I stayed at Swissôtel Grand Shanghai for one night and used an Accor ALL Suite Night Upgrade to confirm a Pinnacle Suite before arrival. That would’ve already been a good outcome. At check-in, however, the hotel upgraded us again to an Executive Suite, which sits another category higher and measures a rather ridiculous 110 sqm.
This hotel suite was larger than plenty of homes back home. It had a guest toilet, a separate living room, a dining table, a proper work area, a large bedroom and a bathroom with enough empty floor space to feel faintly wasteful. With only two people staying, you’d quite easily lose track of one another inside it.
The design does show its age. There’s a lot of dark wood, beige stone and furniture that belongs to an earlier era of international business hotels. Still, the sheer amount of space made that much easier to forgive. Add in a useful executive lounge, a broad breakfast spread and a location near Jing’an Temple, and this became a very good use of the Suite Night Upgrade.
Location
Swissôtel Grand Shanghai is in Jing’an, at 1 Yu Yuan Road. Jing’an Temple is only a short walk away, and the surrounding district has no shortage of shopping centres, offices and restaurants. It’s a convenient part of Shanghai to use as a base, particularly if the purpose of the trip isn’t confined to one side of the city.
Jing’an Temple station serves Metro Lines 2, 7 and 14, so you won’t need more than one change for much of Shanghai. The station is close to the hotel, although the underground route isn’t equally convenient from every exit. Depending on the direction from which you arrive, you may encounter stairs, which is something to keep in mind with heavy luggage.
Check-in
The main entrance opens into a large lobby, with reception desks set against a circular backlit map of Shanghai, very beautifully decorated lobby.
At check-in, the staff explained that our Suite Night Upgrade had been taken one step further. Instead of the Pinnacle Suite that had already been confirmed, we’d been upgraded to an Executive Suite. The room was ready when we arrived, so there wasn’t any waiting around before we could head upstairs.
The staff also went through the Accor ALL Platinum benefits properly. These included access to the executive lounge, afternoon tea, evening canapés, welcome drink vouchers and complimentary breakfast. We could choose between breakfast in the lounge or the larger buffet downstairs at Café Swiss. It was a clear explanation, which matters when the benefits aren’t all delivered in one place or at one time.
The room
At 110 sqm, the Executive Suite is arranged more like an apartment than a larger hotel room. It’s divided at the entrance foyer, with the living spaces on one side and the bedroom and main bathroom on the other.
Immediately off the entrance is a guest toilet with its own small vanity. This is useful in a suite of this size because anyone visiting the living room doesn’t need to go through the bedroom or main bathroom. It also gives some indication of the space to come. Even the secondary toilet isn’t cramped.
Living room
The living side of the suite is divided into several proper zones. There’s a lounge area with a sofa, armchairs and a television, followed by a substantial work desk beside the window. A separate dining table sits closer to the entrance. There was still a great deal of open space between them.
The room’s age is clearest here. The dark timber cabinets make the suite feel more like a traditional business hotel than a newly renovated luxury property. I wouldn’t choose it for the interior design alone. On the other hand, you’ll regularly find newer hotels giving guests half as much space and calling those a suite, so there’s a trade-off.
The dry pantry had a Nespresso Professional machine and capsules, Jing Tea, bottled water, cups, an electric kettle and an ice bucket. A minibar and small refrigerator were built into the cabinetry. We didn’t use the minibar to put our items, but it was there if needed. Jing Tea in the room was also a small point of difference from the Dilmah selection offered elsewhere in the hotel.
Bedroom
The bedroom is on the other side of the foyer and continues the same generous proportions. A king bed occupies the centre of the room, with a daybed beside the windows and plenty of clear space around both. In many hotels, a daybed would consume most of the remaining floor area. Here, you’d barely notice the difference.
The wardrobe contained bathrobes, slippers, a safe, hangers, an iron and an ironing board. It’s all fairly conventional, but the storage was large enough for a much longer stay than our single night.
Bathroom
The main bathroom was almost very spacious. There were two vanity sinks, a separate dressing area with its own stool, a bathtub and a large shower area. I’m not sure we needed two sinks for a one-night stay, but nobody could complain about a lack of bathroom space.
The toilet sits beyond the vanity beside the shower. The shower itself is much larger than the standard one you’d find in most hotel rooms. A separate bathtub occupies the other side of the bathroom for anyone who’d rather have a soak.
The wall-mounted toiletries were from Purovel, Swissôtel’s own wellbeing brand, with shampoo, conditioner and shower gel provided. The bathroom styling wasn’t any newer than the rest of the suite, but it was clean, extremely roomy and had every major fixture separated properly.
Taken as a whole, the Executive Suite is a reminder that age and comfort aren’t always the same question. It looks dated, but the layout is excellent and the amount of usable room is exceptional. For this stay, I’d gladly take the older design in exchange for 110 sqm.
Executive lounge
The Swiss Executive Lounge is on the 27th floor and extends across a split-level space connected by a spiral staircase. It’s long rather than especially wide, with windows looking over Jing’an and the surrounding city. There’s a mixture of dining tables, armchairs and quieter seats, plus a meeting room near the entrance.
Afternoon tea
Afternoon tea was the weaker of the two main lounge services. There was enough for a snack, but you wouldn’t mistake it for a spread that could replace lunch.
The sweet selection included muffins, cookies, Swiss chocolate cake, chocolate brownies, chocolate mousse, mango pudding, butter cake and Swiss roll. On the savoury side, there were multi-cheese sandwiches, pumpkin tarts and curry puffs. Whole fruit was also available.
Drinks came from a self-service coffee machine, with Dilmah tea beside it. You’d be fine sitting down over a drink and something sweet, although the food itself was fairly basic.
Evening canapés
The evening service was more substantial. Some afternoon tea items remained on the counter, joined by fruit tarts, fruit cream cake, French egg pudding and mango pudding. The cold buffet added a fruit platter, salad greens, vegetables, a cheese platter, smoked salmon, assorted cold cuts and dressings.
There was also a reasonable Asian hot selection. This included braised seafood, a prawn and seafood stew, braised sausages, stir-fried vegetables, pork ribs with bean sauce, spring rolls, dry stir-fried beef rice noodles and fish soup.
This was enough food to make a light dinner if you didn’t want to leave the hotel. You wouldn’t confuse it with dinner at a restaurant, and the reuse of the afternoon tea selection was obvious, but the hot dishes made the evening service much more useful than the afternoon tea service. But frankly, in Shanghai, I would think it is better to eat outside and enjoy the many different cuisines of China. There are lots of great restaurants nearby the hotel.
Alcohol was available during the evening service, including a range of standard spirits. The wines photographed included Skyward Chardonnay from Australia and a De Bortoli red wine. The drinks chiller held Pepsi, 7UP, Tsingtao beer and bottled water.
The lounge also has a small business corner with computers and printing equipment. This could be helpful if you need to print something during a work trip, although the printer wasn’t working reliably when we tried it. I wouldn’t leave an urgent document until the last minute on the assumption that it’ll cooperate.
Facilities
Swimming pool and jacuzzi pool
The hotel also has an indoor swimming pool and a gender-separated jacuzzi pool.
Fitness centre
There is also a fitness centre with quite a number of equipment.
Breakfast
Platinum members could have breakfast in either the executive lounge or Café Swiss, the hotel’s main restaurant downstairs. We chose Café Swiss for the larger buffet. The dining room wasn’t especially busy when we arrived, although it didn’t stay quite as empty once more guests began coming in.
The restaurant buffet was considerably broader than anything in the lounge. On the Chinese side, you’ll find a live noodle station where noodles were prepared to order, with laver, chilli sauce, dried small shrimp and soy sauce as condiments. Nearby were youtiao, marinated wheat gluten with peanuts and black fungus, and shredded pork with fried pickles.
There were coffee machines and another Dilmah tea station for self-service drinks.
The bakery had a genuinely wide selection, including grape Danish pastries, soft rolls, croissants, chocolate croissants, whole wheat bread and baguettes. The adjacent counter carried toast, spreads, yoghurt cups, brownies and Swiss chocolate items.
Fresh fruit was set out in its own decorative display. The cold buffet covered smoked salmon, cold cuts, salad greens, vegetables and dressings, with a cheese board, crackers, walnuts and a piece of honeycomb. The honeycomb made the cheese display a little more interesting, although much of the board had already been picked over by the time I photographed it.
The bamboo steamers contained corn, siu mai, char siu bao and steamed custard buns. Four chilled juices were labelled apple, grape, orange and carrot.
The sweet hot section had pancakes, maple syrup, vanilla sauce and bread pudding. Western hot dishes included baked beans, fried mixed mushrooms, roast bacon, hash browns, pork sausages, chicken sausages and French toast.
Finally, there was a live egg station for made-to-order eggs and omelettes, with several fillings laid out in front. Between that, the noodle station, the steamers, pastries, fruit, cheese and hot dishes, the buffet covered most of what I’d expect from a large hotel in China.
Breakfast wasn’t especially memorable for one outstanding dish, but the range was good and the restaurant remained fairly calm. I’d choose Café Swiss over the lounge unless time was tight or I wanted a quieter, simpler meal.
Concluding thoughts
Swissôtel Grand Shanghai is an easy hotel to sum up. The rooms aren’t particularly modern, but the Executive Suite gave us an extraordinary amount of space. The upgrade from a confirmed Pinnacle Suite to a 110 sqm Executive Suite was generous, and it turned a one-night stay into something far more memorable than the design alone would suggest.
The executive lounge was useful rather than exceptional. Afternoon tea was modest, while the evening canapés were substantial enough for a light dinner and came with a decent range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Breakfast downstairs at Café Swiss was the better meal, with enough Chinese and Western variety to satisfy almost anyone without the room feeling overcrowded.
Location is another strength. Jing’an Temple and three Metro lines are close by, which makes the hotel convenient for getting around Shanghai. The only small warning is that the walk through the station may involve stairs depending on the exit, so choose your route carefully if you’re carrying luggage.
For an Accor ALL Platinum member with a Suite Night Upgrade available, this property can offer excellent value. I wouldn’t come here in search of Shanghai’s newest or most stylish hotel room. I’d come for the location, the lounge benefits and, above all, the possibility of getting an enormous suite in the centre of the city. On this stay, that bargain worked out very well indeed.
