Radisson Blu Hotel Shanghai New World — Hotel in Shanghai

Apologise for the long review, but unfortunately quite a few things happened at this 'hotel'. But I shall start with by far the worst thing which is worth a read if you are considering staying here.

I have to admit I am baffled that this hotel is classed as 5 stars and I was truly shocked with what happened on our last night. Unfortunately my mother was not feeling very well had to go back to the hotel during dinner so I called her a taxi. However, during the taxi ride home she was sick in the car. Shouldn't be an issue, just pay to clean the car. However, the driver was furious and please keep in mind my mum is 70. Once at the hotel she went in for what she thought would be some support. However, the staff were cold and didn't show any real care. Then the real issue occurred, the taxi driver demanded ¥1000 which is about £110. Now at this moment the hotel should have stepped in and said no. Instead they didn't care and allowed my mum to pay. Now to those who don't live in China it would cost about ¥50 to deep clean an entire car, so this driver was simply cheating my mother and the hotel let him do it. When I discovered this had happend I went back to discuss with the night manager. During this discussion he was very rude and actually tried to blame us. He simply did not care, stating we booked the taxi so it was our problem. That night I reported it to the taxi company who agreed the driver had cheated my mum and asked for the CCTV so I could get the money back. The next morning I went down to get this. Now by Chinese law the police need to be called in such a situation, however, once the police arrived the manager was lying to the police about not only what had happened but also why we needed the CCTV. Clearly for some reason he didn't want us getting the footage, makes you think why right? Fortunately my wife speaks Chinese and corrected him so we could get the footage. The hotel was partly saved, as later that day the awful managers shift ended and a new one started who straight away agreed my mother was cheated, apologised and offered a small amount of compensation. Unfortunately though the damage was done.

Before talking about the rest of the problems there were some positives, the room size was very good with a decent bed. The staff apart from the one manager were also friendly (especially the cleaners) and spoke good English.

Now onto the other negative things. Room wise there were several issues, first most of the plugs don't work and actually broke two of our chargers (which aren't cheap), secondly the bath was very small to the point it wasn't worth using, and finally the room was very hot. This was probably the worst thing about the room. They had the heating for the whole building on and you couldn't change the temperature or turn it to AC, all you could do was turn it off which made no difference. This is all to save money. And it meant during winter we had to have all the windows open and a fan on which is just crazy. Hotel needs to use some common sense with this one.

On top of this the parking for the hotel was awful. The worst car park I have ever been to and nearly no spaces. You also have to pay for the parking which not only was quite expensive but something I have never experienced at a hotel in China. Finally, the hotel has no robots, normally when hotels have this they just let the delivery workers take your orders to your room, however this hotel doesn't allow this meaning if you order anything (which is very common in China) you need to go to a collection point outside the lobby. Not the end of the world, but one day my wife was alone with our newborn baby, so I asked the hotel when she orders delivery can they let the person up to the room, to my surprise the answer was no with no offer to try and help. Was deeply unimpressed.

Overall a very disappointing experience and I would actually warn any foreigner to stay away. I do wonder how the hotel is classed as 5 stars, must be easy to...

Our stay at the Radisson Blu was so disappointing that we both made notes but have waited to post the review so that some of the frustration could subside. We’ve stayed at the Radisson multiple times as it’s been our hotel of choice for business and pleasure for many (15+) years. This stay was specifically for business.Upon check-in we were told that our room had no window, even for almost 900 CNY that we paid on Trip. And that payment was only a guarantee. Fine. So, we agreed to pay an additional 100 CNY to have a window.Then, we were also told that we needed to pay (WeChat) 1500 CNY and that would include the cost of the room rate and the deposit. No sincere explanation or apology by the person at the check-in counter, just a lot of uncomfortable laughing and “pay now, pay now.” We felt like we were being cheated even though this was normal policy.To be fair, the room given had an amazing view. We were very satisfied and had begun to think the worst was behind us.We ordered room service that included wonton (dumplings) soup, a classic Caesar salad, and a margherita pizza. The wonton soup was great, but the margherita pizza was barely passable, and the classic Caesar salad was an abomination. Hands down, it was the worst Caesar salad we had ever had. Tiny bacon bits, smelly yellow oil, and old lettuce. We ate two bites and quickly placed it outside in the hallway where it sat until 10:00am the next day. Note: you can only order premium (expensive) bottled water and we were told that they couldn’t give us any more “regular” bottled water even if we said we’d pay for it.At night, the staff at the fitness center acted as if we were disturbing them when we asked basic questions. A total lack of hospitality that should be on display at a 5-star hotel. We really began to dislike our experience at this point because it became quite evident that nobody really cared. To again be fair, however, the male staff who was on duty in the next morning, was sincere and polite. A welcoming contrast from the evening before.But then at brunch, the three young men who were running the egg and omelet station were horribly loud and rude. Like everything was a big joke to them – and it got to the point where we just walked away even after we had tried to order.After brunch, probably the biggest disappointment was that we found out that the Business Center was closed. We had scheduled an important meeting at the hotel and needed to print and prepare some items. We were told that we could only print if we emailed the documents to a hotel email. This was not going to happen so we created a little fuss and a polite manager suddenly appeared and handled everything. That was nice. But the damage was done.After this situation, we made the decision that this would be our last time staying at the Radisson.Lastly, after more than 24 hours, the guarantee was only refunded after we called and spoke to a customer service representative at Trip who was...

Stayed in the family suite and had the best views of Shanghai. Hotel is centrally located, we got there from Hongqiao station and paid about 88yuan by normal taxi. Check in was ok - spoke English but felt they did not understand when I said that their check out states 12 but the room I booked had checkout at 2. They said I had to come back on the last night to ask for it again. Odd as this has never been the case especially where I have the booking confirmation for 2pm late checkout.Housekeeping staff as I’ve found in China are utterly polite and professional. Lots of attention to detail. The suite itself although looked like it could do with a bit of an modernisation was kept in great condition. Very clean. Complimentary water was provided on a daily basis. Each room has own mini bar as well.Room amenities include slippers, bathrobes, shower gel, shampoo, bath salts. Toothbrushes are offered at check in if you wanted it. Kettles in bedrooms rather than having one in the kitchen for a suite which was odd. Tea and coffee provided.iron board and irons also provided in each bedroom which was great. Kitchen has a fridge freezer, microwave and plates, cups, utensils for eating with. Did find it odd that they did not provide complimentary dish soap so was difficult to clean with just water. Hotel beds are very comfortable and large enough to fit 3 children.Hotel is joined next to a mall which you can walk into without having to go outside which was a bonus.There is a city sightseeing bus right opposite the hotel.The bund is about 15 mins walk away - you are centrally located among lots of shopping malls, stalls. Station is also opposite hotel. Partner went to rooftop bar which offered fantastic views. Swimming pool was good for the children as well. Concierge were amazing and I felt that their English was far better than when we were checked in. They were also very warm and friendly- also very helpful in offering to book us a taxi for the 5 of us to the airport. Otherwise we would have had to take two separate taxis. Their level of customer service was far superior to when we were checking in and I hope that the hotel recognise their contribution and exceptional customer service to guests. They were also much more engaging. Unfortunately I was not able to get the three names of the three concierge men but wishing them a very successful future in...