Swimming is my thing!

While I don't know all hotels, I can state that most of the good ones have 25m+ pools. The Portman -- in spite of its age -- is my favorite. Feel free to ping me about other properties.

I've enjoyed swimming laps at both the Mandarin Oriental and the Renaissance Zhongshan Park. Two very different hotels, but both with nice lap pools.

You want to be in the French Concession area. The Shangri-La is there as well, as is the Puli. Both are good. You do not want to stay in Pudong or Hongqiao. The Expo side is Pudong. It's too far removed from the good stuff.

There is only one exception I am willing to make and that's the Peace Hotel on the Bund. It's just a classy place worth it for the experience.

I don't know the length, but the pool at the Le Royal Meridian (Starwood, near People's Park) looks long. It's on the sixth floor in a room with lots of windows and outdoor deck space, so the area is rather pleasant.

Could I respectfully enquire what this "good stuff" might entail?

Agree on the Peace Hotel to some extent, but if you really want to experience refined East Chinese culture then head to some of the historical hotels of either Nanjing or Suzhou.

Which are the best luxury hotels -- located in an area to experience Shanghai for the first time?

(72 hour trip with my better half. We would love a fantastic concierge service that could set up detailed local walks / tours and ideally a good pool.)

You might want to browse these two threads in the Luxury Hotels forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...-shanghai.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/luxur...ry-hotels.html

Most people there seem to like the Penn as well as various places on the other side of the river. And, in terms of hotel quality, it's hard to argue with these positions. However, since it seems like you do care somewhat about location, I suggest you look into the JA Shangri-La and maybe the Puli.

Regarding concierges, lots of Shanghai hotels have good concierges (great for providing directions on the fly, tables at restaurants/bars, train tickets, etc), but I'm pretty sure you can could design far better walking tours than the entire lot by spending 30 minutes on google.

IMO, I think the JA Shangri-la is superior to the Puli, but that's (a little bit) based on the fact that Shangri-la has a membership system and the Puli doesn't. ;)

The Peninsula is the obvious choice. The Fairmont Peace Hotel is also on the Bund, several blocks away and closer to a subway station, but IMO it's not luxury.

LRM is in a good location, but I wouldn't expect much from its concierge as it's a large hotel. however, the lounge people could be a bit better if you have SPG status or book a club level room/suite. Again, it's not true luxury.

You might want to consider the French Concession area, but few hotels are located there.

Quick one looking through the thread I got 2 Radissons mentioned New World and Xingguo. We are just there for less than 72 hours (TWOV) anyone recommend one over the other. Using points so price doesn't really matter as they both have availability for our dates.

How is the Penn an obvious choice for those who state they prefer convenient locations? And the lrm??? There are lots of nice hotels in xuhui, jingan, and huangpu.

I was focusing on the requirement of fantastic concierge service. For walking, in addition to the Bund, there are the areas along the creek (antiques and bookstores on the pedestrian street and farther up, the warehouse area contemporary art compound).

LRM is good for walking to museums, the opera house, the Bund, etc. and is almost sitting on top of several subway lines. LRM also has a huge and pleasant pool that's always been empty when I used it.

You're killing me here, MSP:
1. What is "fantastic" about the Penn concierge service?
2. When staying at the Penn, do you honestly peruse Suzhou Creek? Does anyone?
3. The pedestrian street (I assume you mean 南京东路); arguably the least pleasant place inside of middle ring

I like the museums you mentioned, but have to say that your location evaluations are way out there (and, your defense of the Penn was lacking in substance).

I think 南京东路 would actually be something a typical tourist wants to see, assuming gottaluvNW is a typical tourist and haven't spent much time in Shanghai. For a short stay in Shanghai, I would recommend the Peninsula as well, since most popular tourist sights are nearby.

The OP here (actually maybe we should say Nth OP since the original OP who started the thread is someone different) is interested in detailed local walks. IMO there's some of that around the Pen and more in the French Concession area, but I wouldn't bet on any hotels there having fantastic concierge service. I'm trying to respond to the Nth OP's specific requests and special interests rather than giving generic suggestions for anyone.

A lot of my geographic recall is based on walks I've done in Shanghai.