wombattoo

Thinking about treating the other half to a couple of nights at the Waldorf on our trip to China in September. Thing is, I'm not sure which room option to go for so could use some advice. I want a room with a view of the famous Shanghai skyline. So is that the city view or river view room? thanks!

worldiswide

You want river view. You will be looking at the new city of pudong out the window pearl tower right in front of you. It's a beautiful hotel and would be a nice treat.

wombattoo

Oh great thanks. Currently looking at quotes of Ł610 (5730yen / $922) for two nights a king deluxe river view room. Is that considered a good rate for mid-september fri/sat?

worldiswide

Where are your rates from? What is the difference between city and riverbiew prives? I'm not sure if prices vary here from weekday to weekend. Others can chime in. September is probably a high season. Is breakfast included? There is a big sunday brunch available as well?

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Prior to my arrival reached out to WA. Knew I was upgraded to king river view room assume maybe in Tower. Earlier this morning before heading over sent another e-mail then couple hours later took a look at rooms for sale online. The one I was upgraded to was showing available where it has not when I checked. Was it possible I got a further upgrade? Checked my res online at hilton.com . Sure enough a further upgrade. Immediately e-mailed it over to myself so I had it upon check-in.

Upon arrival given key card and escort to King Waldorf River Suite-Heritage building. Now I am always usually for the new stuff and had almost asked for something in the Tower even if a downgrade. Pleased I stuck with it. Nice entry with half bathroom. Large living room with non working fireplace. Huge picture window out to river with perfect view of Pudong. Walk-in closet with huge marble bathroom. Ok size bedroom with two sets of huge pic windows but one to side which is someone elses building. Two butlers came by and explained the services/suite.

My Shanghai run of hotels has been great fun. Andaz, Marriott Centre and WA. Would return anyday to the WA. Beautiful suite and public spaces ok. Off to Japan tomorrow.

krazieman

Having stayed at: the Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, St. Regis, Le Royal Meridian, Westin, and the WA in Shanghai. I would say the WA was by far the best, as long as you don't care there isn't a lounge.

frenchie2

Reading the reviews here I am so excited about my upcoming New Year's stay at the WA. I booked 5 nights two rooms each night using points & cash for my family of 5. It will be our first trip to Shanghai and a special treat for my husband as we will be celebrating his birthday here. I have to say I have been impressed by their service even way before my arrival date, as the lady at reservation has been super responsive to my numerous emails regarding best type of rooms for connecting rooms etc etc. Hopefully my gold status will get us to a river view room!

worldiswide

You should let them know you are celebrating a birthday while you are there, it never hurts. Maybe that will help to get your river view which are really grat at night particularly Service will be very nice and room s are beautiful. There were great fireworks for Chinese new year don't know about new years eve

frenchie2

Yes I already told them. I even inquired about ordering a cake, as hubby's birthday is the last night in China. I asked about dining choices with river view and apparently only the Chinese restaurant has that view. Haven't decide whether to dine in or go out.

The nice lady who I wrote to even asked me the age of my three girls, maybe something will be waiting for them when we arrived.

I heard all the fireworks nationwide were cancelled this year due to pollution concern? Maybe CNY would be an exception but then I am not there over CNY.

worldiswide

There are a lot of nice restaurants on the bund with great views and some have terraces although it may be cold at new years.
Depending on the age of your children I'd recommend dining out.

River in Sight

I spent two nights here earlier this month. Although the heat wave made Shanghai a little hard to fully enjoy, this hotel was absolutely beautiful and certainly one of the top hotels that I have stayed in.

Check-in and Room
We arrived to PVG at around 11PM at night and the taxi queue must have had 300 people already on line when we walked outside... I had really never seen a taxi queue like it. Unfortunately the Maglev was already done for the day, so we waited for around 45-60 minutes and ended up in a taxi. Despite hearing a lot of bad stories about taxis in Shanghai, our driver was fine although he didn't know where the Waldorf was... we had printed out the name and address of the hotel in Chinese from the website but he still had to call someone for directions. Anyway, we got there fine and the fare was <200RMB.

Check-in was quiet at 1AM and we were escorted to our room by the front-desk agent and a bellhop. I was really struck by the general opulence of the room, and we had been upgraded to a river-view room so we had a fantastic view out over Pudong. At sunrise the next morning:



The room was just beautiful and every detail had been thought of... there was plenty of sparking and still water, little sweet snacks, and the bathroom was spacious and luxurious with a great shower as well as a bath. There was also a small walk-in closet which was great for storing our suitcases, as well as a nice desk area. The room was perfectly quiet and comfortable, and may be the only hotel room I've ever had with a chandelier...



At check-in we were given a chit for 100RMB off at Long Bar - a total of 200RMB for two people, which covered one round of cocktails.

Breakfast
Breakfast is served downstairs in the hotel restaurant and this was another highlight. On our first day, one of the managers came to our table and spent 5 minutes or more talking to us and helping us plan out our sightseeing itinerary. Very nice!

The food was good and there was a variety of different breakfast cuisines - all items were off of the buffet.

Pool
There is a relatively small indoor pool and relatively small sitting area; the pool was very warm and there was also a hot tub. I walked past the gym but didn't really examine it closely.

Location & etc.
I loved the location right on the Bund. Although it was over 100 degrees, we still enjoyed walking along the promenade across from the river. The subway is a several minute walk away, and it's not an especially pleasant walk, but not bad. There was plenty to see within walking distance and there is a ferry to/from Pudong that I think ran 4 times an hour.

To get back to PVG we took a taxi to the Maglev station - the heat was brutal at the station, but the Maglev was pretty darn cool so I thought it was worth it. I think that we got from the hotel to the airport in around 50 minutes.

If I were to go back to Shanghai, I would certainly return to this hotel. The location of the Park Hyatt and some of the other business hotels did not appeal to me for a leisure stay, but I may be missing something. Everything was top-notch at the Waldorf.

2tall4economy

On the contrary - one of the best lounges in China --- the Long Bar

2tall4economy

Fireworks on day 5 of New Year is something that everyone should see at least once in their life. Compared to NYC on New Years Eve, they are smaller, but the entire city goes up and explodes, not just the tugs on the river.

2tall4economy

Agreed - but the restaurant at the top of the Park Hyatt is the best not-ridiculous-priced-but-really-high-end place in the city. Of course, Jean Georges next door to the WA is the best one, but you can only afford that once per trip.

If you're a foodie Shanghai is the best city on earth other than NYC.

moondog

I'm replying to both of your most recent posts here:

74: Day 1 (New Years Eve) is the most insane of them all by a substantial margin. And, the beauty of experiencing it instead of one of the other festive days in the middle is that you can keep your CNY exposure to a minimum by flying out the next afternoon after checking out a temple fair in the morning.

75: While I do enjoy eating in Shanghai more than any other city in China, that's the extent of my praise. Jean Georges helps make my point... a huge disappointment compared to the NY version. But, apart from that Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and HK are just a few cities that blow Shanghai out of the water when it comes to food. And, I'll even rank humble Portland, OR above Shanghai (I lived there for a few years in the middle of my China run, and never ran out of amazing places to dine).