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Best Hotel Bets
Best Newcomer: Le Royal Meridien Shanghai is staking out its turf with the tallest hotel in west Shanghai, gorgeous views, elegant decor, luxurious in-room amenities, fine dining options, and a perfect location on the Nanjing Lu pedestrian mall. Hyatt on the Bund in Hongkou has luxurious rooms, excellent service, and sublime views of the Bund and Pudong, and would well gain top honors were it not for the continuous construction around the hotel, making access a bit less convenient.
Best Service: An impossibly difficult category with fierce competition, but our vote goes to the St. Regis Shanghai, which has refined service to a whole new level with their customized "Lifestyle Butler Service": No request seems too frivolous or difficult for the hotel's 24-hour butlers, not even escorting guests on city tours. A close second is the consistently friendly and efficient service at the Shangri-La Pudong. In Puxi, The Four Seasons' staff is extremely discreet and anticipates your needs rather than reacting to requests.
Best Business Hotel: The Portman Ritz-Carlton not only wins this category in Shanghai, as poll after poll of foreign business travelers consistently show, but it has been deemed by the same polls to be the "Best Business Hotel in Asia." The Westin Shanghai also consistently receives raves from foreign business travelers for its efficiency and location.
Best Boutique Hotel: JIA Shanghai serves as your stylish home away from home.
Best Hotel Perks: Perhaps to compensate for its less-than-ideal location in Pudong, the St. Regis Shanghai throws in a host of perks like free wireless Internet in all rooms, and free happy hour cocktails and canapes for all in their executive lounge. They also have some of the largest rooms in town, fitted with Herman Miller Aeron chairs, BOSE CD wave radios, and some of the largest bathtubs in town. There's no reason to leave the hotel at all.
Best City Views: Le Royal Meridien, the tallest hotel in Puxi, also has the most stunning 360-degree views of the whole city.
Best View of the Bund: The nearby Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt are higher, but the Pudong Shangri-La is closer and at just the right elevation for a spectacular view of Shanghai's European architecture across the Huangpu River. The view is even better at night when this riverfront "colonial scroll" of banks and trading houses is lit up.
Best View of the Bund and Pudong: Hyatt on the Bund provides unique views of both the Bund and Pudong's skyscrapers; one of our favorite things to do is to sit and watch the Huangpu river traffic from the hotel's VUE bar.
Best Hotel Spa: Every hotel worth its salt glow boasts a spa these days, but the nicest, largest, and most luxurious is the Himalayan-themed Chi Spa at the Pudong Shangri-La Hotel, where an array of treatments will have you thinking you've found paradise. Equally sybaritic is the world-famous Banyan Tree Spa at The Westin Shanghai, though pound for pound, The Spa at The Hilton has the strongest and best trained massage therapists, even though the spa itself is not as luxurious or extensive as the others.
Best Celebrity Room: Of all the famous visitors who have stayed in Shanghai's hotels through the years, perhaps no guest is more renowned than Albert Einstein, who stayed at the Astor House Hotel, now renovated into a three-star outfit. His room is yours for ¥1,580 ($226/£113) a night.
Best Whiff of Old Shanghai: Now that the legendary Peace Hotel is temporarily closed for renovation, the French Concession Mansion Hotel with its romantic period furnishings best takes us back in time to the '30s and '40s when life was a cabaret, even -- or maybe especially -- in Shanghai.
Best Setting: Ruijin Hotel, located on the former Morriss Estate in the French Concession, has one of the loveliest colonial settings with four original villas (and several faux additions) amid sprawling manicured lawns that are lovely to stroll. To boot, there are several excellent restaurants and bars on the premises, which means you never have to leave the grounds of this block-long estate.
Best Health and Fitness Facilities: The health and fitness facilities at the Regal International East Asia Hotel don't stop at the 25m (82-ft.) lap pool, the aerobics gym, the simulated golf range, or the 12-lane bowling alley; add in the 10 world-class tennis courts (two indoors), including a center court with seating for 1,200 spectators.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
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