Hengshan Moller Villa Hotel Shanghai — Hotel in Shanghai

Having lived in Shanghai’s French Concession for several years and traveling back regularly, we try and check out neighborhood hotels. I always had a feeling the Moller Villa was in the category of places that were interesting from the outside but likely underwhelming….so we’d always held off here…and it turned out we were right. From the unfriendly guards at the gate (if it’s raining, I don’t have an umbrella, and I’m carrying luggage - do you really need to stop me to confirm my reservation before letting me walk into the grounds?), the experience just started out on the wrong foot, and continued that way each time we came back to the hotel. We had booked a base category room on the second floor; while the hotel seemed reasonably busy there was a clear musty odor. The room was decorated in a prewar classical style as you’d expect from the building, but in a bit more of a fuddy-duddy great aunt’s old furniture sort of way than particularly elegant. And this was in the new wing built on back of the old part - so not particularly notable. It also was relatively small (even for central Shanghai) and the bed linens seemed cheap and somewhat scratchy. Breakfast for me was probably the kicker - it was served in the restaurant area and quite packed already at a fairly early hour with all sorts of tourists to Shanghai; between the cold food on the sad looking buffet and coffee that was absolutely undrinkable, we actually gave up and left.||Shanghai is full of similarly located historic hotels, often even at similar price points, that are in better shape and more welcoming than this - my personal favorite is always the Donghu hotel (with even more interesting of surroundings); Fengyang Garden hotel also nice. For a even smaller room without the history inside but a cool courtyard location the Manxin Huaihai is a Chinese chain-branded experience. Moller is great to look at once...

Having lived in Shanghai’s French Concession for several years and traveling back regularly, we try and check out neighborhood hotels. I always had a feeling the Moller Villa was in the category of places that were interesting from the outside but likely underwhelming….so we’d always held off here…and it turned out we were right. From the unfriendly guards at the gate (if it’s raining, I don’t have an umbrella, and I’m carrying luggage - do you really need to stop me to confirm my reservation before letting me walk into the grounds?), the experience just started out on the wrong foot, and continued that way each time we came back to the hotel. We had booked a base category room on the second floor; while the hotel seemed reasonably busy there was a clear musty odor. The room was decorated in a prewar classical style as you’d expect from the building, but in a bit more of a fuddy-duddy great aunt’s old furniture sort of way than particularly elegant. And this was in the new wing built on back of the old part - so not particularly notable. It also was relatively small (even for central Shanghai) and the bed linens seemed cheap and somewhat scratchy. Breakfast for me was probably the kicker - it was served in the restaurant area and quite packed already at a fairly early hour with all sorts of tourists to Shanghai; between the cold food on the sad looking buffet and coffee that was absolutely undrinkable, we actually gave up and left.||Shanghai is full of similarly located historic hotels, often even at similar price points, that are in better shape and more welcoming than this - my personal favorite is always the Donghu hotel (with even more interesting of surroundings); Fengyang Garden hotel also nice. For a even smaller room without the history inside but a cool courtyard location the Manxin Huaihai is a Chinese chain-branded experience. Moller is great to look at once...

We visited for lunch on a Tuesday. We were welcomed by friendly gate staff and directed to the proper building. Lunch staff was attentive, courteous, and pleasant. We ordered a beef dish, steamed green vegetable, noodles, and braised chicken. All dishes were hot, served promptly, and tasted very good. Tea and water were routinely filled without asking. Servers kindly offered me a fork and plenty of serving utensils were provided for the dishes we ordered. Our experience was pleasant. Maybe due to minimal tables booked during our visit or maybe we had a good staff day. ||Expect a small percentage of gratuity to be added to bill, which was told to us at the time reservation was made. This did not bother us, but we appreciated being told at the time our reservation was made vs upon arrival.||In regards to the property, it is worth visiting. Less expensive to go for a meal vs staying the night. The story is interesting, albeit some lore I suspect goes into the story. The architecture was creative as was the design and design details. For me a little over the top, like Alice in Wonderland hit the brew pub with all the woodworkers in China; however, creativity can be the spice of life. None-the-less, I can and do very much appreciate all the hard-work, dedication, and love that went into the assembly. ||Restrooms were clean and fully stocked.||Photos: at night best view from the upper level walk way near ring road for during the day, try a lower sunshine day as it will help explore the intricate details.||Easily accessible by car and Motor so you can walk by the gate one day when out and about.||Note: this property may be a little challenging for persons with walking difficulties.||Nice note: this very interesting property is kept as free of wandering visitors out of consideration for the hotel guests and condition...