The Yangtze Boutique Shanghai

I had booked a Grand double room; first room I was given upon check-in was quite dark and dingy and felt a bit disappointing. I requested to be changed to a room with a balcony and the front desk staff dealt with that efficiently and quickly, so I was moved to this room the next day. It's definitely worth requesting a balcony room as the 2nd room was much brighter and felt very comfortable and pleasant to be in, so I enjoyed my stay much more after this. The staff were very helpful in this matter. Rooms were both extremely clean and the hotel is beautifully decorated in the Art Deco style. The hotel is very conveniently located for the metro station, which is just a few metres and has 3/4 lines running from there all over the city. Convenient to walk to the Bund and West Nanjing Rd.

For some reason the hotel don't include breakfast in their rates, perhaps this is why the the Ciao restaurant for both breakfast and lunch was amazingly empty. I requested a continental breakfast for room service one morning but was told to go to the restaurant. When I went down to the restaurant I was the only person there, and they already started clearing up and putting things away well before the time had ended (there was another 30 mins left). The restaurant staff did not speak English and it seemed they were asking me to hurry up and finish my breakfast. I had to request to be left to finish my food. Very strange experience. Location wise - very difficult to find breakfast places locally if you don't want breakfast in the hotel, there are a few coffee shops if that's all you want. I had to go to Xintiandi and near West Nanjing Rd for a) more Western style restaurants and b) for vegetarian food.