Mercure Shanghai Hongqiao SOHO — Hotel in Shanghai

This Mercure hotel exceeded our expectation in many ways. It is a new hotel, and so, it is designed with customers' needs as a focal point. I don't think the hotel expects itself to be THAT busy, and that the size of the Front Office is not big enough to cater for the large droves of people congregating around the area. It is rather comical to witness Front Office staff clambering over one another attending to the needs of the guests. Once you have overcome the first hurdle, the rest is a breeze. The fact that the hotel is tucked away from the road itself, and that it is only seven floor in height, the hotel feels expansive and inviting. Interior designer of the hotel needs to be commended for its clever usage of neutral but earthy palette to make the place looks contemporary and yet, familiar at the same time. The same can be said of its furniture piece too. The same theme continues on into the hotel room. It is all high-tech with all the lighting, entertainment system are all linked up to the AI attendant by the name of Xiao Du (Chinese version of Amazon's Alexia). Whenever you want to listen to music, checking for today's weather, where to have the best restaurant for certain dishes, and even when you are bored and wanting to listen to a one liner joke, Xiao Du is there to serve you. Location wise, this hotel is five minutes walk away from the latest subway station and it's within twenty minutes ride away from Shanghai Central. This hotel is almost there in reaching the 5 stars but the let downs are: the gym that is done hotch potch. There are no towels in there, no disinfectant to spray against the floor mats, gym equipment is incomplete, no mirror but only LCD panels that are not turned on, and it's truly a joke. Gym truly needs a serious think through. Supplies in the room such as coffee, tea, soaps provided in the rooms are very minimal (stingy) and that needs improvement too. Door attendants need further training with their customer service skills. Quite a number of them were unsure if they should help us out or not in carrying heavy stuff, or even hailing cabs for us in the evening. They even asked us why have we not used smartphone app to do that ourselves (seriously?!), and some of them pushed themselves into the lift when logic dictated that we should be let out first so that they could go up the lift (very bizarre). Apart from that, this hotel is truly an oasis to take a respite from the hustle bustle of Shanghai. Highly recommended. One other thing, you should take note of the robots used in the hotel that do...

Both me and my wife were traveling to Shanghai in September 2019. We both stayed in Mercure Shanghai Hongqiao Soho for 8 nights from Sept. 513, 2019 - it was my 2nd stay (the 1st stay took place exactly a year before). It was pretty nice to be back and stayed in the same hotel property. ||||This time, we both arrived in the hotel property after 9:00 am (local time) after our flights landed in Shanghai Pudong International Airport earlier that morning (we took different flights). From PVG, we took the underground train (Green line/Line 2) and got off at Song Hong Road station and took exit 5 towards the hotel.||||I noticed that check-in process was easy and faster than the one I experienced in Sept. 2018. Overall, the check-in experience was far better compare to the one I had a year before. In less than 15 minutes, both me and my wife entered our room which was located in 7th Fl. (Room # 7230). ||||Our room was clean, spacious and well maintained. Everything worked perfectly and we were happy since we had a flawless stay. We also had daily breakfast during our stay - although they only served western and chinese style breakfast, they were good enough for us and they were of good quality. ||||We both went for breakfast after 8:30 am where the breakfast area would be much quieter. We avoided having breakfast between 7:008:30 am during our stay since the breakfast area would be jam packed with hotel guests. It was very crowded, noisy plus we couldn't find any empty table. ||||Overall, this was really an excellent stay. For this reason, I personally give them a 4 stars' rating for the overall experience (better than I had in 2018 - they made quite a positive progress in improving their performance). I supposed to travel to Shanghai and stay in this hotel again in September 2020 but I had to cancel my trip due to Covid-19. However, I am still looking forward to staying back in this hotel once China opens up their...

I recently stayed at Hotel Mercure Hongqiao Shanghai from March 31st to April 3rd and unfortunately, my experience was far from satisfactory. Despite reading negative reviews beforehand, I decided to give it a chance, only to realize that some criticisms were indeed valid.

The most glaring issue was with the air-conditioning system. Numerous guests had warned about its inefficiency, and I experienced it firsthand. Instead of providing relief, the air-con only circulated warm air, making it incredibly uncomfortable to sleep at night. Upon complaining to the front desk, we were merely offered a fan as a solution, indicating that this was a recurring problem within the hotel.

Adding to the disappointment was the average quality of the breakfast. While edible, it lacked variety and flavor, hardly justifying its regular price. However, I found that joining their membership for a 50% discount on breakfast made it somewhat more reasonable.

On a positive note, the hotel's proximity to Songhong MRT Line 2 was convenient, with just a short 5-minute walk of around 300 meters. This accessibility to Line 2, which connects to many attractions, was perhaps the sole redeeming factor of our stay.

One thing to be aware of is that if you're planning to use a private hire car service like Didi, the hotel might appear under the name "Shanghai Xiecheng Meiju Hotel," causing potential confusion for travelers.

In conclusion, my stay at Hotel Mercure Hongqiao Shanghai left much to be desired. Despite its convenient location near public transportation, the recurring issues with the air-conditioning and lackluster breakfast experience overshadowed any positives. I would advise potential guests to take negative reviews seriously and consider alternatives for a more...