Grand Mercure Shanghai Hongqiao

The breakfast buffet has lots of choices, including Chinese, Japanese, and Western food, and the staff are very friendly. Rooms are comfortable and come with a kitchen and washing machine. It’s centrally located, and I’d highly recommend staying here.

Getting hot water in the shower took at least five minutes, and the fitness room is tiny. The hotel is old and really needs a full reconstruction. There are also a lot of rooms with bad smells. For a Mercure, it’s disappointing, and I’d suggest looking at other options nearby.

Breakfast was the latest letdown: on my first stay in six months, the rice smelled so bad that I couldn’t eat it for two days straight. I’m here for work almost every month. It’s an easy place to stay for Japanese people, and having a washing machine in the room is handy when you’re travelling light. But the hotel has deteriorated, and the rooms are increasingly hit or miss. I hate getting a room on a rainy day where the window lever is broken and I can’t shut the window. The main thing they should fix is the very weak shower pressure. Apart from that, nothing else is a big issue.

The executive lounge is good value, with quite a range of food during evening cocktail time. Rooms are spacious, and some have a kitchen and washing machine. The staff are very kind and their English is acceptable. It’s conveniently placed in Shanghai Hongqiao’s expat district, and works well if you’re coming from Pudong too.