Fly Me To The Moon

I will have a 4-night stay in Shanghai in mid-February. Any recommendations as to which hotel--St. Regis ot Westin--is the better one? I am a Platinum SPG. What upgrade, if any, can I expect?

Location/convenience is not a concern for me, as either hotel will work.

I note that *Wood also has the Sheraton in Shanghai, but have stayed at this property previously, and I would not want to return again.

bp888

Since location is not a concern, then no question it's St. Regis. Service, particularly the butler*, is impeccable and the rooms are the largest in Shanghai. It's also a newer building. But... there's no there there. However, a street nearby (~5-10 minute walk) has excellent albeit rambunctious local restaurants.

*The butler service serves the best coffee in Shanghai if you like European-style coffee rather than over-roasted Starbucks.

u2vox

I haven't been to the St. Regis, but you probably can't go wrong with the Westin. Pretty much brand new, decent size and very chic rooms, lots of restaurants, funky stairs that light up in different colors, great fitness center, etc. I thought the service was generally excellent and friendly as well. Plus, you're a short walk from The Bund.

I liked it all around. The only thing that has since made me wonder a little bit since my stay was how they handled my request for an upgrade. I was gold at the the time, and on check-in I asked if there was any upgrade availability for a gold member. Their response was that I could upgrade to an executive room for about $25 a night more. I took it since it was on a work stay, but I'm not sure if they *should* have given it gratis to a gold, or if I had pushed back a little maybe they would have given it as a free upgrade as well. Not a huge deal, but something that's popped into my mind since then. Same thing happened at the Westin Chosun in Seoul, so maybe the Asian properties have a different set of "rules"?

Always Flyin

I stayed at both. The St. Regis is so far superior to the Westin that there is no comparison, provided that location is not an issue.

The St. Regis is basically out in the middle of no where, relatively speaking. It worked great for me as my meetings were near there.

ThWilmesi

I have stayed at the St.REgis in shanghai in 2002, I am also SPG Platinum and they upgraded me to a very nice suite, what I in particular are they bathrooms they gorgious and they these Rainforest showers where you don't want to go out anymore... there breakfast buffet is also fantastic, not very big, but the quality is unbelievable.

zvezda

I've stayed at both last year. The Westin is nice and the location is good. The St Regis is substantially nicer but the location is substantially worse. If you'll be going out a lot, stay at the Westin; if you'll be staying in your room a lot, stay at the St Regis.

------------------
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

cxn

I just looked at the SPG site and see the following:

Exec Club Deluxe, Lounge Access, Heavenly Bed, Non-Smoking Room, American Brkfst

Does anyone have any information on their lounge? Does it include breakfast?

Thanks

Christian

turntheheatdown

Excellent lounge at Westin. Good breakfast, soft drinks through day and very good food and cocktails at night. Lounge in St Regis is nice but only used during very good cocktail session in the evening.

This was as at Feb 2003.

PhilC

I agree with the other posts that with the exception of the location, the St. Regis is superior in all other aspects. I've always gotten upgraded to a suite.

Fly Me To The Moon

Just got back from a week-long trip to Shanghai. Stayed at the Grand Hyatt on the first and last nights to get a FFN award using Mastercard. In between, stayed at both the The Westin Shanghai and St. Regis Shanghai.

Westin Shanghai (Room rate USD 190)
***************
Hotel was at 100% occupancy (starwood.com showed no availability during my checkin days, but I had booked ahead). As a Platinum, I was upgraded to a huge suite in the Residences Tower. Suite came with kitchen, 1.5 baths, a living/dining area, private office/study, bedroom, etc. The entire suite was very nicely furnished in beige, brown, and wood tones. Heavenly bed was great. On previous stays at this hotel, I have always been put in the "usual" Hotel Tower, and I have found the furniture to be too crowded for such a small room, and much too colorful. So, the Residences was quite a good change.

I found the heating unit in the suite to be malfunctioning, as the fan made a huge noise when turned on. Complained to the concierge personally at 1:00pm. Went out for lunch and got back to the room at 2:30pm. Still not fixed. Called Concierge who promised to send up an engineer. 3:30pm--still no engineer. Went down to Concierge to complain again. 4:00pm--sent two engineers and housekeeper to fix the fan. [how many people does it take...]. Simple matter of fixing a loose screw. That was the only negative point about this stay.

Tried two restaurants at the hotel--Prego (Italian) and Stages (Lobby coffee shop). Both restaurants' food were quite good, but the menu a bit pricey for Shanghai standards. Service was nothing special. At Stages, I saw a waiter drop a whole slice of toast on the floor right in the middle of the foyer, and it took a full 5 minutes before any staff noticed.

Banyan Tree Spa...what can I say? You've got to try it to believe it. Again, pricey...but well worth it.

Upon checkout, automatically charged a USD 1.00 Unicef donation. This is fine, but I would appreciate being asked first.


St. Regis Shanghai (Room rate USD 145)
******************
From The Westin, went to the St. Regis. Location is definitely a minus for this hotel. Nearby is a Holiday Inn and Nikko, plus a shopping mall and office buildings. Otherwise, nothing else to see, although it is convenient to take a subway to other parts of the city.

You know the guy who is supposed to greet guests at the door when the taxi arrives? Nope, no one there. In fact, he was inside the glass doors of the lobby looking out (guess it was too cold for him to stand outside). St. Regis also makes a big deal of the butler who is supposed to handle in-room check-in, unpacking, etc. Nope, no one even offered. Of course, I would have declined anyway, but it was troubling to see the lack of service that has always been advertised.

Upon checkin, asked if I would have any upgrade to a suite (I booked on starwood.com, so entitled to such benefits). The clerk said no suite this time. I asked if the hotel was very full, and he said yes. I thought nothing more of it.

Went to the room, which was a good size, but not as big as I thought it would be (St. Regis advertised as having the biggest rooms in the city), so my impression was it would be bigger. Tones of dark-brown, maroon, and beige; gold curtains, dark/red wood furniture. Bed was a bit to stiff. Got a letter on the desk from the GM welcoming me to the hotel, and advertised the benefits of Platinum members. I noticed that high-speed internet was free [Westin was RMB 120/day], so went online. Just out of curiosity, went to starwood.com to check any availability at the hotel, and to my surprise, both Executive and Deluxe Executive suites were available! I used an outside line to call the hotel to check whether they indeed did have suite availability...and YES. So, I called the front desk and inquired why I did not get an upgrade. She pulled out the records and said that I had been downgraded to a "B" member. Sounds strange; never heard of this. I told her about my Platinum membership, but she said that I was a Gold member (is this what "B" member means?). I told her this was impossible, and she said that it was most likely because I had not stayed the required number of nights last year. This was irrelevant, as I said the current membership year was valid thru Feb 2004; it clearly stated that on my card. She had the nerve to say that sometimes the cards are printed incorrectly. I refused to accept this explanation, and asked her to check with the duty manager, and give me a better response.

Guest services manager called back, and the explanation was even more unbelievable. He said that, when I made my online reservation, I must have entered the wrong membership number, so that reflected me as a gold member. All of us know perfectly well that this would not be possible. I have a printed record of my reservation and Starwood's subsequent email confirmation, and everything was in order. I offered to show him the documentation. He said not necessary. So, I asked what membership number was in his records. He said that the first and last names were exactly the same, but only the FIRST DIGIT of the membership number was different. Instead of a "5", the computer was showing a "4" as first digit. Sounds unbelievable to me that supposedly two different people could have such in common. Anyway, St. Regis stood by its reasoning that the membership number was entered wrong (by me).

Anyway, they got everything worked out, and upgraded me to the Mandarin Suite. Very nice room with living room and office area, 1.5 baths, nice bedroom, and walk-in closet.

Tried Danieli's (Italian) restaurant, and food was great. From the crowd, it seemed like this was a popular restaurant. Menu prices were very reasonable. Had lunch in Saint's (the lobby coffee shop), which was O.K.

Upon checkout, asked whether I would give the USD 1.00 Unicef donation, which of course was O.K.

Overall, I definitely think Westin is the better hotel. This is not because of my upgrade to the Residences. I think the overall service, rooms, comfort, location are all better at the Westin. On the Pudong side, where the St. Regis is, I would choose the Hyatt any day over this hotel.


Extra for Asia Miles members
***************************
As you know, the Asia Miles dining program offers 5 miles for every HKD 8.00 spent in their participating restaurant. Most of the restaurants at Westin and St. Regis in Shanghai were participating. So, when paying for your bill (it has to be over RMB 350, I think), just give your Asia Miles card to get a voucher for the points. Then, if you are staying in the hotel, charge the meal to your room instead of paying cash. Then, you will also earn StarPoints. I thought this was a nice bonus for me!


[This message has been edited by Fly Me To The Moon (edited Feb 14, 2004).]

derpelikan

what to expect?

as i got my status through centurion and i want to thank spg for giving me this highest tier status, i made about 5 bookings in different countries like russia , japan , china etc.

So what i have to expect?
i read many strange things, like suite upgrades only to standard suites, but as i checked on spg.com the suites offered there are excutive , pres. suites etc. only found one suite which was label standard.

i had very good xp. with kempinski and hilton before, but as hilton only offered me a fast track to diamond and didnt match my status on different hotel groups, i decided :
no more money for hilton 2005 .

now i am a bit scary if this was the right decision, has anyone information for me about the shanghai westin?
will they easily upgrade me, or will the normal asia , we have not better room available blabla standard answer make me sad ?

i just checked the avail of suites there

Westin Grand Suite, 1 Bedroom Suite, Separate Lounge/Dining/Kitchen, Westin Executive Club Benefits, 2 Bathrooms

only got this , which is only 200usd more than the price i pay for the cheapest room .

but as this is GRAND Suite is this a suite which is not standard upgrade suite for PLATs?

may be some people with more xp. will share some information with me.

dp

Nevsky

I look forward to a report. I just stayed at the St. Regis, which was lovely but too far from the center of town. The Westin is right near the Bund.

vivrant

I completed a stay at the Westin Shanghai in December for two nights. I checked in as a Platinum and was given a regular room on a high-floor. No upgrade to suite, but I know that inventory was tight that weekend. I did get free breakfast in the executive lounge. The room was nice, great views and really good service. I would've liked a suite upgrade, but hey, sometimes you get lucky, other times it doesn't happen.

Here's some pictures of the room if you are interested:
Bed
Bathroom
TV, etc.

derpelikan

hey this rooms looks nice, but it is a smaller one?

i alrady have one good thing to report.

i needet a flight ticket and the hotel arranged it for me in 5mins.

nice service!

i will write a report later .

andrew8198

I will be staying at the Westin Shanghai at the end of the month so I am looking foward to your report.

Please let me know how the fitness center is at the hotel. I hope to use it when I visit.