Grand Central Hotel Shanghai

We only had 2 days to spend in Shanghai so we chose this hotel for its convenience to the Bund and the cost. We were very pleased. The room was quite large and very comfortable. Large bathroom with great shower, separate bath with hand held. There were 2 restaurants in the hotel, but there were much better choices within walking distance or a quick cab ride. Our room did not come with the buffet breakfast which is just as well. The a la carte menu is overpriced but there are cafes within a few block for breakfast.

The room was equivalent and similar in style to a Ritz Carlton in any big US city. The main bustling shopping and restaurant area, E. Nanjing Rd, is steps away from the front door.The East Nanjing Rd Metro Station is on Line 2, a continuation of the Maglev from Pudong Airport, and is 1-2 blocks away allowing very easy and convenient access. Did not eat in hotel so no comment on food quality. I travel with an Apple Airport Express so I was able to plug the supplied internet room cord in and had excellent internet access for my IPad and IPhone. Very pleased with choice I made from reading the other reviews. Would stay again without blinking an eye!

We stayed at this hotel on July 3, 4, 5, and 8 of 2012. The location is superb and the rooms are spacious and well appointed. I would have given 5 stars were it not for the arrogant front desk staff. When we checked out on July 9, “Jacky” at the front asked us if we had a “voucher”. No one asked us for any voucher when we checked out on July 6. Not knowing what this voucher was, we told him “no”, and he replied “no problem” and began to work at the computer. Thinking may be he was searching for information relating to the voucher, we told him that the room was prepaid online, and how much we paid. Suddenly he waved his arm wildly and angrily said “I know, I know!” We were only trying to be helpful. Without a word, he glared at us as he pushed a computer printout toward us. What an attitude! The front desk is staffed by young, brash people who have a lot to learn about customer service. Too bad, they are tarnishing the image of this otherwise very nice hotel.

I stayed here as a base to have several meetings. A very good hotel located in the heart of downtown. I would recommend this hotel. Good internet, wired was better than wifi. Good lounge are serving coffee making it idea for meetings. Buffet restaurant. was also good serving western food as well as Chinese

Beautiful hotel! We've stayed at a couple high end hotels in Shanghai and this was by far the better of the two. Very helpful staff whos english was very good. Concierge helped us with lots of travel stuff. [...] when we got there they had no rooms with kings. It was a little annoying, but luckily the "twins" were pretty big.

We were really looking for a perfectly located hotel, and this is the best location for tourists by far. You are one small block from the heart of Nanjing Shopping road, and one block from the East Nanjing subway station (from the hotel, walk to your right to the end of the block, cross the street to your left, go 20 feet, and you are there). You are then one stop from the Pearl Tower, one stop from People's Square and its park and major museums (although it is only about a 7 minute walk to Peoples Square – so we just walked), perhaps 2 stops to the Yu Yuan gardens, 3 stops to Xin Tian Di, 3-4 stops from the French Concession. And it is an easy walk to the Bund. Shops and restaurants surround it. For a tourist, you can't get any better. Right next to this hotel is the Sofitel hotel, the Howard Johnsons Shanghai, and the Shanghai Central Hotel, which is the 4-star version of this hotel, and looked very nice – it was being renovated when we were here (March 20-25, 2011). This is a true 5-star hotel with people that run to grab your luggage as you arrive and bring it up to your room for you. Someone's full time job it to open the lobby door for you as you come/go. It has a beautiful lobby, a nice pool and hot tub on the fifth floor, a billiards room, a very nice gym, everything you would expect. They give you a pillow menu, the room comes with free packaged coffee and a French press (you can buy milk at the pastry store across the street to the back, or the Lawsons convenience store across the street in the front). Big TV has about 7 English speaking channels, including HBO and Cinemax. Bathrooms are excellent; free wired internet in room (free wireless in lobby). The front desk staff spoke English better than at other hotels in China. The only bad thing was that the breakfast buffet wasn't included with our room, and costs 192 rmb (about $30) per person. We skipped it entirely and just ate at nearby restaurants or one of at least 3 nearby Starbucks. We stayed at two different hotels in Shanghai - the Salvo and this one, the Grand Central. The Grand Central is much nicer on every level.