Hyatt On The Bund, Shanghai

Just wanted to share my wonderful experience during my recent stay at this hotel. I was truly impressed by the excellent location, which made it so easy to get around and explore the area. The view from my room was absolutely breathtaking, adding an extra special touch to my stay. And I must commend that Hyatt's team for the outstanding service – it was truly A++++!

It took a while for us to check-in and I was quite surprised with the required deposit amount. I was delighted to see my family love their room, however a few flaws started to appear. There was quite a disturbing drainage smell from the bathroom on our second night and we were woken up by it. I reached out to the front desk, but all they did was hang a diffuser next to the toilet seat. We requested a room change and the new room had a cigarette smell (as if someone smoked). Eventually, we were moved to another room and fortunately it was refreshing. We did get a 200 yuan voucher for the spa which we ended up not using it. The fitness center was quite difficult to use at first, with the staff not advising where the changing room was. The gym itself was a little cold. I liked the sauna, but the mat inside the shower was quite hurting my foot. At least we left the hotel loving the XINDALU! The Peking duck was so soft as it melted in our mouth and the pairings were perfect. One suggestion I want to make: I assumed that hotel staff in franchised hotels would be good at English, but I was quite disappointed.

Every time when we were coming to Shanghai we choose this hotel because of the nice location and good service. The hotel is after renovation, rooms are clean and bright. Me personally like previous design more, but this one is good as well. What I was disappointed is that the staff doesn't know anything about World of Hyatt program, and when you try to redeem the points they reject.

The staffs are friendly. Rooms are clean. Chose room with view of the Pearl Tower and the Bund. Wonderful experience watching the night lights and the sun rising in the morning

I have stayed many, many times at the Hyatt on the Bund Shanghai. For this trip, I stayed with my two sons for more than two weeks. This was my first stay at the Hyatt on the Bund since the pandemic and of course many things have changed since 2019. Other travelers who remember the old pre-2020 Hyatt on the Bund experience may be especially interested in this review. I will discuss what has changed. Pre-2020, I considered the Hyatt on the Bund my favorite hotel in the world. I liked it more than the Park Hyatt Shanghai, more than the Park Hyatt New York, and more than any other hotel anywhere for its combination of style, location, friendliness, and service. I believe that the Hyatt on the Bund is still an excellent hotel and I will definitely stay there in the future. Its location is outstanding. If you are a walker or runner, you can enjoy the 13 kilometer pedestrian Bund nearby that will take you past Shanghai's beautiful colonial buildings, past the famous Nanpu and Lupu bridges, and all the way to the great art museums of the West Bund. That said, there are post-pandemic changes that I hope can be addressed. I consider the Hyatt on the Bund best marketed as a high-end, premium hotel experience, and its service and amenities should reflect that: 1) Check in. It took me at least 20 minutes standing in line to check in. It was very slow. I didn't mind that too much, but I sure noticed it. In all of my previous visits to the Hyatt on the Bund, check-in was lightning-fast and there were abundant staff around to greet me. There was none of that staffing or personalized service this time. 2) Uniforms. The previous staff uniforms were all-black in a subtle Hanfu or Tangfu "Chinese" style. The new staff uniforms are gray office couture, the sort of clothes that you would wear if you worked for an attorney or a bank. The old all-black uniforms made it visually unmistakable who the hotel staff were. The new uniforms are easily confused with the clothing that conference-goers and other hotel guests are wearing. The old uniforms had a mystery, an elegance, and evoked old 1930s Shanghai. The new uniforms have none of that appeal. 3) The club. The most obvious change to the club since 2019 is that jaw-dropping view of Shanghai's Lujiazui skyline is now entirely blocked by a new conference center that was built across the street. Ideally the Hyatt on the Bund could relocate the club to a higher floor to recapture that stunning view. But there are other changes to the club that I noticed at least as much as the loss of the view. The number of service staff have been dramatically reduced in the club. This affects the experience in many ways. In the old HOTB club, there were enough staff on hand that the staff could be proactively friendly and chatty. They would get you drinks, and refill those drinks. I got to know the staff over the course of many visits and was quite happy to see the same people again and again. The new club lacks this warmth, in part because the staff are very busy. There aren't enough staff. Pre-2020, the Hyatt on the Bund club staff was staffed in large part by students from a hotel management college. They were proactively friendly as many young people are, and took time to know you if you were interested in talking. The new smaller staff are less proactively outgoing. I miss that aspect of the Hyatt on the Bund. The old HOTB really felt like a "home" that I was returning to again and again, and the friendly club staff were a big part of that. 4) Maintenance. There are small but very noticeable maintenance problems that affect the guest experience. These include: * The key reader on at least one of the elevators is broken on one side of the elevator. You have to learn through hard experience that only one of the key scanners work. Guests will notice this with frustration as they ride the elevator up and down, unable to choose their floor. * The drain on my room would not open. Each day I left the tub filled with water and the excellent housekeeping had to drain the tub for me. I would have preferred to do it myself. 5) Globalist amenities. The old pre-2020 HOTB refreshed a fruit plate in my room every day, as well as presenting a small sweet amenity in my room when we checked in. There was nothing like that on this trip. I did notice that some fruit appeared in my room on the final of my three reservations, but the chance for a first impression was missed. The fruit plate is a very small point, but it made the old Hyatt on the Bund seem like an "expensive" high-end hotel and a special experience worth paying extra for. I miss it. 6) Lobby and seating. The HOTB lobby is a huge space. There is nothing much there now. The decor is fairly uninteresting given the grandeur of this wide-open space. Worse, there is not sufficient seating for the many people in the lobby calling DiDi rideshares and the like. I had a good stay in my two weeks at the Hyatt on the Bund, and I still like this hotel a lot. I will stay again in the future. I just hope that in time HOTB management can bring back some of the features that made the pre-2020 Hyatt on the Bund a truly special experience. With its awesome waterfront location on the Puxi side of Shanghai, the Hyatt on the Bund has unlimited potential.