⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Wonderful room and breathtaking views, but a mixed arrival experience
My wife and I stayed for two nights at the Pudong Shangri-La, Shanghai, in the Grand Tower with Horizon Club access. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, particularly the quality of the room, the spectacular views and the outstanding service from the Horizon Club team.
We arrived earlier than expected at around 12:30pm and, as we were keen to leave our luggage and start exploring Shanghai, we went to reception to check in. We fully understood that our room might not yet be ready. We were therefore somewhat surprised that the first part of the check-in process focused on offering us an upgrade to a larger suite which was available immediately. We politely declined, as we were perfectly happy with the room we had booked and simply wanted to leave our luggage and explore.
After completing check-in, we were kindly offered the opportunity to wait in the Horizon Club while our room was being prepared, which we accepted. As we still had our hand luggage and valuables with us, we felt this was a good option as we could wait comfortably and, once the room was ready, put our valuables safely in the room before heading out to explore Shanghai. We were expecting the room to be ready around 2pm, and were told that our luggage would be brought up once the room was available.
Unfortunately, as we were making our way across the very large ground-floor lobby towards the Grand Tower and Horizon Club, we suddenly realised that our passports had not been returned to us. With everything that had happened during check-in, including the discussion about the suite upgrade, we had completely forgotten to ask for them.
We hurried back to reception in some considerable panic. On approaching the desk, the same member of staff simply smiled and handed us both passports, which had been retained at reception. While we were obviously very relieved to get them back, we did feel that, having seen us leave without our passports, someone should perhaps have called us back or come after us. It was an unsettling experience and not what we expected from a hotel of standard. Horizon Club team took great care us whilst we waited for our room and provided our room cards when it became available.
We went to the room expecting the rest of our luggage to follow shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, after waiting around 15 minutes it still hadn't arrived. We called down to reception and waited a further 20 minutes, but eventually decided not to wait any longer and left to begin exploring Shanghai without our hand luggage / valuables and were at least able to leave the hotel and get on with our day. The luggage was subsequently dealt with, but this was another small frustration during what had already been a somewhat disjointed arrival.
That said, The Horizon Club team were exceptional throughout our stay — warm, friendly, welcoming and genuinely attentive. While we waited for our room, they made us feel comfortable and looked after, and their service remained excellent throughout our two nights. The contrast with our initial reception experience was quite noticeable.
Once in our room, we were very impressed. The overall quality, furnishings and amenities were excellent, with a lovely fruit bowl, complimentary Evian water and good-quality toiletries. Housekeeping was also of a very high standard, and the room was maintained beautifully and then there was the view. The river and Shanghai skyline were simply breathtaking. We never tired of sitting and looking out across the city, particularly in the evenings when Shanghai's skyline came alive with lights. It was one of the highlights of our stay and something we will remember from our visit to Shanghai.
Overall.Despite the rather disappointing and somewhat disjointed start, our overall impression of the Pudong Shangri-La was very positive. The excellent room, superb housekeeping, exceptional Horizon Club service and, above all, those views
