Novotel Suites Shanghai Hongqiao

We travelled as family with a toddler and stayed for a night only. Room: Must say we really enjoyed the neat, well designed and spacious room (Superior suite with 1 King bed) Service: We weren't very satisfied with the check-in. The staff at the reception was rather dry and to the point. Had some difficulty with communicating in English. Breakfast: Didn't try. We just ended up buying some cereal, milk and fruit from the supermarket in the nearby complex. Location: Just as you exit the door from the breakfast restaurant you enter into a complex where you can find few restaurants, shops and supermarket. Airport and Railway station is a short 5/10 mins taxi ride from the hotel.

I'd have loved to write great breakfast too but they still have a lot of scope for improvement in Food taste. Sausages were dry, Fried rice was very average and so was the overall breakfast experience. When it comes to room, Housekeeping and service, They get 200 marks out of 100 Very spacious, very well designed rooms with lots of space and big bathrooms. They set up a nice standard of SPACE for hotel industry.

I stayed multiple times at the Novotel Suites Hongqiao since it was open. There are points I could accepts at the beginning but that I cannot anymore. • It’s an international hotel and almost no one speaks a word of English, it’s very difficult to ask for anything. • It’s the only Accor hotel I know that has no international TV channel on offer! Just one Chinese channel in English. This is totally unacceptable. • They have apartment and there is almost no equipment in them. Not even a cutting board, a decent knife or even a towel… • The mattress is of very low quality. • You receive a drink voucher being a platinum member but it’s almost impossible to redeem it. • The quality of the breakfast is very low, the juices are awful, no one speaks English…

Saw this new hotel via Expedia, and decided to give a try. At the time of arrival, the staff was very friendly, and helpful. This did well maintain the service culture of the Accor group. After settle in the room, my trip of surprises starts; This hotel they only serve food until 1800hrs, and yes, you get get food from a local shopping centre right outside, and they close at 2100hrs. Of course, one can always relay on APP similar to UberEat. By the way, there wasn’t a bar around in the evening as well. Next morning, after I got up, and about to take shower, and realize the hot water took over a minute before it decided to start, great to start the day with a cold shower. Last but not the least, the door lock finish off my stay by terminates my entry 8 minutes before 12:00, Still, I have to say, the staff who serve me was very nice again. As a international class hotel, I really felt that these minor happening should be handle, and do something about it

Business trips define the location and hence are the main reason to choose a hotel. Same true here, the hotel is far away from the city but not too far from Hongqiao airport and convinient when to go to Anting or Jiading. Nearby is a new restaurant/bar street called Lido area. It is like a 500m walk but there you can find all types of restaurants and bars, of course in the price segment for western people. In general, the whoe area there is newly developed, only the Carrefour from 10 years ago is still around. There are a lot of new residence compounds around the hotel with many young families. The hotel itself is in a multipurpose building.There is a food court as well as some restaurants and other shops. This kind of mall closes around 9pm, than you can basically enter the hotel only through the hotel entrance which is on the backside of the street. If you enter from there, it looks like a normal hotel reception area. English level of the staff is below average I would say but this was also not a surprise due to the location. However, they were very friendly and tried to sort out everything. I arrived late, after 8pm and everything was slowing down already. Checkin the usual China stress with checking visa and entry stamps and taking copies of it. Despite I booked a simpler room I got upgraded to a full blown suite with dining area, kitchen, dress up rooms etc. Considering value for money, certainly one of the best rates I got. Building does not have so many floors and there are 3 lifts. Room access through a magnetic card as usual. Suite type was maisonette, there were toillets on both floors. Noticable for the bathroom, Japanese toiliet seats, means include the shower and dryer. Bathroom staff as usual from Novotel. Shower was a bit too low for me being 1,84m Water was hot with good pressure. Good bed for well sleeping but 2 weak points. TV chanels are not international, only Chinese TV available. And the A/C was noisy and just above the bed. I had to work and used the internet. Easy access and acceptable speed. I used the balcony to work, not too noisy and more pleasent than inside. But the courtyard is not fully open, see photos, it is under a glass roof. Breakfast was below average too. Food only got filled up after request and choice more for the Chinese taste. But available until 10am, longer than other hotels. Checkout and fapiao again no problem. So still a 4 rating as value for money is great. But certainly there are points where the hotel can improve, mainly on the TV chanels, the English level of the staff and the breakfast.