Rayfont Celebrity Hotel & Apartment Shanghai

Completely agree with other poor reviews of this hotel. Tiny dirty rooms with awful old cigarette smell. Booked for 3 nights but walked out within minutes and was then refused a refund. Essentially, I paid over 1000 rmb to look at a dirty room for 2 minutes.

We stayed here for a week and right from checkin the total disinterest of staff rang alarm bells. First sight of our room was a surprise, but it was late at night and the reception staff barely spoke a word of English. Activity commitments for the next few days prevented us from looking for alternatives. Its location close to the metro subway made it easy to get around, but that is the only good thing we experienced. The room gets tidied each morning, bed made towels replaced and that’s all. Bathroom mould in the shower, as well as ceiling and air con grill was disgusting, used coffee cups and glasses not replaced, old dilapidated furniture. Worst of all was the very poor attitude of staff who really couldn’t care. I would not recommend this place under any circumstances.

I would give this place a 2 on agoda/booking because the listing on the third party booking sites claim that it is near Xintiandi and the Huahai Rd shopping areas. It’s nowhere near for casual outings. Easily accessible if you grab a cab (about 2km), but you can’t just walk out into the hustle and bustle of Shanghai. However, the overall stay was fine for the price we paid. Everything in Shanghai is approaching NYC prices now, so for around $50 a night, the location was fine and the bed and bathroom did their job. There was a rusty soap rack in the bathroom. Also, headboards on the beds were old and some of the decorative pieces were falling off, but we slept fine. The balcony was a plus for hanging clothes after washing. This was especially helpful since we’re traveling long term and are hand-washing a lot of our clothes. It’s less a hotel and more of an extended stay with clean up service. If you know what you’re doing in Shanghai and know how to get around, this place gets the job done. Don’t expect a nice lobby with a bar and concierge to help you get around. Definitely wouldn’t recommend for a first timer in Shanghai.