Crowne Plaza Shanghai — Hotel in Shanghai

In our recent trip to Shanghai, we stayed at this hotel for 8 nights (we booked 3 twin-bed rooms), located on the 23rd and 24th storey. It was formerly known as the Majesty Hotel.

Let me start with the positive aspects.

The hotel is conveniently located at Jiujiang Road, that is just a few steps from the famous Nanjing Road Pedestrian Shopping Street with lots of departmental and shopping malls, restaurants, convenience stores, cafes and eateries around. It is almost within 5mins walk to People's Park metro station.

The room is spacious and bright (unlike the one in Chengdu that's very dark) and we have a good view on the surrounding highrise buildings, very nice especially at night with the lightings. Beds were comfortable (we slept well) and they have a huge TV with a great variety of channels. There's also a bathtub and the toilet is bright and spacious too. Room service was generally well done and aircon was cold.

As for the negative aspects, there were quite a lot.

First, inconsistent service level (with the one in Chengdu and others in different countries). There was no welcome drink when we checked in. When we asked, they responded the bottles of mineral water in the room was the "welcome drink". OMG. Just 3 months ago, we were at Chengdu and the welcome drink we had was at the bar lounge with a good selection of fruit juices, various wines or spirits and beer!

On the first day of room service, the staff forgot to replenish our bottles of mineral water.

The fridge was not working (or rather, the power cord was not plugged in from behind which we had difficulty in doing so because the cabinet was placed too closed to the wall with very small gaps and our hands could not reach the cable). By right, the power cord should be plugged in and once we inserted the room card, the fridge should be on automatically.

Wifi! Wifi connection was extremely poor (in room though better in lobby) as you can see from the picture attached. Most of the time, the wifi could not work at all and no connection and so we had to use our own mobile data. We had approached the staff who could not resolve the problems and kept asking us to download their app or reboot/restart our phone to which the problem could not be resolved!

Next, the concierge, the plump bald man with spectacles. Very poor service and unhelpful. We had ordered online items (we saw many packages around) and had to request the deliveryman to deliver our items to us before we checked out and proceed to the airport. However, we did not have local number and so we approached this fellow to help to call the deliveryman. As we politely requested for his help, without even looking at the number, he instantly rejected and said this was the "virtual number" (meaning not real mobile phone number) and could not be called! When we asked him how did he know it was virtual number, he insisted and then walked off. His attitude was poor and that did not relate well to Crowne Plaza standard or image. (later, we seek help from the staff at the Costa Cafe next door, who kindly helped us call the number and thanked her, our items were delivered on time just minutes before we left for the airport).

We also have had the breakfast at the cafe on the 2nd storey. Overall, the ambience of the cafe was nice, bright and spacious. And the foods were ok but nothing special or worth mentioning. Some foods were too oily and by around 9.15am, replenishment of foods had stopped especially the fresh fruits. And when staff was clearing the used plates, without even asking us if we had finished our food, they just took away the plate and utensils! (so we had to take new sets of utensils every time)

Based on our experiences here, we felt that the service level of this hotel is inconsistent with the other Crowne Plaza we had stayed before and we have had great experiences there and that prompted us to book this hotel.

We would not rate it 5-star as it is acclaimed as one, not even 4-star. We would give it 3.5 star but since we cannot award a 0.5, we will rate it 3....

I am a platinum member in both Priority Club and another major US based hotel chain (which I can't mention due to the writing guideline). That allows me to make an apple-to-apple comparison of the benefit Platinum members receive in this Crown Plaza and other hotel, which is also in the same area of this Crown Plaza. Both of these hotels are only 5 min apart by taxi. Yet the treatment of Platinum members are very different. The other hotel i am comparing to is a lower class hotel than Crown Plaza in general. Yet, the treatment I receive at other hotel is way better than what I received from this Crown Plaza.

1. Free breakfast at VIP lounge and at main dining hall at the other hotel. At this Crown plaza, only free at lounge. Regular charge at the first floor dining hall, even for Platinum member.

2. Free happy hour at both hotels. However, quality and variety of food at the other hotel's lounge is at least 3-4X better than at this Crown Plaza. The other hotel's lounge has salmon, variety of meats and fruits, salad and desserts. You can eat as dinner there, no problem. This Crown Plaza (CP) only has very limited selection and food quality is not good. And you are still hungry afterward.

3. At the other hotel, I was provided a cup of drink and hot towel at the counter during check-in. Nothing at this CP.

4. For Platinum member at the other hotel, I was given a choice of 8-10 items to choose from as free items to be delivered to my room after I check in, including various drinks, hot sandwiches, fruits, ice cream ...etc, all delivered to my room. At this CP, nothing.

I am very disappointed in this Crown Plaza. Besides the substantially lower benefits I received from this CP for being a platinum member, the bathtub in my bathroom has extremely slow drain. 3 min into the shower, the water has filled up to 2-3 inches high in the tub. How can Crown Plaza possibly allow this? When I am done with the shower, the bathtub is half way filled with water. I wanted to take a picture and post it here for all to see. However, I decided not to as I guess nobody wants to see the dirty water in the tub.

Room is too dark at night and does not have enough light. Hard to read book or magazine at night unless you sit in front of the desk lamp.

Overall, I will not stay at this CP again. I will stay at the other hotel where I have stayed most of the times. The only reason I stayed at this CP this time is because the other hotel was booked fully during one of the nights i needed. And since I do not want to check in and check out at a different hotel just for that night, I decided to give this CP a try for 6 nights. And I am very disappointed and regretted that I made the wrong decision. I should have stayed at the other hotel for the 5 night and only 1 night at this CP. And supposedly my room on the 20 some floor is a upgraded and better executive room. But it has a very slow drain?

And worst of all, this Crown Plaza's rate is higher than the other hotel, which is only 5 min away, also a major hotel chain and a...

I stayed two nights there and it already became my most memorable hotel ever given I wasn't even in the room from 7am to almost 12pm on the 2nd day. It was miserable at the arrival at the front door of the hotel. No one care me and my luggage. I did not too mind because thing like this won't affect my schedule. I already asked the front desk if it will be easy to get to the airport in the next morning and they said it will be okay at early 7am. I started to leave my room a bit after 7am the next morning and I was then asked to line up at the front door of the hotel. However the bellboy stood around and no one was signalling for a taxis outside the properties. I then tried to walk outside the building and get taxis and found out the traffic was quite a mess and difficult to get taxis. After several tries within 15 minutes time I wasn't able to get taxis and I went back to the concierge and asked them to book a taxis for me to airport and they said I just need to lineup at the front door. I couldn't see anyone trying to get a taxis outside the building for me and actually none of those bellboy or whoever care there. I found myself again walking outside the building and going crazy for taxis again and I was then able to get one after another 15 minutes or so. I was serious when asking them at the check in the night before and I wasn't able to get taxis initially. More importantly I went there for flight and I couldn't be late. What kind of attitudes are they having with their customers! The reasons I was staying in this hotel were because 1) location, closest IHG outlet from Hongqiao Airport, and 2) I also tried to get a meeting room there. However they did not care after informing them I would be staying there for two nights. Back to my stay in the hotel, I came back to the hotel at around 12am after taking flight back to Shanghai the same day and I was trying to get my dinner from room service. Although I did not really look at the room service menu again, I just called and asked if they had any Hainanese Chicken at that time. Their answer was yes and they also asked me did I need a drink. I just told them I only need the food. However when having my dinner and I found out the portion was terribly small and I recalled the room service menu. THEY NEVER SAID THE PORTION WOULD BE SMALLER FOR THE LATE NIGHT ORDER AND THEY SHALL REMIND ME THAT THE DRINK (POP) WOULD BE FREE AFTER MY INITIAL DECLINE OF ORDERING DRINK!!! I was so hungry as well as so angry when taking the food and after finishing the meal!!! At the checkout next morning I wasn't bother to line up and ask the front desk for any taxis and decided to take subway even with big luggage. Halfway down to the station I saw a couple taxis popping by and I tried to catch them but fell on the floor on the road and hurt my leg!! WHAT AN EXPERIENCE I HAD WITH...