JI Hotel Shanghai The Bund Jinling Dong Road

The location was the one good thing. The room was dirty and outdated, and it looked nothing like the pictures. There was a wall where I expected a window. When I checked in, I saw black hairs on the floor and told reception. They said they’d clean it, but they never did. One of the worst hotels I’ve stayed in for a long time.

The staff and cleaners were great, and the location is good, which makes the state of the facilities especially disappointing. I won’t stay at another JI Hotel, and I’d strongly advise visitors to China to avoid the brand. The Wi-Fi in my room was unreliable, and I missed making a reservation for an attraction because of it, which threw off my itinerary. The tissues they provided wouldn’t dissolve and clogged the toilet, another problem I had to deal with. For five nights, the air conditioner blew warm air instead of cooling the room. It also smelled strongly of cigarettes, so I was breathing that in for eight hours at a time while sleeping. Between the heat and the smell, I got sick and had migraines, and had to take medicine throughout my time in Shanghai. I’d never hated a hotel stay before this one.

We arrived to check in at 8pm after booking five rooms, only to be told that none were available and our booking had been cancelled. They never gave us a reason. After we kept asking, they handed us bottled water and arranged a car to take us to another hotel. Two hours later, I was still trying to check in there.

The location is good, but the place was dirty and we had a terrible stay. We booked two rooms, and both seemed clean at first glance, but a closer look showed otherwise. Then both rooms started smelling like a sewer, so we had to move. Never again.