Back in 1937 when this hotel first opened, it was "the place". In 2012, it still has location on its side and wonderful art-deco motif.. Staff are competent, speak English and do try their best to make your stay a good one.
If I had one problem with the hotel it would the hotel buffet breakfast. The buffet is presented well but if you are a party of 2, you will be sharing your table with others. Not a bad thing, necessarily, but the space if tight. I appreciated the fact the chefs did their best to not have the same breakfast items everyday, there was variety and enough items to select from. But the one problem I continually experienced every morning of my four day stay, the coffee was lukewarm to cold. Small thing, yes, but I can't understand how it could that way day after day.
Other than that, the experience was going back in time to a different era when you entered hotel.

The Hotel is heritage listed and forms an integral component of the historical Bund experience. Firstly however don't miss the high speed Maglev experience from the airport but whatever you do avoid the "Red Cabs" as they will rip you off inflated fares. The Bund is the old english side of the Huangpu River with essential the Mansions as the start of the heritage trail. The staff at the Hotel are warm and courteous and accomodation is very comfortable and rooms well decorated and king size bed extremely suportive of good rest. The addition of a loofa in the bathroom is a nice touch. The TV system incortporates a computer with Internet features but is an outdated and slow feature that was superseeded by better ethernet. Our room had access to the executive lounge which is a pleasant quiet getaway with views over the river and surrounds. Whilst breakfast can accepted in this lounge we preferred the usual guest facilities for a broader selection which was top qulaity fair and excellent table service. The views from this area were spectacular even during the day but at night is when you appreciate the location of the hotel. The Bund is alive with colours and all the buildings are floodlit and a wonderful experience. However once you leave the Hotel and cross the minor bridge you see the opposite side of the river and experience the new version of the city, The Pudong. At this point you recognise that the Hotel's location is paramount to your appreciation of the visit. From the perspective of the historical Bund and the newer Pudong we highly recomend the property. The feeling is akin to viewing Hong Kong from the Star Ferry. Nonetheless you are close to transport and the shopping of Nanging Road is also an easy walk away. A stay at this Hotel is a very memorable experience for so many reasons.

From the bellman standing ready at the street to open the cab door, holding umbrellas over our head to keep the rain off, taking our bags from us and escorting us to our room to the roomy old-style comfort of the rooms, everything was first class at this hotel.

We got the metro to the hotel but managed to get a lost finding it! It is probably a 15-20 minute walk from the nearest metro station so on the way back to the airport we got a taxi which was well worth it, for 76 Yuan. We had read that taxis in China never use their meters but we did not encounter this even once so used taxi's quite a lot and found them to be the cheapeast we have ever used anywhere in the world!

We paid extra for the river view rooms having read the reviews on here, but the first room we were given was in the corner of the hotel so was very pokey, with a tiny window and no light (room ending 16). We asked if we could be moved and they quickly accommodated this and we were given a much nicer room with a huge window and the biggest bed ever (room ending 11)! We were much happier with this room.

The location is great, walk just across the bridge and you are right on the Bund with the sightseeing tunnel and the Big Bus Tour leaving only a 5 minute walk away.

As the previous reviewer said it does look like it's in need of an update from the outside but once inside everything is great.

I would recommend this hotel and would stay here again.