Hotel4Real!

The Luxury Collection brand features the pinnacle of Marriott’s luxury portfolio. This also means properties will need to do a lot more to keep up with the evolving expectations. Unfortunately, the Hongta was too far behind.

There’s simply no way around it – the Hongta was an older hotel, and it showed pretty much everywhere inside and outside the building. To make matters worse, I noticed multiple issues with the sanitation standards around the hotel, from an open garbage container to the mosquito-infested water feature in the lobby – I felt like I was in the 2000s again.

There was also a major mix-up with my booking, and the suite type (Mandarin Suite) I used my upgrade certificates for ended up not being available. They were eventually able to sort things out (how? I have no idea to this day) and get me the suite I booked, but the whole hiccup started my stay on the wrong foot.

I wanted to check out on the spot after I saw what the suite was like – certainly not worth the certificates. It unfortunately showed its age in all the bad ways, from the baked-in stains in the carpet, to the randomly disconnecting wall outlets, to the general musty smell all over – everything was trying to remind us that the hotel was built 20 years ago and no major changes let alone remodeling had been made ever since.

Food and beverage offerings were pretty standard. The hotel was evidently very elite-heavy and the lounge was tiny to accommodate the traffic, so dinner service was moved to the lobby restaurant. The lounge fares were pretty ordinary, with the exception of order-cooked eggs for breakfast. As a trade-off, the buffet was lackluster. The view was very nice though.

Now, what saved my stay from a write-off was the team at the Hongta. They were quite literally superstars. My room attendants were consistently nice, and their attention to detail was remarkable throughout my stay. The lounge team, namely Edith, did their best to make the most out of the limited resource they had on hand, and was always ready to listen and jump into action.

Last but absolutely not least, I was extremely lucky to have met Freddy at the front desk. He was fluently multilingual, always happy yet professional, empowered while being super down-to-earth, and most importantly, willing to offer his help at all times and would not stop before reaching a solution. I relied on his help throughout my 3-night stay and the professional and personal connections we have made were extremely valuable to me even to this day.

After all, I left the Hongta with mixed feelings. The hard product is just too far behind, that unless the owner decides to completely gut out everything and restart from scratch, it simply won’t stand a chance against other upscale hotels in Shanghai, let alone luxury competitors. It’s such a shame that the team here was literally doing all they could to save the doomed ship from sinking, but ultimately, what more could the orchestra have done to save the Titanic?

RealScore

Service: 9.0

Design and Room Size: 7.0

In-room Amenities: 7

Bathroom Size and Layout: 10

View from (my) Room: 8

Hotel Location: 8

Available Guest Facilities: 9

Food Quality: 7

Food and Beverage Service: 7

Executive Lounge Quality: 7

Final RealScore: 8.03

Final RealRating: AA

Hotel is built/opened: 2001

Total number of rooms: 328

Length of stay: 3 nights

Membership level at check-in: Titanium

Room type experienced: Mandarin Suite