The St. Regis Shanghai Jingan [Master Thread]
Jul 6, 2017, 12:20 pm
Jul 6, 2017, 6:14 pm
English proficiency is an issue at hotels throughout China. Newer hotels would be expected to have more issues in this regard. It seems a stinging criticism by some here for the StR but the same posters make it less critical when the same is true at the W Shanghai. I don't get it?
Just to clarify: my background is F&B-based, so I always make it a point to scout out new hotels' restaurants (or restaurants around the cities in general). My comments are merely observations, and not really "surprised" whether the restaurants are empty or not. I had heard some quite negative issues about the F&B at the St. Regis Shanghai, so I did want to check this out for myself, and let's just say that the empty restaurants I had noticed might have a reason....
Management at the St. Regis Shanghai also needs to be improved. The little things... Like holding a staff briefing in one of the Yan Ting's private rooms, without the door being closed, and since I was the only one dining during dinner that night, I could hear most of the talk as consistent "mumbling". Then, after dinner as I was walking to the elevators, I noticed another employee briefing with Housekeeping...in an empty corridor, but a public hallway nonetheless and accessible to and in the view of guests. I have never seen hotels hold staff briefings in public areas?!
In regards to English proficiency always an issue at new hotels in China, I would respectfully disagree on this. It boils down to HR hiring proficient staff to man the front line. I have been travelling to China for almost 20 years, and I would say that new hotel openings just 10 years ago were much better in getting the "right" English-speaking staff to communicate with guests. Take, for example, the Hyatt on the Bund. Opened I would say about 10 years ago (?), and I had my first stay there a week after the soft opening. Was very impressed with English proficiency. As was the Grand Hyatt Shanghai when I first visited the hotel when the Pudong area around it was just a big construction site. Mandarin Oriental Pudong's opening was also staffed by people with a good command of English, as was the Shangri-La Shanghai Jing An. So, therefore, I just do not get how two hotels of a calibre of the St. Regis and W could open with obviously-shaky front line staff in their English-speaking ability. Yes, I am slightly less critical of the W Shanghai, and I think they do have possibility to improve because most of the staff I interacted with were at least wiling to TRY and speak English. At St. Regis, a few of the staff would not even try. They would just run to or rely on another staff member to do the speaking.
Anyway, my point is not to turn this thread into an English proficiency spiel. Just sharing some of my observations past and present.
Last edited by Fly Me To The Moon; Jul 7, 2017 at 4:03 am
Jul 7, 2017, 3:29 am
Would be interested re Platinum treatment (e.g. would they possibly offer a happy hour or wine tasting / F&B discount / free laundry items / breakfast in addition to points...). Would be also interested in the general quality of their breakfast and afternoon tea.
Jul 7, 2017, 4:00 am
Would be interested re Platinum treatment (e.g. would they possibly offer a happy hour or wine tasting / F&B discount / free laundry items / breakfast in addition to points...). Would be also interested in the general quality of their breakfast and afternoon tea.
Breakfast at Social was ok. Good spread of Asian (Chinese) and Western items. Food quality was acceptable for a buffet. Several made-to-order stations (e.g. eggs, noodles, etc.) were available, and I ordered from these predominantly. Most other food was not hot enough. Maybe this was because the restaurant was relatively empty during breakfast, and the food was not rotating fast enough to be replenished.
Jul 7, 2017, 4:13 am
Breakfast at Social was ok. Good spread of Asian (Chinese) and Western items. Food quality was acceptable for a buffet. Several made-to-order stations (e.g. eggs, noodles, etc.) were available, and I ordered from these predominantly. Most other food was not hot enough. Maybe this was because the restaurant was relatively empty during breakfast, and the food was not rotating fast enough to be replenished.
Sep 10, 2017, 11:58 am
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.c...#comment-40688
Sep 11, 2017, 10:29 am
St Regis Jingan Shanghai
1008 Beijing West Road Shanghai, CN 200041
St Regis Jingan Shanghai September 2017 (13 Photos)
St Regis Jingan Shanghai
Executive Summary
Nice location and clearly a lot of money has gone into this renovation of an existing building. However, staff, management, and owners just do not seem to understand the concept of first class service. Most employees looked bored, yawning constantly, while performing their function just adequately at best. There were a couple moments that stood out but those were clearly exceptions, more easily attributable to individual employee effort than a consistent service management philosophy. This property has the body of a St Regis but is missing the soul that makes the brand stand apart. Unfortunately I do not see any effort to rectify the service issues so they are likely to be a long term issue. IMO, this property is not to the St Regis brand standard of service.
Check In
This new addition to the St Regis family just opened in May so it is about four months old when we went. Several critical reviews have been posted on the hotel's Starwood page so I was a bit hesitant to choose this location over the centrally located Le Royal Meridien more known for consistent service. I was hoping that many of the reported issues had been ironed out by the time of our visit.
Greeters were on-hand as our car pulled up and our luggage was immediately unloaded and stored as we entered the hotel. Then you see the concierge desk who greeted us and pointed us to right towards the check-in desks. The greeters and concierge provided the most consistently good service we received throghout our stay and one concierge earned a SPG Elite Thank You Certificate from me.
Check-in is casually luxurious with a series of antique looking desks and overstuffed leather chairs facing a single front desk clerk. A bit too much on the casual side as my clerk was busy facing away from the entrance and chatting busily with another employee, not noticing our approach until we literally sat down in front of her. The other employee did notice us but never acknowledged us and only left when the clerk turned to finally check us in. Not a great start but indicative of the rest of the service we would learn to expect over the next several days.
My SPG Platinum status was acknowledged and we were given an upgrade to a Caroline Astor Suite on a low floor. We were warned that we may hear construction during the daytime and that was true but only very distantly. All of my SPG and reservation package benefits were recognized and made available to me. The Executive Lounge was open but there was only limited service, instead there would be a precisely one hour happy hour in the lobby bar for elite members.
One thing to note, this hotel is still so new no taxi driver recognizes the name and may very well bring you to the OLD St Regis in Shanghai which is in a completely different area. Best to give them the street address and nearest cross street, that worked consistently.
Room
From my understanding, The Caroline Astor Suite is the third largest suite (aka, the smallest suite) this hotel offers. There is a walk-in closet off the hallway, no picture as our luggage was a bit of a mess. The luggage rack was of a poor design with a short "wall" on the back side, this blocks luggage from sitting balanced across the rack. The closet drawers were tiny but acceptable for a stay up to a week. Two vases were displayed behind glass doors, these were attractive but took up valuable useful space.
There is a sitting room with a large desk and sofa, a bowl of fruit was available but never changed during our stay despite eating some of the fruit. My rate included all the minibar one time for the stay. But on the third day of our stay, I was told that all the snacks and non-alcoholic beverages would be restocked daily for free. The TV did not work but was quickly fixed by an engineer while we were out (it wasn't the remote, I could use it on the other TV). Oddly, the desk did not appear to have any power outlets, the nearest one was about three feet from the far left corner of the desk so plugging in everything took a bit of an effort. Wifi was decently fast but suprisingly for a major international hotel certain sites were blocked by the Great Firewall necessitating the use of a VPN.
The bedroom itself was as expected. Crisp linens were on the comfortable king size bed, a sizeable upholstered bench at the foot of the bed. The large window in both the bedroom and sitting room had electronically controlled blackout curtains and shades, those were very nice. I called our butler and requested foam pillows. A gruff looking housekeeper showed up about 5 minutes later, shoved them at me without saying a word, and then promptly left. Again, not a great front line service encounter. I also noted that wall and ceiling finishes were somewhat rough and uneven, typical China construction but I would have expected more oversight on a luxury project.
The bathroom is large with dual sinks and a make-up table, all surrounding a large free standing bathtub. The toilet is a well designed Japanese style with all electronic controls. Unfortunately, it was kind of annoying too! You had to walk past the toilet slightly to trigger the cover to rise. Then you have to wait for the cover to completely rise before triggering the seat to rise next, a lot slower than just using your hand. The wireless controller would constantly go into standby mode necessitating multiple presses to get it to turn back on and then sometimes triggering an unwanted action (eg, bidet mode!). So it was kind of cute the first time around but then got annoying by the second day. The bathroom has just two switches: one turns on just the shower stall light, the other turns on everything else. Personally this makes no sense to me as there are times when somebody might want to go to the toilet in the middle of night and does not need all lights blazing, whereas I don't think there is ever a time when somebody would only use the shower without turning anything else on. Oh and the handle on the toilet door was slightly crooked. The toiletries were quite nice and I kept a bottle of the facial wash, all the bottles were 2.5 oz so sized for airport travel.
As my wife put it, it kind of seems like the room was designed by someone who never actually stayed in a five star hotel. It's not bad, just some odd quirks that were unexpected and easily avoidable.
Executive Lounge
The Executive Lounge is gorgeous, as one of the tallest buildings in the area the hotel has an impressive panoramic view of downtown Shanghai. Service however is utterly lacking. The lounge desk agent almost always looked bored, literally slumped over on the desk unless she noticed someone was coming then she would perk up. She never got up though, her job was only to confirm that our room has access to the lounge and then we would go seat ourselves. Another server did leap out from a back room while adjusting his uniform, so at least he was eager if not quite prepared. There was a very fine assortment of teas available (highly recommended), standard canned and bottled non-alcoholic drinks, a single bottle of red wine, and jars of non-descript cookies. That was literally it, we never saw any other food set out during our entire stay though a small kitchen is there, likely for making omlettes in the morning in the future. There is an interior atrium space that is half reading room and half bar, it was never manned and we were never offered a drink from that bar. The lounge is basically a nice place to pick up standard beverages but not much else.
At one point, my wife asked for two mini jars of honey for a pot of tea and the server came back with only one stating that they were out and then looked blankly at her. She then had to promp him to go find another one which apparently had not occured to him otherwise.
Dining
The breakfast restaurant was a bright point of our trip. The seating is plentiful and comfortable. Fresh squeezed juices and the fine teas were available here. The Western dishes looked good but were only OK, the exception was the coconut potatoes au gratin which were quite good. But the highlights were in the Asian section with dim sum, rice porridge, and bowls of noodles. There was also a selection of smoked salmon and cured meats that were also quite good and went well with the selection of cheeses. Plus your normal assortment of pastries, waffles, cereals, etc.
Service here was particulalry egregious. The front desk would simply mumble welcome and goodbye with literally zero feeling. One regular waitress in particular constantly walked around with wide open yawns. Some of the waiters were very prompt in clearing used dishware, sometimes a bit too quick as we were still eating but they didn't notice there was still food left on the plate. When I was perusing the selection of tea, one waiter kept asking and reminding me that he would be happy to make me a pot until I finally asked him to leave me alone long enough to go through the selection of teas first!
Gym
The gym was functional and offered towels and water. A basic assortment of equipment that was well maintained, no complaints there. There is also an interior lap pool, not really something kids would want to play in though.
Upon checking in at the gym desk, the clerk there offered to hold on to my wife's room card as she had no pockets, that was nice of him. OTOH, when I left there were two employees chatting at the same desk and neither acknowledged me or even bothered to pause their conversation.
Sep 12, 2017, 8:04 am
* the location is fantastic. Will never stay in Pudong again.
* english among front line staff is ok...but further down the ladder it is tough sledding...but thats not to critique the service...service at every level is sincere and almost excessive. I believe a number of the staff came over from the Shangri-La Jingan
* have been upgraded each time to CAstor suite, which is nice, on various floors...but have also had 03/11/17 rooms...by far the 17 line is the most standard of hotel rooms...the 03 was really spacious and would take it over a CAstor suite...the 11 line is roomy as well...both 03 and 11 have fantastic bathrooms.
* food service improved tremendously between our early july stays v august stays, which is not only a plus but also the suggests the trajectory to expect when a brand new hotel works to find its footing. this is including both the service portion of room service (food is unchanged...service is better), and also bkfst buffet where quality improved tremendously. Have not hit on site restaurants.
in general found the rooms to be roomier than standard rooms at ritz pudong and the mandarin...altho I liked both those hotels, pudong is just not where we want to be and suffers from crowds--our stays at both those properties were oddly interrupted by loud obnoxious americans...and we do not typically throw the "ugly american" flag...Shangri La Jingan is a good comparable for StR, and we took a weekend "break" there while staying at StR...good location for Shangri La but the property is clearly more dated and worn.
Flat out my family loves the StR...will allow its still on a trajectory, but its the right trajectory.
Nov 3, 2017, 11:27 am
St. Regis Shanghai
CITS Mansion Beijing West Road Jing'an, China
Shanghai St. Regis Jingan - 5* facilities, mixed service (8 Photos)
St. Regis Shanghai
Check In
Up arrival, was immediately directed to a nice desk area to process check-in. Unfortunately, while the agent was friendly, it was not a 5* experience. He made sure to recognize my SPG platinum status, but when I asked whether a suite upgrade was available he said the hotel was full. It was only when I showed him that base level suites were available on the SPG website, that he made a call and assigned me a suite on the 42nd floor. He also didn't go through any of the included amenities (ie butler service, or the fact that they do host an SPG platinum hour) other than the fact the non-alcholic minibar was included, which is a nice plus.
Room
WOW! Easily one of the nicest suites I've stayed in, with incredible hardware and facilities. I won't do much dialouge here and let the photos do most of the talking. It was stunning, and the room was very well-done and felt very new.
Corner View Bedroom w/ TV
Bathtub with a view
Next generation Japanese toilet
Bedroom view into closet and bathroom
Walk in closet
Living room
Desk Area
Guest Half-Bathroom
Service
Service was a mixed-bag. I'd summarise as well-intentioned but poorly executed.
Examples:
-During check-in was not informed of many of the included amenities. (for ex: Butler Service & SPG Platinum happy hour)
-I used the pool one day, and asked if there was a jacuzzi, they told me there was one in the Spa, but I had to make an appointment (odd?). So I made an appointment, but in the end it was just a jacuzzi in another locker room located down the hall from the fitness center locker room. Very odd layout and poorly explained.
-As mentioned in the other review, many staff members seemed bored. I don't blame them as it's a very large hotel and often not very busy.
Positive examples:
-Butler service was great, tea came promptly, and items pressed within 3 hours.
-Breakfast service was proactive and very friendly.
Dining
I had two experiences, one was breakfast all four mornings. Unfortunately the breakfast bufet did not live up the the grandeur of the room it was held in. The Chinese breakfast looked lovely, but the Western breakfast (especially the hot options) was definitely lacking when compared with similiar 5* hotels (Waldorf, W, Park Hyatt) in the area.
The second was at the St. Regis Bar. After calling down to see if they hosted a happy hour for SPG platinums (yes, one-hour from 6:30pm to 7:30pm), I arrived and they gave me the menu for the general buy-1-get-1 free happy hour, only when I pressed they gave me the actual SPG platinum menu from the bottom of a pile, which leads me to believe not many people know about this benefit. It is a nice place to spend an hour to enjoy some free drinks. They proactively brought out some small snacks as well. I had to sign a $0 check at the end.
Location
Stellar location within easy walking distance of West Nanjing Subway station. Lots of great resturaunts in the area (JingAn). No, it doesn't have the bund "wow" location, but for someone who spends a lot of time in Shanghai, JingAn is a much better area with easy access to bars/food/nightlife.
Gym
Gym was good and a mixture of free-weights (wohoo) and machines. They were stocked with plenty of bottled water.Nice locker rooms! Pool was also of high quality, but it is located in the basement, so while it has a skylight it is more of a lap pool than a "spend the day by the pool" facility.
Overall
I'm at such a crossroad here as the facilities are so beautiful, and the room stunning. With a little more effort this could be a hotel worthy of the St. Regis brand. Unfortunately on this visit the service let it down.
That being said, the most important thing to me (and I assume many other travellers) is the room and location. Both of those things got an A+ from me on this visit, and because of that I wouldn't hesitate to go back.
Nov 20, 2017, 8:28 am
The Executive lounge staff proved to be excellent, especially Ms. Eunice, who helped arranging my (past 4pm) late check-out and made sure I could have a nice meal (chosen from the restaurant menu) in the lounge before my departure.
Xiao Long Bao dumplings at breakfast were very tasty.
Overall I can't think of many negatives. The check-in procedure was a tad slow (apparently the person checking me in was still in some training, a supervisor standing right behind him), platinum benefits were explained clearly though. As for the room (Astor Suite via SNA), I noticed a slight sewer odor from the toilet, but it wasn't too serious.
Would definitly return.
Nov 27, 2017, 1:03 pm
Here is his review of the St Regis Shanghai:
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.c...-jingan-suite/
Highlight summary of his stay:
Jan 12, 2018, 1:39 pm
I think the room was ok. For a new property, I noticed some water damage in the bathroom, and like many hotels in China, it had a slight sewage smell.
The receptionist, and the wait staff at the restaurants were generally good. However, like many have mentioned on TA and here, the overall service leaves a lot to be desired. For example, the doormen and the bellhop are completely inactive, they stand around like bodyguards, but they do not open doors or proactively take your luggage.
I still attribute a lot of these to growing pains. However, it’s a night and day difference between the St. Regis and something like the Peninsula, the two are not even on the same level. I think this location is a great place to be in Shanghai, and hopefully, they will continue to make improvements.
Last edited by fangtl; Jan 12, 2018 at 2:38 pm Reason: double spacing
Jan 12, 2018, 2:07 pm
The Pen it isn't...nor ever is it likely to ever match; the Pen Shanghai is perhaps the best of the entire chain, and it's certainly one of our 13 favorite hotels of all time. I'll be happy if the StR can match and/or exceed the service at the FS, PH and RC properties. A StR always should be able to compete with a FS to me.