Starway Xuhui

I would highly recommend this hotel to anyone who wants to be fairly centrally located within Shanghai. The hotel is directly above a subway with 2 main lines. We got this hotel as a special deal on agoda and as backpackers this deal allowed us 4-5 star luxury accommodation for the price of some of the local backpackers hostels. We had read some of the previous reviews about staff not responding to requests or problems from guests but we certainly found this not to be the case. The check-in process was quick and easy and staff were able to communicate in english quite well. When we got to our room we realised that there was no kitchenette that was advertised when we booked on agoda, however when we enquired about this we were swiftly offered another room with the requested facilities. internet was quick via lan in room and there was free wifi in public areas. our room was huge and included kitchenette, massive bathroom and walk-in wardrobe. the room was cleaned to perfection each day by friendly staff and the bed was the comfiest that we have slept in in the whole of our china travels! Several english channels were available on the tv. We did not eat at the hotel however we found many very cheap restaurants right next to the hotel. We were provided with a free box of chocolates on the eve chinese new year. If we were ever to come back to Shanghai we would stay at this hotel again and would definitely recommend it to other travellers.

If you are looking for a good value hotel, don't come here. I was offered a special rate through an agent that wasn't accepted by the hotel and was required to pay a much higher rate than is advertised on their web site. The location is very inconvenient, being in a residential area, miles away from the city center. The metro is also 15 minutes walking distance away and taxi's are almost non-existent in this area. The hotel advertises a business center but when asked, was unable to even print a simple document. The bathroom is very small and there is limited lighting in the room, making it quite dark. There are some 'hole-in-the-wall' restaurants but no good quality restaurants in this area. The only positive thing is that it is so far from anything that it is quiet.