Shanghai Luxury Hotels
Jul 30, 2015, 11:27 am
#1
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Shanghai Luxury Hotels
I have spent the past week here in Shanghai and have stayed at:
Four Seasons Pudong
Mandarin Oriental Pudong
Four Seasons Puxi
Peninsula Shanghai
and have site inspected Park Hyatt Shanghai and Grand Hyatt Shanghai.
Over the next few days I will post detailed reports on each of these properties and will include some photos (though I apologize in advance for the photos -- they are not as nice as other FTers!).
Four Seasons Pudong
Mandarin Oriental Pudong
Four Seasons Puxi
Peninsula Shanghai
and have site inspected Park Hyatt Shanghai and Grand Hyatt Shanghai.
Over the next few days I will post detailed reports on each of these properties and will include some photos (though I apologize in advance for the photos -- they are not as nice as other FTers!).
Jul 30, 2015, 11:50 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist, *A Silver
Posts: 4,896
Looking forward to this.
What does site inspection mean / entail? Do you work somewhere that requires/allows you to do that or do you just go to the hotels and ask if you can take a look at their rooms?
What does site inspection mean / entail? Do you work somewhere that requires/allows you to do that or do you just go to the hotels and ask if you can take a look at their rooms?
Jul 30, 2015, 12:16 pm
#3
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Four Seasons Shanghai Pudong
The Four Seasons Shanghai Pudong is on Century Boulevard across the street (though it is a 10 lane street) from the Park Hyatt. The building is a mixed use building with offices on the bottom third, hotel in the middle portion, and private residences branded as Four Seasons Place, on the top portion. Each section has a different entrance and each portion, while managed by Four Seasons, is staffed separately.
The hotel has just over 170 rooms and suites with either Pudong city views or the preferred Oriental Pearl Tower views. Lead in rooms, the Deluxe rooms, are large at about 50sq meters or 550 sq ft, and go larger from there. My room, facing the Oriental Pearl Tower, featured a large king sized bed, an design chair with ottoman, a very large work desk with task chair, with plenty of space to stretch out in. The bathroom was a separate WC, dual vanities, large tub, and a shower stall with hand held shower and rain fall shower. Toiletries are custom made by Lorenzo Viloresi for Four Seasons for rooms and Bulgari White Tea for suites.
There is an in room mini bar with a drawer system fridge. Complimentary tea and coffee are offered. The hotel also provides plenty of complimentary bottled water as the tap water is not recommended for drinking even though it is filtered by the hotel. Below are photos of my room and the views from it -- apologies in advance for the photo quality.
The room I think is the one to book is the Jr. Suite -- it is a corner unit, open plan and is about 75 sq meters or 800 sq ft. It is light filled and airy and has a nice view even from the bathroom.
The hotel has two dining venues, a high end Chinese restaurant Shang Xi, which Forbes rated as the best Chinese restaurant in Mainland China. The other restaurant is Camelia which was closed during my stay for renovations. It has been reincarnated from a French restaurant into a casual Italian restaurant. The hotel has installed a pizza oven and features a small but well curated and executed menu.
Camelia
Margherita pizza
The food and beverage is very solid here at FS Pudong. I was particularly impressed with the pastries, croissants, and the breads in the morning, with quality almost as good as Paris but with the heat and humidity of Shanghai in the summer. The pizza at Camelia was delicious (better than the one at Cucina at the Grand Hyatt) and food at ShangXi was also very good. I thought that Lung King Heen at FS Hong Kong dim sum is better but the cooked food, especially the soup, steamed garoupa, and roast duck with plum sauce, were outstanding here.
The top floor of the hotel features a great pool with skyline views which can be rented at night for a private pool experience. There is a well equipped gym as well.
The hotel has a shuttle, a Buick mini-van, for rides within Luijazui up to 3km radius of hotel and is easy to use. They will even come to pick you up if the car is available -- a simple phone call to the hotel will take care of that.
I found service to be very good throughout the hotel and the command of English by most staff members is better than I had expected. There will be some language issues which is to be expected but overall this is a solid choice. Between the MO, Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and FS Pudong, the FS is my first choice hotel.
The hotel has just over 170 rooms and suites with either Pudong city views or the preferred Oriental Pearl Tower views. Lead in rooms, the Deluxe rooms, are large at about 50sq meters or 550 sq ft, and go larger from there. My room, facing the Oriental Pearl Tower, featured a large king sized bed, an design chair with ottoman, a very large work desk with task chair, with plenty of space to stretch out in. The bathroom was a separate WC, dual vanities, large tub, and a shower stall with hand held shower and rain fall shower. Toiletries are custom made by Lorenzo Viloresi for Four Seasons for rooms and Bulgari White Tea for suites.
There is an in room mini bar with a drawer system fridge. Complimentary tea and coffee are offered. The hotel also provides plenty of complimentary bottled water as the tap water is not recommended for drinking even though it is filtered by the hotel. Below are photos of my room and the views from it -- apologies in advance for the photo quality.
The room I think is the one to book is the Jr. Suite -- it is a corner unit, open plan and is about 75 sq meters or 800 sq ft. It is light filled and airy and has a nice view even from the bathroom.
The hotel has two dining venues, a high end Chinese restaurant Shang Xi, which Forbes rated as the best Chinese restaurant in Mainland China. The other restaurant is Camelia which was closed during my stay for renovations. It has been reincarnated from a French restaurant into a casual Italian restaurant. The hotel has installed a pizza oven and features a small but well curated and executed menu.
Camelia
Margherita pizza
The food and beverage is very solid here at FS Pudong. I was particularly impressed with the pastries, croissants, and the breads in the morning, with quality almost as good as Paris but with the heat and humidity of Shanghai in the summer. The pizza at Camelia was delicious (better than the one at Cucina at the Grand Hyatt) and food at ShangXi was also very good. I thought that Lung King Heen at FS Hong Kong dim sum is better but the cooked food, especially the soup, steamed garoupa, and roast duck with plum sauce, were outstanding here.
The top floor of the hotel features a great pool with skyline views which can be rented at night for a private pool experience. There is a well equipped gym as well.
The hotel has a shuttle, a Buick mini-van, for rides within Luijazui up to 3km radius of hotel and is easy to use. They will even come to pick you up if the car is available -- a simple phone call to the hotel will take care of that.
I found service to be very good throughout the hotel and the command of English by most staff members is better than I had expected. There will be some language issues which is to be expected but overall this is a solid choice. Between the MO, Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and FS Pudong, the FS is my first choice hotel.
Last edited by luxury; Aug 2, 2015 at 6:27 am
Jul 30, 2015, 12:28 pm
#4
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Anyone can go to a hotel and ask to be shown some rooms and hotels will oblige but it tends to work better if there is prior arrangement.
Aug 2, 2015, 7:00 am
#6
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They also use a Mercedes S350 at 1100 CNY + 15% per way for PVG (900 for SHA) as well as a Bentley Flying Spur at 2000 CNY + 15% per way for PVG (1800 for SHA). You can add Elite Service Meet and Greet for 600 CNY +15% for international (including Hong Kong and Macau) and 300 CNY+15% for domestic.
Aug 3, 2015, 9:22 am
#10
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Haven't you tried the InterContinental Shanghai Ruijin?
Staying at an historical building, in the former French Concession and green environment is some luxury at a city like Shanghai.
Staying at an historical building, in the former French Concession and green environment is some luxury at a city like Shanghai.
Aug 4, 2015, 12:54 am
#12
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Aug 4, 2015, 6:58 am
#13
Join Date: Jun 2012
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Aug 4, 2015, 8:47 am
#15
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist, *A Silver
Posts: 4,896
I would agree, if you rate those hotels only for the quality of the hotels themselves. I recall from many of your posts your jaded view of Pu Dong, given which, I hope it isn't too presumptuous of me to say that you don't care much for the Lu Jia Zui skyline. But for tourists, the skyline is a big sell. I do think viewing the skyline from the Bund is the "right" side to view the skyline, but it just feels a bit far. The FS puts you right in front of the skyline, even if it's from the "wrong" side, it's still a breathtaking view.