frudd38

If I book 2 rooms (2 adults each) as a Plat, do all 4 adults get access to the breakfast and lounge at this property?

abk

In my experience, they will make you pay for access for the other two people. My situation was two rooms with me in one room and my associate in the other both booked in my name. As they explained had we been sharing a room we would have both had complimentary access but since we were in separate rooms then the second person had to pay. That is the only time where that has happened to me at a SPG property in Asia.

EnvoyBoy

Wow, do I feel better having read this. I stayed two nights last month and thought service was pretty poor. I've never stayed at hotel that couldn't mail a letter for you and post the postage to your room, using the notecards and envelopes they provide in the room no less!

Most frustratingly, as a Plat, I was DOWNgraded in my room. Unfortunately, there was an accident on the highway to the hotel and I had about five minutes to iron a shirt, change clothes, and head right back out to dinner. I'd reserved and paid extra for a room facing the Bund, since this was first visit here. When I checked in, I was told I was upgraded to a high club floor with lounge access. Well, my view turned out to be of the Radisson hotel instead. If I'd had time to fight it, I would have gotten my Bund room at an extra cost back and just used my plat status to access the lounge, thank you very much.

Going to try the Westin next time!

frudd38

That is quite unfortunate.. How long ago was this? I've never encountered the 2nd room having to pay but seems like this property is stingy on that. Any 2nd room experience with Westin or the other props in Shanghai?

MSPeconomist

I guess it's unfortunate for the person who posted about this situation that the hotel wasn't willing to go above and beyond SPG published benefits and offer to waive the fee for lounge access, but this is perfectly proper. If more hotels would follow and enforce rules for lounge access, lounges wouldn't be so disgustingly overcrowded.

CIT85

Yes, the rules are pretty clear about Lounge access for Plat member plus one guest staying in same room. It's then strictly property dependent whether there's additional benefits. I neve expect more than the rules permit, and I am pleasantly surprised if the hotels extend benefits to my daughter as well, when staying in the same room. I definitely would not expect benefits for 2nd room.

flyalotlm

As tourists, we chose this hotel due to its great location on East Nanjing Road and it is also next to three subway lines, next to People's Park, and not far from the Bund. This made for easy access to the subway lines to/from PVG, Shanghai Train Station, and Hongqiao Train Station. We were upgraded to a suite on the 48th floor and our first room looked north. On our return for our 2nd stay, we looked out over People's Park and preferred that view. Breakfast buffet was awesome. Staff at Concierge, front desk, and in Club Lounge were great. Club lounge on 44th floor has great view of Pudong buildings and a good selection of food in the evening. We paid cash versus points and the price was low enough to not make use of points worthwhile.

iflyjetz

I booked here based on FT reviews of the hotel/rooms.
This is not a hotel I'd ever book again. I am traveling with my adult daughter and we ended up sharing twin beds in a postage stamp sized room. The shower was - challenging.
The hotel itself is nice and in a good location but the room and shower arrangement (shower is outside of tub, water goes on floor and drains from there. The floor stays wet until maid comes). You could not change clothes in the shower because everything was wet ... and the tub was a complete waste of space in a very small room.

moondog

While I think your "postage stamp" sized rooms comment was hyperbolic, I agree with your general assessment. During your next trip, consider staying a bit west of there... even at the Portman (warning: small rooms). You will get a better feel for the city if you aren't in Peoples Square.

CIT85

As a Plat, I have never been given a room smaller than a Junior suite, which is anything but postage stamp size.

Your signature line suggest you should be Plat, then did you not receive an upgrade?

I would be upset if, as a Plat, I'd been assigned to a room as you described. The Junior Suite layout does not offer bathroom much privacy from the bedroom.

Bathrooms in suites are large and have separate glass enclosed shower that is nothing your description.

iflyjetz

I'm a Plat and it definitely wasn't a junior suite. It was a Royal Club Room, 38 sq meters.

The shower was glass enclosed, but there was also a tub in the same glass enclosed room - the tub was a complete waste of space. The tub should be taken out and reduce the space used by the tub/shower area so that there is more space in the room.
The glass enclosed shower had a shade that could be lowered on the clear glass side; the other glass was smoked so that you can't see through it.

nologic

In general, in my frequent previous experience, excluding the last 18 months, this hotel gets it and treats Plats very well. Unless the GM has changed, this comes from the top down. I think this hotel is a great hotel for Plats in Shanghai. If you didn't get UG'd, I suspect the hotel had too many Plats and it was a bad draw.

iflyjetz

I was/am travelling with my daughter so I require 2 beds. I was originally given a room with a king bed (never made it up to the room; it was changed at the desk) but stated that I need a room with 2 beds.
I have added a comment about needing 2 beds in all future reservations on this trip, but when I checked into the Phuket Hyatt, I had the same problem - given a king room in spite of booking one with 2 beds and a note in the comments that I needed 2 beds.
I still have Bangkok, Chengdu, Lhasa, XiAn, and Guilin to go so it'll be interesting to see how often we get a room with a king bed.
The Grand Hyatt Beijing gave us a great 2 BR suite so it's not every hotel that doesn't read the comments.

MSPeconomist

This sounds like the hotel tried to upgrade you, probably to a junior suite, but then had to cancel the upgrade because their junior suites have one king bed.

I wonder whether a rollaway bed would have been possible or even, depending on your daughter's ago, whether she could have slept on the sofa in the junior suite.

The hotel doesn't have many club level rooms because the space on very high floors is so limited due to the building's shape, but these rooms offer great views and can be a lot of fun. However, 38 square meters isn't so small for a big city hotel room. I've seen some as bad as 21 square meters.

Perhaps you think the bath tub is a waste of space but I like having a nice big bathtub to use when jet lagged upon arrival or when dressing for dinner after a long busy day. LRM has cool bathtubs which are part of the special design here.

LRMGM

Dear iflyjetz - apologies for the room you received during your august trip. MSPeconomist is right. You were assigned a suite during booking but unfortunlately the hotel has a limited number of twin bedded suites, hence the lack of upgrade. Do let me know if your plans bring you back through Shanghai and I will personally ensure that you get a larger room.

Kind regards,


Daniel Aylmer
General Manager
Le Royal Meridien Shanghai