Mad About Shanghai

Pictures of Sofitel Shanghai Hyland

Another hotel for you to consider if you are looking for hotels in Shanghai.

 

 

Pictures courtesy of Sofitel Shanghai Hyland

Shanghai Hotel Review : Imagine Garden Hotel

If you are transiting in Shanghai for a day or two before heading to other parts of China and looking for a hotel near the airport, try this hotel,

Imagine Garden Hotel
No.469 Jinhui Road, Minhang District
Shanghai 201103, China

Tel : 8621-61265888

The hotel is only 15 mins away from Hong Qiao Airport and very new (about a year old). The rooms are spacious and come with free internet. There is a host of restaurants and convenient stores just a stone's throw away. Anytime better an airport hotel. There is a big leather goods market just beside the hotel too.

Prices starts from RMB280.

The New Peace Hotel

Paying homage to its original Art Deco heritage, The Peace Hotel Shanghai, managed by Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will once again lay claim to its long-standing status as China’s most iconic hotel and premier social destination when it unveils the culmination of its restoration programme in 2010.

The newly revitalised Fairmont Peace Hotel Shanghai will offer approximately 269 deluxe guestrooms and suites with a selection of eight restaurants and lounges. Included among these is the much-loved Jazz Bar, a Shanghai institution since the 1930s. In addition, a lobby lounge on the ground floor, a mezzanine-level sushi, wine and cigar bar as well as a heritage Chinese restaurant on the 8th floor and the Peace Grill Restaurants on the 9th floor will offer a new level of elegance and comfort befitting of today’s discerning travellers. The 9th floor will also host the famed Peace Hall, where the property’s iconic sprung-wooden dance floor still evokes memories of old Shanghai cabarets and gala parties.

Responsible for the entire renovation of the property formerly referred to as the ‘Premier Hotel of the Far East’ is the internationally acclaimed design firm, Hirsch Bedner Associates. Now in the final design stages, the Fairmont Peace Hotel is being brought back to life and transformed into an ultra-luxurious global icon for the 21st century.

A low-rise extension has been added to the rear of the hotel, housing guestrooms as well as a sky-lit swimming pool and spa. The famous ‘Nine Nations Suites’ will remain a feature of the new hotel; four of these (Indian, English, Chinese and American) will be preserved from the old Peace Hotel, while the French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and German suites will be redesigned in keeping with their original concepts. A presidential suite will occupy the 10th floor penthouse where the hotel’s flamboyant creator and former owner, Victor Sassoon, once lived.

In addition to the renovation of many elements of the building, which remain true to its historical integrity, the hotel will ensure a timeless reinterpretation of its glamorous 1920s and 1930s heyday, enabling it to sit alongside Fairmont’s impressive list of heritage hotels worldwide which include The Savoy, London and The Plaza, New York.

Please visit www.fairmont.com for further updates on the restoration.

Sneak preview:

Park Hyatt Hotel, Shanghai

Park Hyatt Shanghai is one of the newest and swankiest hotel in Shanghai. Occupying the 79th to 93rd floors of the 492m Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC), it also have the distinction of being the highest hotel in the world.  The interior decor is clinical, minimalistic and yet elegant.

For a top of the world feeling, one can always visit the observatory at the 100th floor of the building for a truly skyhigh experience.

I have two good friends working in this exact hotel.

Heres the pics that one of them took during the pre-opening some time back:

Check out the official site here.

Best New Hotel in Shanghai

According to Asiaone's list of top ten new hotels, one of them is found in Shanghai.

Its the JIA Hotel found in 931 West Nanjing Road. So, if you are from out of town and fancy trying a new boutique hotel in Shanghai. You can try this.

Prices starts from US$265. More details here.

Fay's Rooms

I received quite a number of mails from our readers  asking about homestays or short term rentals in Shanghai. For a while, I havent been able to recommend anything proper or anyone I know providing homestays.

Well, I found one now. Check out Fay's Rooms here.

Fay's Rooms is a network of short-term apartments and room rentals catered to independent-minded travelers who are tired of the boring ol' hotel rooms or have "graduated" from crowded hostel bunkbeds. The rooms and apartments offered by Fay's network are located in prime locations and come with modern furnishing and internet connections, so you can have the comforts of home at a fraction of hotel costs.

Additional traveler services such as itinerary planning, personal tour guide, translation assistance, ticket booking, and cell phone rental are available upon request.

I think this is a great option for those of you looking for accommodation aside from hotels.

And if you are nice to Fay, she might even make you some breakfast too. :)

Peace Hotel to be renovated

Yes, the grand lady is stepping down, for a while at least.

Peace Hotel is to be renovated, to bring herself along with the times.  In addition to providing one of the best vantage points for a city view of Shanghai, Peace Hotel is arguably one of the most representative icons of Shanghai.

Their guest list includes, Charlie Chaplin, Chang Kai Shek, Zhou Enlai and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery etc.

Contrary to many popular belief  that it is one of the most luxurious hotel in the world, it is not. If you have been to any of the rooms before, you would find the ambience dimly-litted, old and quite worn out. So I guess the renovation is badly needed.

The hotel management, however, promises to keep the charm, feel and exterior of the building largely intact.

The hotel is expected to be close for 1 to 2 years. So if you want to experience the hotel as it is now, be sure to go soon either for some photo snapping or even a night or two's stay. Dont forget the world famous jazz band too!

*Took at Peace Hotel while sipping tea on a cold winter night with GC.

Budget Business Hotel in Shanghai

If you have friends/relatives/business contacts asking you for a recommendation for a budget business hotel in Shanghai, go for this one:

Asset Hotel
590 South Wan Ping Road
Tel :021 6438 9900
asset@asset-hotel.com
www.asset-hotel.com

 For just USD38 a night ([nett price after discount] ask for the discounted price, they always give), you get a very clean room right in the middle of Xu Hui District. 

Banks, air ticketing offices, restaurants are just a stone's throw away with the biggest shopping malls and offices in Xu Jia Hui  a mere 5 mins away by taxi.

Oh, and it comes with free broadband internet too.

By the way,  I dont know the owner of the hotel nor do I get any referral fees for this. ; )

Cheap Hotels in Shanghai

We get a lot of queries about where to find good quality but inexpensive hotels in Shanghai.

There are a number of places to look. One is at Motel 168, they are a chain of budget hotels operating 22 hotels in China, 14 of them in Shanghai. They pride themselves on their modern furnishings and cleanliness and super cheap prices.

A double room can start at 168RMB (US$21) and go up to 388RMB (US$48.50) for a suite - a bargain in anyones books. The website is in English and the reservation staff speak English, so its great for travelers.

Another one is the tried & true Wotif. We used Wotif when we first arrived in Shanghai and stayed at The Magnificient Hotel & Plaza (which was not so magnificent, but was well located and cheap).

For the mid level market, Accor (the French giant that owns Sofitel, Novotel & Mercure) also operates the Ibis hotels. They have only 2 hotel Ibis in Mainland China now (in Tianjin and Chengdu) but they expect to open another 50 in the next ten years. There is no word yet if Accor will bring in their super budget brands of Etap and Formula 1 - that would be good news for the international wanderer.

Searching around the web will also help you find hostels and other modern & inexpensive places to bunk down, but for my money, you can't beat the prices and value of Motel 168.

A Convenient Hotel in Shanghai

This is one of the enquiries we received about Shanghai:

"... We will be in Shanghai for 3days 2 nights in late April. Any suggestions on good mid priced hotel near shopping/markets/food? ..."

Our reply is as follows:

"There is one hotel we stayed when we moved to Shanghai, the name is Magnificent International Plaza & Hotel . You can book it at www.wotif.com  The price is ok, but don't expect that the hotel will be the best hotel you've ever stayed.

The prices change a bit depending on seasons and holidays.

 

We chose it because of its convenient location and reasonable prices. It is right next to a "Fish & Bird" market and opposite to an antique market. It is only 15 mins walk from Xintiandi (where western restaurauts and bars are) and 10 mins from Huaihai road which is the most famous shopping street (and also full of restaurants) in Shanghai. So it is right in the center of everywhere and you don't have to worry about the bad traffic in Shanghai because everything is within walk distance."

Shanghai

Shanghai