting report, goglobalnz. As you may know, the rules of the Accor program changed in the past year to include lounge access for plats. I just got these benefits (including evening drinks/snacks and free breakfast) on a cheap rate at a Pullman in Malaysia last week. It sounds like this Sofitel is also honoring this benefit. If confirmed, it would greatly improve the value equation for plats to book cheap rooms at this hotel. (And, as most folks know, it's often possible to get plat status in Accor through the special promo sign-ups).

I made the booking during one of the recent sales, classic room at 40% off with breakfast included. The room upgrade and invitation to club level came without prompting or any extra charge, so yeah if this is now standard procedure then booking a cheap room and taking the upgrade would be the way to go. (apart from the renovation noise - it was really really bad)

Since the changes to Accor's program I'd only stayed at Novotels in the UK, where I received welcome drinks but nothing more so this was a nice surprise

I'll have to pay more attention to this development because, as long as I can get Plat status for nothing from Accor, it makes their premium hotels more attractive for me.

On my recent trip to Asia, as a Hilton gold, I got free breakfast but no lounge access. As an SPG gold, I got basically nothing. As an Accor plat, I got lounge access and breakfast -- even though I did the least to "earn" that status! I always find I enjoy a 4 or 5 star hotel a lot more when there are perks thrown in, especially since buying food/services at such hotels (especially in Asia) is usually a rotten deal.

Hello there!

I am considering staying at the Sofitel Hyland on an upcoming trip to Shanghai (the alternative would be Renaissance Yu Garden). Now a colleaque of mine who stayed at the Sofitel approximately 6 years ago warned me that the temperature in the room (even with AC on) was unbearable.

Can anyone confirm this?

Furthermore, is anyone aware of the current status of refurbishment? Will it have any influence on a stay mid-april this year in regards to noise?

I am planing to book a classic room and hope for an upgrade due to LeClub Platinum status.

Thanks for your help!

I didnt want to spam the Elite experience thread so I'm continuing here...

Zehbra:

I got 3 macarons and 3 fruits. The macarons were alright (my wife makes them better). The fruits, yes, they were buried and resuscitated :D

RJ77:

Location is still key for me. But like mentioned, I'm waiting for the Pullman to finally open. Keeps being postponed.

EDIT: Just noticed this thread is not even in the Accor section. Can actually be moved. (Done)

Smart move, maybe a mod can even merge the other comments from the elite experience thread?

I've yet to come across a macaron in Asia that is better than home-made ones (not saying they don't exist thought...). Still always a nice sight when coming into a room!


Other experiences that I may or may not have mentioned in the other thread:

- basin in the bathroom was slightly blocked due to.. tea leaves. Was quickly fixed though.

- Upon check-in they charged my credit card with something I thought was just deposit, since my rate was fully prepaid.
I only noticed it after check-out and wrote to them about it. No written response but the money is back with me, so that's fine.

This just continues what people seem to report here in general: The hotel does a lot of things right, or at least fulfills basic expectations. However, it fails to live up to "Sofitel standards" in my opinion. Especially compared with other Sofitels in China/Asia.

I fully agree with this summary and they have done a lot of progress those last years (staff training was a real issue there, unfortunately very frequent problem in China). But the location of this hotel is really unbeatable.

Which Pullman? The only Accor property that's in the pipeline is Sofitel JingAn which I'm not seeing it opening anytime soon due to its owner's financial issues. JingAn is a good alternative to the Hyland for those who's looking for alternative to the Nanjing E Rd.