I was always asked by my friends to give some comments on the hotels in Shanghai.
Although all the hotels in China are graded by star classification system, I do find differences between state owned hotels and international branded hotels even they are in the same grade.
Generally speaking, 4-5 star international branded hotels and state owned hotels are similar on location, room facilities etc. Some state owned hotels even have better location, environment etc than those international branded hotels because only state owned hotels are allowed to operate in the historic buildings.
The two main weakness of state owned hotels have compared with international branded hotels are:
1. Service
2. International practice
Service
I usually found staff in international branded hotels are helpful and motivated, while staff in state owned hotels are hard to work with.
For example, I organised events at both Central Hotel(state owned) and Sofitel Hotel (international). I found it was much easier for me to do everything in Sofitel because the staff prepared everything I needed and stood by all the time during the whole event. But at Central Hotel, I spent a lot of time on communication and had to do a lot of things by myself to make sure everything was right.
International practice
State owned hotels always try to serve people in Chinese way and reluctant to change even the customers ask. Once I was organising a reception at Central Hotel. I asked if they can arrange cocktail tables for us. They just simply replied: sorry, we don’t have any cocktail tables and we don’t do any buffet.
And I definitely found the food in state owned hotels is very Chinese style.
So my suggestions would be:
If you are lack of your own staff and resources and expect lots of help from hotel staff, choose international branded hotels.
If most guests are from other countries, choose international branded hotels.
If you come to experience the old and real China and Shanghai, choose state owned hotels.
If most guests are Chinese especially government officials, choose state owned hotels.
Tags: Hotel in Shanghai
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Thanks, it is a useful information to me staying in shanghai in the coming fall. But I prefer to stay an international hotel. Enjoyable service is more important than other things when you are in vacation.