Stayed here 5 nights for business/pleasure. Rooms were very nice. Marble bathrooms (though the toilet sometimes ran if not flushed just so). Bottled water was replenished two times a day in the room. Great location, close to most tourist spots.

Fitness center was decently equipped (free weights, treadmills, bikes, rowing machines) and a nice sized indoor pool. Multiple saunas and hot tubs (not quite hot enough). Never saw anyone using it.

Breakfast buffet was fine. Nothing gourmet but nice all the same.

Staff was friendly and helpful, made great recommendations and would write directions in Chinese for taxis. The staff demeanor seemed to reflect the attitude of whoever they were speaking to. If someone was being overly rude and angry, the hotel person became very stone-faced. However, I found a friendly tone was met with a very friendly response.

My only disappointment was how expensive laundry was (US$2 for underwear, $US5 for a t-shirt) though it was quick. I'm sure that there are nicer hotels with better amenities, but this one was very good. Between 4 and 5 stars.

I recently stayed at the Howard Johnson in the Huangpu District of Shanghai. I found it mediocre despite being rated as a 5 star hotel. While checking in, we found the staff unfriendly. They put us on the smoking floor. We requested for transfer to a non-smoking floor as I am asthmatic and the man behind the desk acted like it was an imposition. He checked his computer and told us curtly that it was impossible as the hotel was fully booked. We were scheduled to stay in the hotel for 5 nights, so I requested we be informed of any vacancies on the non-smoking floors during our stay. While the man (his name was Michael) replied in the affirmative, he wore a heavily burdened expression as if our request was totally unreasonable. We never heard from him again.
The breakfast buffet was unsatifactory. I fould the choices wanting and the food was on the bland and oily side.
I would think twice about staying at the Howard Johnson again.

This hotel exceeded our expectations from the start, however in order to remain objective I will put forward the areas that need some improvement.
The check-in was efficient and the rooms were grand, commanding and spacious.
The hotel has all the facilities of a 5 stat hotel - restaurants, gym, concierge, pool and more. The hotel decor is very grand and quite Chinese in style which very much suits the city.
The breakfasts were good, the fruit selection however was not as good as it could be. The selection were the "basic" fruits, once on the road we found more local fruits and more exotic fruits I would have liked to seen on the buffet.
The concierge were so so helpful and were very efficient and went above and beyond their duties.
The club floor needs some improvement as the nightly cocktail selection is not quite as good as other hotels.
The location of the hotel is very good - 5 minute taxi to The Bund, French Concession, Nanjing Pedestrian Mall, Old City and all within walking distance.
Would stay again very happy. No problems.

the room is good but the toilet inside the room got flooded easily.unlike some 5 star international hotels which we have visited in other parts of the worldi, this hotel does not provide bath robe or sleepers made for kids..


the spa facility on the 6th floor is very poor especially the decor and the facilities. For example, i had to wait for over 10 minutes before there was hot water in the shower areas. There was only one bottle of what appears to be shower gel in each shower room. The bottle was not labelled and one had to guess what it was. If that was indeed shower gel, then something else which one could invariably find in 5 stars hotels are obviously missing. It seemed that the the entire spa facility was inherited from the previous hotel without any substantial improvement works as the decor and the shower facility look old.Aapart from some cotton tips and a tissue box, there wasn't any other toiletries such as face cream, lotion, in the women's changing room. I understood from my husband that there was also no razor or shaving cream provided in the male changing room. the choice of food in room service is limited and some of the food is very expensive. for example, a bowl of corn soup costs RMB95 whereas the best Chinese restaurant voted by Talter Shanghai only sells it at RMB38.

generally, the staff speak fairly good English but when my 8 years old daughter called up the service centre (they do not call it housekeeping) and asked for a tooth brush, the staff tried to correct her English by saying "you mean a teeth brush?" and when I said "three people" in reply to the receptionist's question at the coffee shop before she sat us down, she tried to correct my English by saying "you mean three persons".

there is no priority for taxi even if you are a hotel guest and you have to queue up for taxi behind non-hotel guests. we witnessed a fight between some local people and the hotel valet parking staff which became physical whilst queuing up for the taxi.

there is a system in this hotel that they will lend only one brolly for each room whilst it is raining. So even if you stay with your spouse and each of you may be heading different directions, you have to work out with your spouse who is going to use that brolly and who is to be soaked in the rain.

one thing worthy of mention about this hotel is the answer given by a lfit attendant when we asked her how many stars this hotel has. Her initial answer was this was a 5 star hotel and when being asked further why no sign was put up to tell its guests how many stars this hotel has, her answer was the hotel was built in accordance with 5 star standards and they are applying for it to be so branded