“Beautiful Place”

I stayed at Ascott for nearly 2 months! That is a long time to actually know the hotel staff by name - and trust me, the staff was genuinely very nice. I was undergoing training in Pudong and Ascott is one of the best places you can stay. With a nice view overlooking the river, Ascott offers all … Plus

I stayed at Ascott for nearly 2 months! That is a long time to actually know the hotel staff by name - and trust me, the staff was genuinely very nice. I was undergoing training in Pudong and Ascott is one of the best places you can stay. With a nice view overlooking the river, Ascott offers all the luxuries that one can expect only from 4/5 start. One gets a good variety in food, though not so much for a vegetarian. Pool and Gym facilities are excellent.

Moins

“Spacious, clean and good value for Shanghai”

Myself and some colleagues stayed at the Ascott for a week to attend a conference, having chosen the Ascott as being within reasonable walking distance of the (very expensive) hotels where the conference was taking place. The Ascott's accommodation is more geared to the long-stay traveller, but we … Plus

Myself and some colleagues stayed at the Ascott for a week to attend a conference, having chosen the Ascott as being within reasonable walking distance of the (very expensive) hotels where the conference was taking place. The Ascott's accommodation is more geared to the long-stay traveller, but we were more than happy with the huge apartment-style accommodation. The one-bedroom suite was very spacious, with a bedroom, living/dining room with office space, separate galley kitchen, large bathroom and even a dressing room. It was also spotlessly clean, the maid came in every day and each day left two bottles of mineral water. There was a good array of complimentary toiletries and a large number of complimentary sachets of tea, coffee, green tea, creamer etc. Its easy to buy milk and other drinks from the small shop round the corner, as there was no mini bar. The only downside as far as I was concerned was that since the hotel caters more for long-stay guests, there are not really the facilities for refreshments that one would find in a regular hotel. There was no bar/cafe on site, only a room where the complimentary breakfast was taken, but this shut after breakfast time. As to the breakfast, this is best avoided as it is very poor. Go somewhere else for a better breakfast. Given that the Ascott itself is immaculate and very clean, I was surprised to find that the tables on which the breakfast was laid out were very unsavoury looking and seemed unclean, especially around the tea/coffee are. There was a lot of Chinese food available, but very little in the way of a Western breakfast, some sliced bread next to a very dirty toaster, some small dry rolls, and some jam and butter and yoghurt but that was about it. There were bacon and beans and some small omlettes but the bacon did not look right and most of the food was very unappetising. There were numerous staff at every breakfast, but their time might have been better spent cleaning the breakfast area rather than just hovering, chatting and getting in the way of the guests. Reception staff were quite helpful and organised a nice car from and to the airport at a cost of RMB 600 one way. The Pudong international airport is about 45 mins drive, locally one can take taxis at a very reasonable cost - the hotel will get one quite promptly -but bear in mind Chinese taxi drivers mostly do not speak English and also the Ascott is tucked away down a side road, so best show them the address of the hotel in Chinese and tell them it is near Marine Tower. Many taxi drivers do not know where the Ascott is, and also surprisingly they do not know many of the main landmarks in Shanghai. If they throw a wobbly, just get out of the taxi and get another one who knows where he is going. Overall, lovely accommodation, but be prepared to either cater for yourself in the kitchen, which has plentiful amenities, or go out to eat. Also, they do not exchange currency at this hotel, so you have to go to a bank or other exchange office. A final word of warning - it is difficult to get to anywhere walking at the moment in Shanghai due to the massive amount of building work taking place ahead of Expo 2010, which will take place summer 2010. You think you can walk somewhere, only to find your path blocked by a massive building site, and you have a 20 minute detour to skirt round it. The beautiful bund is also marred by huge amounts of building work at the time of writing. The whole of Pudong is awash with construction workers in orange hard hats.

Moins