The Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, Pudong

We arrived at the hotel after a very long day of travelling from the UK. Initially, we found the hotel quite hard to locate (after having walked past it three or four times) so wonder if perhaps some clear signage might help but appreciate we were new to the area. On arrival, the staff were very welcoming although the offer of something to drink whilst checking in would have been nice as it was hot. The check in process took quite a while in comparison to the other hotels we stayed in. The room itself was beautiful and exceeded our expectations. The attention to detail was fantastic and the staff were very kind and helpful. We had the best nights sleep in a long time and were touched when we returned to our room in the evening to find water and slippers at the side of our bed. We had some issues with accessing the Internet and again the staff couldn’t do enough to help us. The Club Lounge access was excellent. The staff in the lounge were kind and attentive and made us feel very welcome. The breakfast at the hotel was the best of our entire trip across Asia. The quality of food was exceptional and there was a wide range on offer. Again, the staff were welcoming and kind. We would have very much liked to use the spa and gym but did not have time on this trip so cannot comment on those facilities but no doubt they were equally as fantastic. Our only regret of the stay was choosing to dine at Flair, the rooftop bar located in the hotel and not one of their restaurants. We felt that Flair really let the rest of the hotel down. The staff were not at all welcoming and even though we had a booking, we were put on a table at the very back next to the kitchen and when politely asked to move, it felt as though we were an inconvenience. The food itself was very average. We didn’t stay long and returned to our room to sleep as we were tired from travelling. After falling asleep, a staff member from Flair came to our room requesting we sign a new bill as they’d made a mistake with our original bill. We didn’t feel overly comfortable with this approach. We would genuinely stay again and still believe the 5 stars are deserved but personally we regret not having chosen to eat in the hotel restaurants and would definitely not recommend Flair.