The Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai — Hotel in Shanghai

As a Titanium Elite Marriott member, I stay exclusively at Marriott properties for business and leisure travel from 75-100 nights per year. Marriott has consistently taken good care of me. As a Titanium member, I receive free category room upgrades, free breakfast and executive lounge access. These are standard at the Elite loyalty level and one of the reasons I am loyal to Marriott. Upon arrival at the Portman, (which is a participating member of the Marriott Bonvoy program) we were given the keys to our room. When we opened the door to our room, we discovered that the room was already occupied. The current occupant was understandably upset and angry and got out of bed to approach us. I closed the door quickly to avoid confrontation. We returned to the front desk and were given a new room with an upgrade. They were apologetic, but a mistake of this magnitude compromised our safety and the safety of the other guest. This is a HUGE RED FLAG. We wondered how often this happened and were concerned. Additionally, the upgrade should have been provided anyways due to my status. The room is nice. It’s nothing special. The view however is beautiful. The hotel is dated in some ways and the public areas need updating. The pool and spa area are not enticing. Due to the safety breach, they also advised that we would receive complimentary breakfast, which again should be included due to my Titanium status. After breakfast, they asked us to come to the front desk again because they had forgotten to get my credit card information at check in. At this point, as a business owner, I begin to wonder how many other guests experience these same problems at this property. Many service details are overlooked and while there are many staff, it is disorganized. Back to breakfast: They made a big deal about giving the breakfast, which should be given to guests at the highest level of Marriott Bonvoy loyalty. Free breakfast is a standard benefit for Marriott Elite loyalty members. It doesn’t seem to matter here. The next evening, when we wanted to use the executive lounge, we were advised that it was not included in our suite amenities. Again…WOW. Considering our check in debacle, you’d think that this would be an easy amenity to offer to satisfy a top tier loyalty guest. But no. Another Elite benefit denied here. The manager also invited us to drinks at the hotel bar, but this courtesy was also forgotten. We hear a great number of apologies, but the apologies do not produce tangible benefits to compensate sufficiently for the incredible safety risk that the hotel subjected us to. Imagine if the guest was a single woman, who had her door opened by a stranger in the middle of the night. What a terrifying experience. Certainly not something that should happen at a five star hotel. (Please use your deadbolt and additional safety latch whenever you stay at a hotel to avoid this happening to you.) We have been very disappointed with our stay. While the breakfast is good and the hotel gym is adequate, this property leaves much to be desired in safety and guest service. We are considering moving to a different hotel for the remainder of our stay unless management makes significant accommodations to compensate us for the epic safety oversight at check in. It’s terrible when guests feel the need to write reviews like this about a five star hotel property instead of enjoying their vacation.

Update: I changed my review from one star to four stars based on management feedback and improvements made during our stay. The managers took every effort to provide us with upgraded amenities and even gave us a food credit and two comp massages which as a lovely and thoughtful gesture. The staff showed genuine appreciation for our business and wanted our stay to be memorable. The hotel still has some work to do, but they showed commitment to improving, which is...

Booked one night for my parents urgently since their community was under emergency quarantine. As titanium member, room was upgraded and showed has club lounge access on the confirmation page. The front desk told my parents since they don’t have reservation they were not able to get access to the breakfast at lounge. That understandable, so I contacted customer service through Marriott app to see if they can make another reservation before morning time. The customer service told me Ritz China don’t offer any lounge access to member even it shows we get lounge access on confirmation page. If that the rule specifically in China, I can totally accept that. However, the customer service on the app told me that when my parents checked in, they were asked to sign a paper work that stated they won’t have any access to the club lounge or any breakfast. This story totally conflicted with what the front desk told my parents! What a joke! As a professional customer service that working at a brand like Marriott should at least tell the same story and truth to their customers no matter what membership level right? Another complain is that my parents don’t speak fluent English and they told me it was hard to communicate with front desk so they asked me a favor to help them to communicate with customer service, so I used English to communicate with them thru Marriott app since my residency is not in China. After several chats back and forth with them, they offered free breakfast to my parents. Just because of my parents don’t speak English, they don’t deserve to get service and treated fairly from a 5 star hotel? This is racist and I take this very seriously, will submit a claim and report to Marriott. My parents always took me to stay at this hotel as staycation when I was a kid, I had really great experience there. This hotel is close to my parents house, and the hotel USED TO have great customer services. These are the reasons why I still choose to book here for them this time. What a huge disappointment! As a titanium membership for many years, I always choose to stay at Marriott hotel no matter if it’s a business trip or just for leisure. I stayed many Ritz around world and this is the worst one! Not going to stay at this hotel when I back and not recommend here to anyone who just need a quick stay. If you want to do business in China, please require your employees at least show some respect to your customers who don’t...

Utterly disappointed. We stayed at Marriott properties across the Shanghai and Hangzhou areas for 2 full weeks including - Westin, Le Meridien, JW Marriott, Sheraton, and this Portman Ritz. We paid far less for full suites across each of the other properties and paid much more for a deluxe room (not a suite) at the Ritz, hoping at least the Ritz would be of similar or better quality in Shanghai. We could not be more wrong - it was by far the worst in terms of value, service, and comfort.

Room - small and cramped. Sink counter area so small it could barely fit any toiletries. Ceilings throughout the building including the room extremely low adding to the sense of being cramped. I had Toto appliances including automatic toilets and at minimum rainfall showers in the alternative hotels, while this was just a handheld with manual everything.

Service - I requested the service lady outside my room simply for a blanket, she pointed out there was a thin one in the closet, I mentioned I would like to request another one that is thicker, she refused and said one per the room. I immediately went and called concierge and requested the blanket. They sent her back with the blanket this time (obviously proving there is no such one blanket policy - while she delivered it, we got a nasty attitude from her with a remark saying “oh so you still went and requested this again”). If this is how a Ritz greets me upon arriving at my room, then the Ritz is overpriced garbage. The service from every other property we stayed in was far better.

We headed up to the VIP lounge to get a quick snack and drink. When we arrived, they offered us a choice of beverages. I ordered a chrysanthemum tea, my wife ordered a green tea, and my son wanted a juice. They delivered a green tea and juice and basically had amnesia about my tea. I ended up drinking whatever was left from my wife and kid. This all occurred within the first 30 mins of checking in. Meanwhile this was the only hotel that adds an automatic percentage based service charge on top of the hotel bill.

In summary, Far more expensive Much smaller antiquated room Terrible service

You will get much more luxury, comfort, service, and value from any other alternative. Ritz is just an old fancy brand name that does not live up to the hype at all, and this hotel wants to get away with it by charging you more and...