After reading
this thread, I booked for my already planned trip a 4-night-stay in the Lansheng hotel in Shanghai at 12 Euros/night.
I have added several photos and links, simply click on the blue-colored text!
The curreny is RMB (also CNY, Yuan) and was at the time of my travel 0.13 USD respectively 0,10 Euro, check
here for up-to-date cross rates.
From the aiport PVG to the hotel
You have 5 options
- Taxi all the way
It will take ~1hour and costs ~170RMB. Always have a printout of your destination in Chinese letters with you! The taxi driver will probably not speak English! You can use my roomkey (bad quality) or this jpeg from a travel agents website. They look differently, maybe one in still showing Radisson...???
- Maglev and taxi
Maglev costs 40RMB with a same-day boarding pass. Don't buy a return ticket, it is only valid for the same day! Taxi from the Maglev station to the hotel is ~70RMB (20km) and takes ~20-30min.
- Maglev and metro and walking
With the Magelv you arrive at Longyang Lu station. There you have different options with the metro. You can change at Shiji avenue & Boashan Lu (lines 2. 4 and 3) or only at Zhonshan (lines 2 and 3). Don't use line 1, as the changes at people's square and SH railway station require a lot of walking (and a new ticket at railway station). Your final destination is Dabaishu (renamed station). From there you have to walk few minutes to the hotel (google maps link).
Total trip time is ~1,5 hours and costs 40RMB for the Maglev and 5RMB for the metro
- Maglev and metro and taxi
Same as above, but spending 11RMB for a taxis instead of walking
- Airport busses
Cheapest way, however, I have no clue about it...
My recommendation is the Maglex+taxi option! It's fast and reasonable priced - and a nice experience to drive with
431km/h!
From the aiport SHA to the hotel
You have 3 options
- Free hotel shuttle
Runs only twice a day, check with the hotel for details
- Taxi
This airport is near to the city center (~13km), so this should be the best option.
- airport busses
No clue again.
Check-In at the hotel
Fast and efficient. I got a deluxe room in the 17th floor (non-smoking room). They copied my passport and CC, as usual, and I got my
roomkey.
The room
The room is quite big, also the bathroom. Here some pictures:
The state of the room is ok, but not perfect. For a 4* hotel it would require some substantial renovation, especially the bathroom needs a full renovation. However, it is nothing to be scared of, just not the standard from the few other 4* hotels I know.
The minibar is reasonable priced (e.g. 18RMB for a local beer), two bottles of local water come free every day.
The air condition is working properly, without beeing loud
Services- The room is cleaned very accurate on a daily basis. You can choose to get new bedclothes daily.
- The concierge service wasn't very helpful. A good example is the map, they provided to me... a A3 copy of a tourist map... Try to get a free map at the airport, if you don't have one in you travel guide.
- Breakfast is available at the hotel for 80RMB. They have a huge selection of warm food (not especially good), even some front cooking. Obviously, it is overpriced for Chinese prices (e.g. you get 4 McDonalds meals for it), however, I used it once for the convinience of breakfast without leaving the hotel.
- Internet braodband is available in the room (no WLAN) at reasonable rates (IIRC ~10USD/day), internet PC's (no skype) are available at 1RMB/min (15RMB min. charge) next to the check-in-counter.
- I did not use the other services (restaurant, business facilities, laundry, sauna, gym, ...).
The location
Big disadvantage of the hotel.
- The elevated roads, you can see on the google maps, were no problem with regard to the noise.
- The view is not really breathtaking...
- There are some shops & restaurants around, however, they are not prepared for tourists! It can even be hard to order a beer at a small (7mē) "supermarkt", as they don't speak English. I never ate there, but I think the restaurants are very cheap, very Chinese and not as attractive as the restaurants in the city.
- To the city you can either use the metro (~30-40min, 5RMB, see above "From the aiport PVG to the hotel" for details) or taxi (~3RMB per km) or bus no. 123 (according to the concierge service, I didn't find the stop)
Conclusion
The hotel is a bit worn-out and would require some renovation to keep its 4*-level. This is probably the reason, why it is no longer a Radisson SAS hotel. However, it is still a good & very clean hotel with some good services. Unfortunately the location is rather bad. I would not stay there again for the normal rates (>60Euro/night), as there are cheaper, (for me) acceptable options downtwon, but for my "promo" rate of 12 Euro/night it was a fantastic value for the money!
Disclaimer
This report is based only on a four-night stay in the hotel. I'm not very experienced with 4* hotels in general and it was my first time in China, so I can't compare appropiately.