Grand Central Hotel Shanghai

All of the staff were welcoming and did everything possible to make us feel welcome and regardless of my requests, everything I wanted was attended to promptly and efficiently. Our luggage, of which we had 100kg, was whisked from our limousine to the room on arrival and brought to our limo and loaded on departure five days later with a smile. I’d read a review from a New Zealander who thought the hotel fabulous and I agree. They weren’t best pleased with receptionist Queenie though but I found her delightful. We didn’t have breakfast any morning or indeed any hotel food (apart from the not for the faint hearted) chilli peanuts in the room. We opted instead to have luxurious lie - ins as our main plan was a visit to the Southern Jiangnan Great Wall in Linhai. We had booked this through TA and it’s hundreds of miles south of Shanghai. Our trip to the Wall was amazing and is reviewed separately. I commend it to anyone thinking about it and partly because it’s not the usual section of Wall that westerners get to see. The hotel is in a perfect location for sightseeing and our large room had a comfy big bed, a tv which we never used, a fridge that we only discovered on day four, a safe which we never used, his an hers wash hand basins, generously sized towels, a shower room that was not only powerful but could hold three, a work table and chairs. Oh and a kettle with tea/coffee etc. The room was cleaned daily and one needs a room key card to operate the lift from the ground floor to access rooms. I have no hesitation in recommending this hotel and wouldn’t hesitate to return for a few weeks. Although not directly relevant to the hotel we didn’t find much of the food in Shanghai as good as we had imagined. The offerings we tried over five days were not seasoned, certainly not flavourful and the quality was really poor. Think offal, bones, feet, stomachs, necks. Chicken breast, duck breast, pork fillet are not readily available and good fillet and sirloin steak almost non existent.