tom911

Just back from a 10 night award stay at the Grand Hyatt, Shanghai (15,000 points per night).

I came in from the airport on MAGLEV/Metro and walked over to the hotel ground floor lobby, just a block away. The building is distinctive along the skyline and is across the street from the World Financial Center which houses the Park Hyatt, so very easy to pick out. Exit #6 from Metro comes out across the street. Although I circled the hotel to find the proper entrance the first time, on subsequent departures or arrivals I found it better to enter/exit through the Jin Mao Tower Observation Deck entrance and use a connecting corridor directly to the Grand Hyatt ground floor lobby.

Grand Hyatt/Jin Mao Tower in front and World Financial Center/Park Hyatt behind it



Walked into the ground floor lobby just after noon and was directed to the the 54th floor to check in. The agent at the Platinum/Diamond desk offered me the opportunity to check in at the Regency Club on the 83rd floor, so off in a separate elevator to check in there (trips to and from street level to your room here will always require two elevator trips as the ground floor elevator only goes as far as the 54th floor lobby).

Warm greeting at the Regency Club desk which is located outside the lounge and was always staffed during hours when the lounge, just behind them, was open. I was given an 80th floor corner room with a view towards the Oriental Pearl Tower and office buildings on one side and The Bund on the other side. Very happy with location, though have to say I was equally impressed with the view from the Regency Club on 83 which offered a view of a much wider range, or the lobby view on 54 which also offered pretty spectacular views, more so if it was a clear day (only had about 2 days with superb visibility for miles and miles).

View from my room on 80th floor on a clear day





As I was attending World Swimming Championships twice each day, I was only able to attend the 5-8pm reception in the Regency Club on my first night. I had a Tiger Beer and some cheese and joined friends at the JW Marriott after for dinner. Can't report much on the food items as so much time has passed. Think I just had some cheese and headed out.

I typically visited the Regency Club between 2-5 in the afternoon for a soft drink coming back from swimming or heading back out (about 45 min travel time via Metro), and those were in an ice bucket and readily available. If there was an employee in that area when I arrived they would bring the drink to me in a glass with ice. They also had Voss bottled water from Norway. I also popped in there some nights between 10-11.

Most of my time in the Regency Club was at breakfast. They offered two hot items on a table menu, one being an egg dish, that could be brought to your table. Aside from that, there was a cold cereal bar with flavored yogurts in glasses, or plain yogurt in pint containers (that's what I used for my muesli), an assortment of meats (sliced duck, salmon and pastrami were out every day), cheeses, and fresh fruit which I typically added to my muesli (varied a little each day- raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, peaches, and stuff I did not recognize by name). There was a Chinese area which had items like goose eggs (didn't select from that table). There were also plenty of breads, rolls and pastries to choose from, with small bottles of jam at your table and butter available on request. At least five juices every day (I stuck with orange juice but recall seeing watermelon juice available one day).



I did not have an opportunity to visit the health club due to the packed week. I also did not use any restaurants at the hotel as I had dinner with friends most nights across the river. I did look at the cafe menu off the 54th floor lobby and found pasta and sandwiches under $US20.

So, what's around the hotel? In the World Financial Center across the street, on the second floor, I visited Blue Frog for a cobb salad one evening, and Fresh Element, which has a couple other Shanghai locations, for a tuna sandwich at lunch (friends had a panini and pasta dish). All these items were in the $10-12 range. If you're looking for western food these would meet the need.

In the opposite direction, across from the Oriental Pearl Tower, I had lunch twice at a Thai restaurant on the 4th floor of the 9-story Super Brand Mall. Thai curry and soft drink worked out to $US7 there. Lots of locals there and very happy with the food. I also had spaghetti one night at a place a few doors down for around $US9 with soft drink.

I only did two cab rides on this trip, one from the Intercontinental Pudong to the Grand Hyatt which was 20 yuan (around $3) and another back from across the river after the Metro had closed for the night for about 23 yuan ($4). Cabs are inexpensive but I'm a dedicated public transit user where I paid US45-60 cents per trip.

Would happily return here again. Staff frequently greeted me by name and one morning even asked if I wanted a Diet Coke with my breakfast (clearly retained from a prior visit, but I don't have soft drinks with breakfast).

Last photo is a night time view from below the hotel looking up.



Plenty more property photos in my Trip Report:
http://tom911.smugmug.com/Travel-Asi..._LF2JsS#P-1-18

In a week or two I'll cut the Grand Hyatt photos from that gallery and move them over to my Hyatt gallery. Not on the agenda for this week.

-continued-

tom911

When I arrived my Diamond amenity was already in my room (fruit and jar of cookies). About an hour after I checked in an employee arrived with more fruit and more cookies. Later in the week I had two more visits with fresh fruit. On one occasion I observed an employee very carefully arranging the fruit in a specific way with the banana on top. Very detail oriented.



Very happy with the room and bathroom.







And I did find a photo of the beverage table for the evening reception in the Regency Club.


Overall, a most excellent stay!

ainternational

Nice review and pics above. I don't think I could take 10 days in that place. Not that it's a bad property. 10 days to me needs to be on a beach.

I'm surprised you got such a nice, clean and clear picture of Shanghai. I haven't seen a day without smog any of the times I've visited in the last 2 years. Prior to that, it was clearer.

Thanks for the review.

tom911

There were 2 days where the visibility was that good.

l0ve

15k points for GH shanghai. 18k points for PH shanghai. I think I prefer to PH SH. The room/view of PH is better than GH.

RichardInSF

I too now prefer the PH but if the view is the reason, you might bear in mind that the smog is generally so bad in Shanghai that often you won't see anything from either hotel. Tom having two good nights out of ten is probably about as good as you'll do, on average.

You can't go wrong at either hotel, especially if you are on club level at the GH.

tom911

In my case Park Hyatt wasn't even a consideration as I didn't have 180,000 points.

ainternational

I feel even more than that, the service, Diamond breakfast and other hotel amenities such as the pool and fitness area make the points difference more than worth it.

I guess I just wasn't too impressed with the club lounge at the GHS. Not that it wasn't impressive in its views and the spread wasn't bad, but the funky architecture of that hotel puts me off. Somehow there are way too many long hallways and strange angles. I'd imagine it's to maximize external viewing area around trhe central tower, but if you've tried the Chinese restaurant or been to the spa/fitness area, you'll know what I mean. It's somewhat awkward.

By theway, I openly admit I'm nitpicking here. GAS far outdoes any Grand Hyatt in NA as far as I'm concerned.

krazieman

Didn't you find the fitness center in the PH to be very small? When I stayed there, I had to go find a gym to go to.

ainternational

It wasn't large, agreed. Neither was the GH's. View from the PH was nicer, service was better, gym itself was nicer in terms of design and aesthetics.

But the delta isn't massive. My only point was, I felt the delta overall was worth those 3K extra points for an award stay. Either hotel is quite nice.

RussianTexan

What are the differences between the rooms? Grand King, Riverview King (kind of obvious there), Club King & Club Deluxe King. What are the differences, generally speaking?

It looks as though the Grand, Riverview & Club rooms are all the same size, but the Club King room is on a "private concierge floor". Pardon my ignorance, but what does that mean?

The Club Deluxe room is 25% larger & on the private concierge floor, as well.

Anyone stayed at this hotel? What did you think of the rooms & which rooms would you pick?

JDiver

Much better served in the Hyatt Gold Passport Forum, so moved there.

JDiver, Senior Moderator

RichardInSF

All rooms on the club floors, as well as some rooms elsewhere (such as suites), get access to the Regency Club (RC). As it happens, the GH Shanghai has one of the better RCs. A decent breakfast is served every morning there, and snacks sufficient to make a light meal, along with drinks, are served in the early evening. Plus the club has an excellent view of the Bund across the river. Amenities are better in club rooms as well. Without doubt, if the price difference was reasonable, I would pick a club room.

Welcome to the Hyatt forum, btw. There is an excellent review thread here on this hotel and I am going to suggest to the mods that this thread be made part of it.

gum

Have stayed in Jin Mao Tower some years ago therefore my knowledge may not be completely up-to date. But generally speaking this is the most impressive hotel I have ever stayed.

It has a very clear and straight architecture with this aluminium-glass pagode design (how I would call it) located around a really huge atrium. Therefore its like a skyscraper with all of the rooms located with outside views and no courtyard views.

If you know this construction details you can be sure that there is not even one room which may have a "bad" view. They all have great views. And when I remember correctly the construction is nearly symmetric.

The different room types vary in size and location. Therefore I would recommend (if you can afford it) a room with a "river view". Although new buildings have been constructed between the Jin Mao Tower and the river I think this is the better and more impressive view but not exactly what one would describe with a clear view to the river. The IMHO best rooms have a view to the Pearl Tower and the Financial Center.

"Non-club" rooms are located between 57th (?) and 78 (th) floor. As you have asked what the "private concierge floor" means: This means that the floors 79 up to 83 are dedicated to Club rooms. So no standard room is located there.

And this leads me to a general hint for your booking: They have Grand king/twin, River view king/twin and Club rooms with river view and not with river view.

So I would always reserve a club room . Due to the location on the higher floors 79-83 they are really impressive in view. And you can also use the Club Lounge on 83/84 for breakfast, afternoon coffee and so on. If you would like to invest the price difference to the "view" side is on you.

But strictly recommend booking ANY of the club rooms. If you need this one with the two floor-to-ceiling windows sides (180 view) is on yours. They are more expensive due to the fact of their location is on the "edges" of the tower.

So my recommendations for the stay:
+ Book any Club room if commercially/money feasible
+ Before booking the room you should call Hyatt Gold Passport and ask them if there is availability on the requested dates for the 3,000 points certificates for the upgrade for up to four nights to the Club rooms. So you could book the non club room and upgrade this during reservation.
+ If you don´t have the 3,000 points in your GoldPassport account just buy them (think they are about 54 Euros per 3,000 points, you can buy them in increments of 1,000 points for approx. 18 Euros)

In my persional opinion (and not making advertisement for Hyatt) this in Shanghai is really the greatest hotel with the WOW! factor - if you are fan of modern architecture.

On the other hand they have also completely overrated hotels like the hotel in Berlin, Germany.

And reserve enough time for a SLOW breakfast at the Club lounge.

Hope this helps.

uppereastff

Here at the moment. I have a club queen. Its about half the size of the Riverview King that I had last week. has a coffee maker tho. Typical posh bathrooms. Very good desk arrangement (facing away from the window s i can get some work done!) Plenty big enough for one person though two would be colliding.