Shanghai Bund Riverside Treasury Hotel

After a long day of travel, I arrived very late and was disappointed. There's no proper drop-off area, just a steep ramp that took all my leg strength to push my heavy luggage up. Reception was kind and helpful, even with limited English, so I have no complaint about that. I confirmed I had a non-smoking room, but the bathroom clearly smelled of smoke. The room didn't seem properly cleaned. I found an empty water bottle under a chair and had to wipe fresh stains off surfaces. It could use a new coat of paint, though it looked like someone had made a recent, careless attempt, with paint marks and spots that seemed to cover water damage. They moved me to another room, which smelled less smoky but was in no better condition. The sound insulation was awful: hallway noise woke me several times, and I could hear everything. Water seemed to be running constantly, enough to make me worry something was flooding. I checked out after one night and changed hotels. Unless you're on an extremely tight budget and don't mind a place that only looks good at first glance, save yourself the trouble and stay somewhere else.

The hotel looked pretty, but a room's strong cigarette smell caused a lot of trouble. Reception offered to have the cleaner spray it, but the smell remained. Even though smoking isn't allowed, they said they had no authority to identify or stop whoever was smoking. In the end, they moved us to the next room, hoping that would put us farther from the source. Thankfully it was better. Both rooms had patchy paint touch-ups and small defects, including a loose vanity mirror. The location is handy for the ferry and Raffles City. But there isn't a proper drop-off area, and the yellow line on the road outside means cars shouldn't stop there. Staff can help collect Taobao and Meituan deliveries. My last complaint is that the receptionist took my mum's phone and typed a Trip.com review herself. Reviews there can't be deleted, and she probably knew that.

The location is handy, opposite Raffles City, where you can find nearly everything, from the metro and restaurants to Jellycat, Chagee, Heytea, Molly Tea, Starbucks Reserves and Cade. The rooms were clean, and reception staff were generally friendly. Manman in particular was very kind, polite and extremely helpful.

We enjoyed our stay and would choose this hotel again if we visit Shanghai. The staff were helpful and the service was excellent. It's in a strategic spot near the ferry, with restaurants and malls close by. Ti Lan Qiao Tilanqiao metro station is inside the mall opposite.