Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong — Hotel in Shanghai

The hotel looks good from the outside and even in the lobby. It is convenient. It has a subway, convenience stores, a Costa Coffee and even the large Century Mart a few blocks away. But it charges almost as much as the nearby Intercontinental. And, even though it is only 10 years old, its systems are failing. The most serious is the heating and cooling. I was given a room that showed 25C on the thermostat. Adjusting the temperature to 22, then 20 and 18 got no change. Turning the system off resulted in it showing 25.5 a few hours later. When I asked at the front desk if they could fix it, there immediate response was, “Do you want to change your room?” I asked if other rooms were cooler. I was surprised they said yes. So they moved me to a room that felt cool on entrance – then downright cold soon after. It was 19 when I checked in and quickly became 17. It was late and I was exhausted, so I doubled up the comforter and put on a couple layers of clothes and tried to sleep. My exposed nose was freezing, my ears lost feeling, and I was lucky I didn’t catch pneumonia. So, from 25.5, I moved to a room that was 17. If the HVAC could heat to 25 and not cool, why couldn’t it warm up my room from 17 to 22? Apparently it can’t. I asked the front desk if there was a room that could maintain 21 or 22. I was assured there was and was taken to two rooms. Both showed thermostats at 21 or 22, but the air coming through the vents was freezing. I finally was told that there was a room at 22 with no cold air. I moved to the room, but the temperature rose to 25. Almost full circle. But I finally decided too hot was better than too cold. What an odd heating and cooling system.

If you want to wash your face with warm water or start a warm shower quickly, you’ll be disappointed. The run takes forever to go from freezing cold to lukewarm. Incidentally, whoever designed the step-in shower apparently never had parents or a bad knee. The tub/shower combo requires a high, awkward step to get in, and somehow avoid a triangle small bump in the corner that you have to step around. And then, as with the sink, getting hot water takes forever.

In a funny economy, the hotel provides only one bar of soap, so you need to carry your soap into and remember to take it out of the awkward shower. Oh, and they never did successfully address the smell of sewer gas, mold or mildew in any of the 3 bathrooms. When I asked the front desk if they could fix it, their repeated and immediate response was “Do you want to change room?” No, I want you to fix it – but apparently you can’t.

There were other indignities, time-wasters and frustrations, but I am alerting you to my primary experiences. Apparently other people have better experiences, or the hotel wouldn’t still be in business. But I would be cautious about staying...

I have stayed in this hotel probably 30 nights over the past 4 years. I like it due to its good location (convenient to the Museum of Science and Technology metro stop underground market) and easy walking distance to two different metro lines. Line 2 at Century Avenue is about a 10 minute walk or 2-minute taxi ride. that line goes all the way to the Hongqiao Airport or train station. It's much more convenient than taking a taxi. Excellent facilities: Gym, indoor pool, restaurants, breakfast buffet, bar, room decor. If you get an upgrade with access to the executive lounge on the 15th floor, a nice breakfast is also available there. If you want an omelet or cooked-to-order eggs in the executive lounge, just ask...they don't always offer unless you ask. Flanagan's bar has the ubiquitous Filipino cover band playing most evenings. They are usually pretty good, and always amusing. Sometimes there is a good crowd, but other times it's pretty dead. The food is even pretty good for bar food. Now to my pet peeve about this hotel. If you stay there in the cooler months, they have the air conditioning disabled. Air will blow, but it's warm air. The room temperature display will show 25+ degrees C and will even go up during the night if you leave the air conditioning on! The windows don't open, so there is no way to cool the room. I've had heated arguments with the manager, and get only excuses. He will only explain that the air conditioning is shut off because it is not needed. And this is a hotel where I stay so often that they recognize me when I arrive! I've decided that the only solution is to not stay at this hotel during the winter months. If you read other reviews here and on TripAdvisor, you'll see the same complaints from other visitors. I tried to tell the manager that they could adjust the system to bring in outside air during the evening and it would at least blow cool(er) air into the rooms. It's completely crazy to have to sleep in a hot room when it's 5 or 10 degrees C outside! And it's even more frustrating because we're paying premium prices for a western brand of hotel and the room is too hot! I've stayed in much cheaper local-brand hotels in Shanghai, and the air conditioning worked in the rooms! It's been explained to me that government policies force large hotels like this one to limit their electricity usage or pay surcharges. So it's clear to me that they are just pinching pennies because they know that they can stay full anyway with western guests just based on...

I have just returned from a trip to Shanghai and stayed for 6 nights at the Holiday Inn Shanghai Pudong. I had a great experience at this hotel which is conveniently located to 3 metro stops (5 mins to 2 pudian road lines and short walk to century avenue).||||I had an excellent stay at this hotel. The hotel lobby is decorated to a high standard and so are the rooms. I stayed on the 17th floor. As far as Holiday Inns go, this appeared to be on the high end and felt like a luxury hotel and so was excellent value for money. Check in was very simple and I was greeted as being a member of IHG reward club and offered free drinks in the bar next door. The hotel has a lot of amenities such as swimming pool, spa, gym etc. I did not use any of these as I was too busy shopping in Shanghai but it was a great addition to have them. ||||The rooms were very spacious, they were cleaned daily, water provided and the beds were comfy. The bathroom does look out into the bedroom but there is a blind which can be closed for privacy. It suited everything I needed. The rooms also have free wifi which was great and high speed. ||||I also had breakfast at the hotel which was a great variety of western and asian food. The staff in the buffet breakfast were very friendly and helpful. Special shout out to the waitress Tina who worked so hard to ensure our stay and breakfast experience was perfect. The food was good quality, no complaints.||||The location of the hotel was great, it is in the heart of Pudong district and only took 10-20 minutes by subway to all the attractions I wanted to go to in Shanghai. There a lot of local restaurants round the hotel and a large century mart supermarket 5 minutes away. ||||The MTR is nearby with 2 lines at Pudian Road, a 8 minute walk. Alternatively you can walk 10 minutes up the street to Century Avenue which has a lot of lines so it is not necessary to change there if you walk directly to this station. I got the maglev and subway to the hotel and it took roughly 30 minutes. ||||Overall I highly recommend this hotel, especially as it was my first time in Shanghai, it was everything I needed for...