I booked a stay at IC Jing'an which seems to be the same hotel referred to here as IC Puxi?

We're a family of four, 2 adults and 2 kids aged 10 and 5. First time in Shanghai.

We'll be there for four nights and three days and have booked an Executive suite for our stay. Any recent stay experience? In particular, should I expect the club lounge to be a little nicer than most, but not quite as elaborate as would be found at say RC/FS/MO? I'm hoping for an environment where well behaved kids would fit in.

I'm assuming the location is okay given our plans to visit the usual first time sights, including a day at Disney? Any tips regarding transfers, getting around, etc. that anyone would care to share?

Thank you in advance for any insight.

How much more would you need to pay for the Ruijin Park IC (much better area)?

Assuming you are departing from PVG, I would save Disney for the last day, and book one of their hotels for one night because Disney is close to PVG, and there are benefits offered to onsite guests. Additionally, their hotels are not especially expensive.

I initially looked at the Ruijin IC. For a comparable room, it's only 240 yuan more per night. However, in corresponding with the hotel about accommodating the four of us, I've been advised my 10 year old will be charged 292 yuan/night for a rollaway and 673 yuan per day to join us in the Club for breakfast, evening cocktails, etc. I'm okay with the rollaway charge but the Club charges seem excessive for a child.

I have a flexible reservation at the Jing'an but have yet to ask about additional charges.

Off topic, I note the Langham accomodates up to 2 children free of charge including an extra bed and club privileges. Would that be a decent location? Pricing works out to be less than Ruijin IC with the additional charges.

I actually work in XTD, and used to live there until I was priced out of the market. I'm not a huge fan because it's a bit snooty, but for tourism, I would definitely pick it over the IC near the train station, and probably Ruijin as well. For subways, you get Line 1, Line 10, and Line 13, all of which are useful.

I'm grateful for your advice - thank you.

For future reference, the IC Ruijin provided revised information for additional Club charges. 2 adults and 1 child under 6 are included with the room rate. Children between 6 and 12 are charged 50% of the adult rate for daily access, or 337 yuan.

The FS Shanghai is having a 30% off sale on suites so it's now the same price for us as the IC Ruijin. I have some questions but will move the discussion to the luxury hotel forum.

If you do create a new thread, I think the China forum is more suitable than the luxury hotels forum because the properties on your radar don't really fall into the luxury category. But, since you posted here, allow me to opine on your 3 current choices:

1. The FS does not have exceptional hardware, but I like the location quite a bit because there are lots of good places to eat in the area
2. The Langham is probably the nicest of the 3, and XTD has lots of restaurants that you might like
3. I like the Ruijin IC because the environment is very peaceful (i.e. almost like you're not in the city), and it's in the heart of the former French Concession, but subway access is less than stellar

Please definitely check out the Disney on sight hotels for your final night. I actually haven't been to Shanghai Disney yet, but when I eventually get there, I will definitely stay on the property even though I live in Shanghai (I go to Disney World with my mom every year when I'm back in Florida, and on sight is definitely worth the premium).

Between those two, Jing'an (I still cringe at using JA to refer to Zhabei btw) is the winner by default, but hopefully Ruijin will open up between now and your travel dates.

Hey folks, any relatively cheap IHG properties in a good location? I had settled on the Courtyard Shanghai Central but with IHG's new Q1 promotion, it makes sense to at least consider some properties here. Thoughts?

Well, the IC Jing'an is extremely close to the Courtyard Central, and is definitely a bit nicer, but I'm personally fine with both (i.e. they are good, but won't blow you away).

Thanks I was looking at that one. Rate is about 1.7x the Courtyard for my stats so probably doesn't make sense just to get some extra points.

Certainly looks nicer though. Will give it some thought.

IIRC IHG attempted to remove the IC flag because the owners weren't upholding the brand standard, but the Shanghai government had other ideas. As I've suggested in other threads, forced upscale development around the train station is a priority initiative.

For some reason, hotels.com has a much lower rate on the IC Jing'an than IHG does. And IHG has excluded hotels in China from their best price guarantee. So strange.