Intercontinental Shanghai Expo, An Ihg Hotel

“Incredible Hotel and World Class Customer Service”

I came to the InterContinental Shanghai Expo Hotel in the Pudong New Area District. This is the fifth out of six Shanghai InterContinental I have been to. My stay occurred from August 3rd to August 4th. This is the third time I enter an InterContinental Brand as a Spire Ambassador Member. I arr... more

I came to the InterContinental Shanghai Expo Hotel in the Pudong New Area District. This is the fifth out of six Shanghai InterContinental I have been to. My stay occurred from August 3rd to August 4th. This is the third time I enter an InterContinental Brand as a Spire Ambassador Member. I arrived at 2PM of my check-in day. I was checked in by Front Desk Trainee Carol Zheng. The check-in was done in a timely a manner. From start to finish, she completed my check-in in 5 minutes and 23 seconds. Unfortunately, the only thing missing was the membership drink voucher. The first time I was not given a membership drink at any IHG hotel. I booked the Superior Room. As part of my Ambassador Membership, I got upgraded to the Club Room with a majestic view of Nanpu Bridge with Lujiazui in the background. The Newly Renovated Club Room (Room 2518) featured luxurious bedding, multiple closets and facilities that feel different to the Standard InterContinental Superior Room. Unfortunately, the presentation of the room was to my disappointment. The cleaning of that room was not thorough. I found some dusting markings that can be obviously visible when you run your fingers through them. The day bed was worn out with one of its legs broken. I found a lot of permanent stains around the marble tables. Furthermore, slippers weren’t given in this room and the Ambassador Fruit Plate was nowhere to found. I got Friendly and Professional Housekeeper Ms. Liu to clean and redo the areas uncleaned. I told her to fetch the Guest Relations Manager. She did, and she was very kind to do so. Guest Relations Manager Andrew Yan came a few minutes later so I could explain the situation I have encountered. Understanding that the room was not fully prepared for me to the InterContinental standards. Mr. Yan granted me Club Benefits at the Temporary Club InterContinental Lounge in the Italian Restaurant. The actual lounge is under renovations. He had me wait in the lounge so that he can prepare a well-suited replacement. As I had my lovely Afternoon Tea at the Lounge, Club Lounge Trainee Iris Gu was there to take care of me. When Mr. Yan returned, he escorted me to Room 2401. To my shocking surprise, he has prepared me a Stunning and yet Gorgeous Executive Suite. Upon inspection of the Suite, I was satisfied with the cleaning. All membership benefits were finally given. Mr. Yan also helped me get a pair of slippers and presented me by placing at the ground. Mr. Yan also went the extra step of giving me directions to my destination after check-out. This is certainly the one of the best Guest Relations Manager I have had the honor of interacting with in my trips to 16 InterContinental hotels in a year. He certainly is fit to hold a higher position up the hotel hierarchy. The Suite is 75SQM (800sqft). In this suite, you have a private comfortable bedroom with modernized amenities like the JBL speaker and phone charger. The bed is certainly a comfortable one, this hotel has one of the best ventilation system I had so far. You have a living room with its own couch, desk and TV. You have a master bathroom with a round bathtub, shower, Japanese Toilet, along with two sinks and it’s amenities. Waiting for me at the table is my fruit plate and two bottles of Perrier. The view was different however. It is a view of the former 2010 Shanghai Expo. You have a beautiful view of the Huangpu River and Lupu Bridge. This hotel simply has the best view of all 6 InterContinental hotels I have seen. Since I had a 120RMB Membership Food Credit, I wanted to have some dinner with this discounted voucher. I wanted to order some food to the club lounge, as to what InterContinental Hongqiao NECC’s lounge offer. Mr. Yan had arranged that for me. I ordered some Fish and Chips. He arranged Club Lounge Supervisor Ming Ma, to help me throughout the Happy Hour Service and Dinner Service. He is a friendly fellow. So was Ms. Gu. Both were one of the best Club InterContinental Lounge Attendants I had the pleasure of getting service with. I had breakfast at the Cafe 1188. It certainly was a superb breakfast experience. I had some breakfast meats, scrambled eggs, RouJiaMo prepared by Chef Singh, bread, fruits and a lot of fruit juices. I like how the restaurant attendants placed me in the membership lounge area with the familiar Ambassador reservations marker. Ranking this InterContinental Buffet Experience with other InterContinental Hotel Breakfasts, Cafe 1188 has made #5 out of 13 Mainland China InterContinental Hotel Buffets. Check-out was performed by presumed Chief Concierge Sam Zhang. He was a friendly fellow who got my payment methods switched to my preferred AliPay method over an International Debit Card. Solid Check-out. Overall, I think this was a memorable stay at this InterContinental Hotel. It did much better than my previous InterContinental Hotel visit. Despite the unfortunate shortcomings, I think this hotel has a lot of potential to become the best out of all 6 InterContinental hotels in Shanghai. Based into the compensation and customer service overwhelming those shortcomings, I have decided to rate this hotel 5 out of 5 stars for this stay. I got to truly recognize authentic standards of the InterContinental brand. I have created an unofficial ranking list of my hotel visits in this brand. As of this published date, I have ranked this hotel #5 out of 16 InterContinental Hotels I visited. It was truly a memorable stay, and I look forward to my return soon!

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“Deeply Chinese, reasonably standard Intercontinental”

I usually stay at the nearby Intercontinental Shanghai Pudong for the night before flying from the airport, and so thought I’d give this one a try. They’re quite similar - but the Pudong version is more international, while the Expo version is more “Chinese”. The check in team absolutely coul... more

I usually stay at the nearby Intercontinental Shanghai Pudong for the night before flying from the airport, and so thought I’d give this one a try. They’re quite similar - but the Pudong version is more international, while the Expo version is more “Chinese”. The check in team absolutely could not, at all, speak English - in fact, my terribly Chinese was better than their English, which is not a good sign! Thankfully, I was with a native speaker, and this unlocked a functional check in. If I were travelling alone, I would have been in difficulty. (The Pudong version speaks excellent English.) Other “Chinese” factors: the a.c. level is set warmer here, as Chinese would find the cool level at the Pudong version of the hotel far too cold. As it was, this version seemed a little too warm for me - bring shorts and a t-shirt if you’re used to colder climes. The food is more Chinese in selection, and that can be a good thing. As with the Pudong version, the rooms are quite small, as is typical for Shanghai. However, they are clean and well-kept, and we were upgraded to a room that had an astounding view of the Huangpu River, with its famous buildings on display. In summary, it’s fine for the airport, but, if you’re a foreigner travelling alone, you’ll be more suited to the Intercontinental Shanghai Pudong, which is a similar distance drive (approx. 45 mins) from the airport.

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