Hotel4Real!

Shanghai’s upscale hotel market has historically been very competitive. Many international hotel brands, including Marriott, entered early to showcase the best they had to offer at the time. Some hotels constantly refresh themselves to stay competitive, while some hotels direct their revenue elsewhere and close when renovation time hits. The Renaissance Putuo, on the other hand, lives somewhere in between.

Located in the northeast corner of what could be considered central Shanghai and farther away from most major attractions, the Renaissance Putuo and its surroundings felt quiet yet slightly “dilapidated” at the same time. You’d find mostly newer high-rise residential buildings in the neighbourhood, but the attached shopping mall had already closed its door leaving only a small food court open to public and connecting the hotel to a metro station, adding to the “calmness”.

Once inside though, the in-my-opinion overly quiet ambiance of the nearby area mostly dissipated. Instead, the lobby and main floor public areas was modestly appointed but felt premium and fitting for the brand. The bell team offered to help, and check-in was pleasant. I was offered an upgrade to a corner room, and was sent on my way up even though it was before noon time.

The room itself was pleasant. The size itself was may be a slight bit larger than regular rooms, however the separating wall between the “office” area and the king bed made it feel more like an open suite. There was a ton of windows and natural light, although the view was nothing to write home about, and the sun did heat up the room quite a bit during the day. Thankfully, even though the front desk will say “no” for liability reasons, the windows can be opened, albeit not without some effort and/or make-shift tools.

The bathroom was pretty standard, with all the things you’d expect – and on the flip side, nothing you’d not expect. I really loved the presence of an art piece in the bathroom though, normally this is where artsy stuff tends to give way to functionality.

The hotel used to feature an executive lounge. Some time after COVID, the lounge was closed, and instead the BLD cafe/restaurant area was used for premium guests. This came with benefits and drawbacks in my opinion. One positive was that the space was much bigger than your typical lounge, so it was never crowded, and the evening buffet was much, much more expansive than most lounges. On the flip side, though, the lack of privacy or, in other words, “exclusivity”, was not exactly unnoticeable, since the restaurant was somewhat exposed to the general lobby traffic because of where it was located. Another issue was that instead of a professional elite-centric team attending to the lounge, the space was staffed with the restaurant team, and I could tell some of them were either fairly green to the customer service business or not empowered to the degree they should have been, and appeared quite uncertain and/or nervous around any questions or requests that were ever so slightly off-script. That being said, they were all more than competent enough to perform their duties and keep the place going.

Going back to the beginning, where I called the hotel “in between” – my stay was pleasant and I would book again if the price is right, because service was good, the room was more than adequate, and management clearly hadn’t given up like some hotels I’ve written about. However, I can’t help but feel like there were things that could have been better. The hard product itself was getting older, the surrounding area was not the most inviting, and the lounge setup might work as a temporary solution but probably not as a permanent change. In a market like Shanghai, not giving up is clearly not good enough, and the extra mile is what makes the difference.

RealScore

Service: 8.0

Design and Room Size: 8.5

In-room Amenities: 8

Bathroom Size and Layout: 8

View from (my) Room: 6

Hotel Location: 7

Available Guest Facilities: 9

Food Quality: 9

Food and Beverage Service: 8

Executive Lounge Quality: 9

Final RealScore: 7.98

Final RealRating: A

Hotel is built/opened: 2010

Total number of rooms: 330

Length of stay: 3 nights

Membership level at check-in: Titanium

Room type experienced: Corner Room