STARWAY CHUANG YE

I felt really ill at ease from the get go. Difficult to find down an alley and its English name not being what I expected. However they had my name in their system. I paid for two night and was told the change would be held as key deposit. When I asked for a receipt the receptionist looked stunned. She then gave me a receipt for 100 CNY less than I gave her and again I was made to feel as if I had done something wrong by asking her to amend the receipt. Not a good start. Room pretty much featureless but functional. It all worked - clean room, comfortable beds, good water supply. Then some calling cards for prostitutes were posted under our doors - not a big problem really but we travel with two young kids and I'd prefer them not to be ablate pick up this sort of material and have to deal with their questions about exotic girls in exotic poses. Did not add to my sense of security feeling we might be in some sort of knocking shop. After, our two nights, and I'm glad to report that there were no issues, I enquired about extending our stay for a further two nights - simply because we were enjoying Shanghai and decided to stay a couple of extra days. My receptionist friend quoted me 699 CNY per night. We decided to say no and go somewhere else. When we checked out, after paying for another hotel, my friend offered us 499 CNY per night! A truly horrible encounter!

Really hard to find and off the Main Street you enter in through a restaurant and office building with dirty alleyways either side that smell horrendous which is not a great first impression to our stay! The staff have absolutely no English so were absolutely no help at all, the bathroom in the lobby is filthy with broken door hinges and dirty floors and even a disconnected toilet sitting in the middle of the bathroom for a few days which was also filthy! We had a room right by reception and we woke up one morning to find small cards with half dressed Asian women on them under the door which you can assume for yourself what these are for! There were children staying in this hotel too though so they really need to tighten up security at night if this is what is happening! The only upside is there is a Waldorf across the road where you can get fabulous food when you want to splash out a bit who have excellent staff with brilliant English!

It was quite difficult to find the place. There were no clear sign to point the hotel. But the location is strategic,since it's on The Bund and only took few minutes to walk to Nanjing Street. The hotel room was quite ok. It's spacious and has free wifi. The bathroom was also clean. The receptionist was able to speak a little English though.