Manhattan Business Hotel — Hotel in Shanghai

A friend and I stayed at this hotel for two nights in early July. It is located in the Bund-a very central area in Shanghai. It's 10-15 minutes away from the subway station (Nanjingdonglu) and is safe to walk back to at night. It's just in a little street around the corner from the famous Peace (Fairmont) Hotel (my dad told me that the insides are amazing and it's very historical-from the 1920s...too bad I didn't realize it and never went inside while I was there!)||||We arrived in Shanghai early in the morning on a Thursday night, and the hotel front desk person called Chen Bin Bin (陳彬彬) warmly welcomed us. We immediately asked about day tours to go to Suzhou and Hangzhou because we didn't have much time to lose over that weekend. Mr. Chen recommended the best ones, and they each departed at 6am. Because we were so exhausted, he made sure to give us a morning call each morning, because we would only literally have one to two hours of sleep before getting up to go sightseeing. He called the tour bus driver to make sure he was coming at a certain time. He also told us to take our time and not rush. He also pointed out where to grab breakfast--at a corner store just one block down, because we obviously needed to eat before going on a long day tour.||||The first day, we were going to Hangzhou. The bus driver that was going to come pick us up was late, and Mr. Chen repeatedly called him to ask him where he was. He also chatted with us while we waited in front of the hotel. He would apologize repeatedly because of the driver's tardiness, to which I responded "it's okay" a million times. He asked me and my friend where we're from, and I told him he looked like Jay Chou, a Taiwanese singer. ||||When we came back from Hangzhou that night, I asked the front desk if we could cancel the Suzhou trip because we wanted to have enough time to walk around Shanghai and the Bund the night of the Suzhou trip--but we realized that each day tour takes up almost an entire day, and taking the tourist bus to come back to Shanghai often takes two hours and is a waste of time because taking the train on our own would only take about 20 minutes (from Suzhou). The front desk person asked Mr. Chen to come down. He then told me that unfortunately we couldn't cancel the tour package, because we had already signed up for it and it was already free. I didn't want to give him a hard time so went with it. And before I headed back upstairs, he was curious to see what I had bought from Hangzhou--some silk scarves and he looked at them to check if they were actually real because he said his dad knows a lot about silk scarves. All I'm trying to say is that he really made us feel welcomed and catered to our needs very well. ||||So as I said, the package for Suzhou was free, and we only had to pay for food, because the government sponsors the tour. But apparently, not all tourists paid the same price or got the same deal because some others signed up with different companies/hotels. So the tour guide had to collect money on the bus at some point for certain attractions. There was an extra 60RMB for either a boat ride/garden tour (I forgot what) and the tour guide said everyone had to pay. I called Mr. Chen from the hotel and told him that the tour guide was making me pay extra when he already told me there wouldn't be any. So Mr. Chen called the tour guide's boss to let him know that the tour guide should not be asking me for an extra 60 RMB. ||||When the tour guide came down to collect money, I told the her that we had already paid for the whole package and was told that there would be no extra and the tour guide started yelling at me, saying that I was giving her a hard time. So I quoted Mr. Chen and told her that even her boss knows I didn't have to pay extra. She then asked me my number (to identify tourists on her list) and realized I was right, so said, "okay" and then went on to the next tourist. [She was definitely not a nice tour guide.] And even though I was mad that she was giving me attitude, I was glad that Mr. Chen took care of everything, even from long distance and reassured me that he would "keep his word" (about the price of the package). ||||Now about the hotel room. It looks very classic- like typical Shanghai interior designs. It has an antique phone--those that you have to pick up the receiver and dial the numbers on them. The only thing that freaked us out was that once we got into the room, the TV would go on and this reality show started playing and that really scared us because we got to Shanghai super tired and exhausted and it was 3 am, so we thought someone was talking loud in our room when we saw nobody--until we saw the TV was on. ||||The room isn't the biggest, but for the price, it was adequate. The washroom was clean, although a bit small and had little space to put stuff. The beds were comfortable and the whole neighbourhood was pretty quiet. The only thing about Shanghai is that it gets really humid, so even sleeping at night, you feel the humidity. The wifi was also not the best--many times we couldn't connect but we needed to Baidu map (it's the Chinese version of Google since Google is banned) to go places. My friend said wifi worked better in the lobby. ||||Before leaving Shanghai, we wanted to tour around the city but our flight was only at 8pm. So we asked to leave our luggage with the hotel, and they were able to take care of that. I wanted to say bye to Mr. Chen before we left but he wasn't on his shift anymore. But if the manager of the hotel sees this review, please do give Mr. Chen a promotion or something--he provided excellent service and he really deserves praise for his performance. ||||我們在這家旅館，受到非常好的招待。櫃檯的陳彬彬先生在我們凌晨3點到達的時候，幫我們訂了蘇杭兩個城市的一天遊（各一天）。...

A friend and I stayed at this hotel for two nights in early July. It is located in the Bund-a very central area in Shanghai. It's 10-15 minutes away from the subway station (Nanjingdonglu) and is safe to walk back to at night. It's just in a little street around the corner from the famous Peace (Fairmont) Hotel (my dad told me that the insides are amazing and it's very historical-from the 1920s...too bad I didn't realize it and never went inside while I was there!)||||We arrived in Shanghai early in the morning on a Thursday night, and the hotel front desk person called Chen Bin Bin (陳彬彬) warmly welcomed us. We immediately asked about day tours to go to Suzhou and Hangzhou because we didn't have much time to lose over that weekend. Mr. Chen recommended the best ones, and they each departed at 6am. Because we were so exhausted, he made sure to give us a morning call each morning, because we would only literally have one to two hours of sleep before getting up to go sightseeing. He called the tour bus driver to make sure he was coming at a certain time. He also told us to take our time and not rush. He also pointed out where to grab breakfast--at a corner store just one block down, because we obviously needed to eat before going on a long day tour.||||The first day, we were going to Hangzhou. The bus driver that was going to come pick us up was late, and Mr. Chen repeatedly called him to ask him where he was. He also chatted with us while we waited in front of the hotel. He would apologize repeatedly because of the driver's tardiness, to which I responded "it's okay" a million times. He asked me and my friend where we're from, and I told him he looked like Jay Chou, a Taiwanese singer. ||||When we came back from Hangzhou that night, I asked the front desk if we could cancel the Suzhou trip because we wanted to have enough time to walk around Shanghai and the Bund the night of the Suzhou trip--but we realized that each day tour takes up almost an entire day, and taking the tourist bus to come back to Shanghai often takes two hours and is a waste of time because taking the train on our own would only take about 20 minutes (from Suzhou). The front desk person asked Mr. Chen to come down. He then told me that unfortunately we couldn't cancel the tour package, because we had already signed up for it and it was already free. I didn't want to give him a hard time so went with it. And before I headed back upstairs, he was curious to see what I had bought from Hangzhou--some silk scarves and he looked at them to check if they were actually real because he said his dad knows a lot about silk scarves. All I'm trying to say is that he really made us feel welcomed and catered to our needs very well. ||||So as I said, the package for Suzhou was free, and we only had to pay for food, because the government sponsors the tour. But apparently, not all tourists paid the same price or got the same deal because some others signed up with different companies/hotels. So the tour guide had to collect money on the bus at some point for certain attractions. There was an extra 60RMB for either a boat ride/garden tour (I forgot what) and the tour guide said everyone had to pay. I called Mr. Chen from the hotel and told him that the tour guide was making me pay extra when he already told me there wouldn't be any. So Mr. Chen called the tour guide's boss to let him know that the tour guide should not be asking me for an extra 60 RMB. ||||When the tour guide came down to collect money, I told the her that we had already paid for the whole package and was told that there would be no extra and the tour guide started yelling at me, saying that I was giving her a hard time. So I quoted Mr. Chen and told her that even her boss knows I didn't have to pay extra. She then asked me my number (to identify tourists on her list) and realized I was right, so said, "okay" and then went on to the next tourist. [She was definitely not a nice tour guide.] And even though I was mad that she was giving me attitude, I was glad that Mr. Chen took care of everything, even from long distance and reassured me that he would "keep his word" (about the price of the package). ||||Now about the hotel room. It looks very classic- like typical Shanghai interior designs. It has an antique phone--those that you have to pick up the receiver and dial the numbers on them. The only thing that freaked us out was that once we got into the room, the TV would go on and this reality show started playing and that really scared us because we got to Shanghai super tired and exhausted and it was 3 am, so we thought someone was talking loud in our room when we saw nobody--until we saw the TV was on. ||||The room isn't the biggest, but for the price, it was adequate. The washroom was clean, although a bit small and had little space to put stuff. The beds were comfortable and the whole neighbourhood was pretty quiet. The only thing about Shanghai is that it gets really humid, so even sleeping at night, you feel the humidity. The wifi was also not the best--many times we couldn't connect but we needed to Baidu map (it's the Chinese version of Google since Google is banned) to go places. My friend said wifi worked better in the lobby. ||||Before leaving Shanghai, we wanted to tour around the city but our flight was only at 8pm. So we asked to leave our luggage with the hotel, and they were able to take care of that. I wanted to say bye to Mr. Chen before we left but he wasn't on his shift anymore. But if the manager of the hotel sees this review, please do give Mr. Chen a promotion or something--he provided excellent service and he really deserves praise for his performance. ||||我們在這家旅館，受到非常好的招待。櫃檯的陳彬彬先生在我們凌晨3點到達的時候，幫我們訂了蘇杭兩個城市的一天遊（各一天）。...

I booked a room (at extra cost) that was described as having a window. When I checked into my room the "window" was glazed over and sealed shut. It didn't even look like a window; it looked like a large yellow glazed glass and all that was discernible through it was if it was day or night. I went down to the front desk and asked if I could have a room with a "real" window and I was politely told that because the building is 100 years old, and re-purposed as a hotel, all the "windows" looked onto the lobby and were therefore replaced with a sheet of glazed glass and there were no rooms with what anyone would consider a window. There was a typhoon coming and I wasn't going to be stuck in that room, so I checked out the next day and checked into another hotel. For about $10 more a night I have a room that is 5x larger, has a king sized bed, and it has a giant window with a gorgeous view of the Bund. The rooms at the Manhattan Bund Business are tiny and the bathrooms are evens smaller. The location is good as is the buffet breakfast which was included in my price. Front desk staff are nice enough,and didn't give me a hard time about leaving, but I would never go back. Even if I don't have a view, I have to, at least, be able to see what the weather is doing. In addition, the wifi is iffy and the plugs are not...