Looking at past pictures and reviews, it wasn’t surprising to me that the hotel was quite tired in and out. My room was indeed quite unremarkable but manageable, although it was missing a mini-fridge that they advertised as available in upgraded rooms. The team was ready and eager to help – in fact they went out of their way to get me a cold welcome drink and a free laundry pod after seeing the sad state of me after dragging my suitcases from the subway station a few blocks away in the typical Shanghai mugginess.
What caught me off-guard was how poor the breakfast was. First off, it wasn’t busy, but it was hard to find a table as they were not cleared in time. After finding a table and sitting down, I was again hit by how underwhelming the selections were – only two or three hot options and all were vegetarian. The breakfast crew also preferred to just stand around and chat away versus actually helping out. Being an older hotel is, in my opinion, no excuse to not being able to deliver a good breakfast experience, so I was not sure what the rationale was – to me it was almost like nobody bothered trying.
The hotel also advertised a gym, however it was probably one of the most laughable gyms I’d ever seen. It was simply two pieces of equipment hidden inside a small space next to the laundry room. See for yourself.
All being said, my biggest issue with my stay was still the breakfast, because I see that as an important part of the Holiday Inn Express offering in APAC. I might as well go stay at a local chain for half the price if IHG gets this wrong every time. The thing is, other IHG hotels have already proven, consistently, that they can do breakfast properly, so what was stopping this property from doing just that? I’m looking forward to their answer.
RealScore
Service: 7.0
Design and Room Size: 7.0
In-room Amenities: 6
Bathroom Size and Layout: 7
View from (my) Room: 8
Hotel Location: 8
Available Guest Facilities: 7
Food Quality: 5
Food and Beverage Service: 5
Executive Lounge Quality: N/A
Final RealScore: 6.98
Final RealRating: B
Hotel is built/opened: 2015
Total number of rooms: 267
Length of stay: 1 night
Membership level at check-in: Diamond
Room type experienced: Premium Room (better amenities)
Hotel4Real! 
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