Alila Jakarta (Indonesia)

A few years ago a couple of friends were heading for Bali and asked for recommendations on hotels. I gave them the Amanresorts, which had three properties in Bali (Amanusa in Nusa Dua, Amankila in Candi Dasa, and Amandari in Ubud), but eventually they settled for a hotel chain that at that time I was not aware of: Alila. There were two in Bali: Alila Manggis (close to the Amankila in Candi Dasa) and Alila Ubud (near the Amandari).

Fastforward to 2005 when I found myself taken by my cousins to the lobby and the lounge of Alila Jakarta after dinner elsewhere. At that time the hotel seemed to have just been opened: minimalist in its approach, but with a certain je ne sais quoi that was a bit off. Two years later, 2007, I finally found out what that je-ne-sais-quoi was . . .

Located in the one of the older sections of central Jakarta known as Pasar Baru, Alila Jakarta actually occupies a good site. From the hotel room one can see both the Istiqlal Mosque and the Cathedral in the not-so-far a distance. The Presidential Palace is not too far away, as is the National Monument. Late at night, after the shops in front of the hotels are closed for business, food vendors set up their shops and cooked their specialties for diners.

Entering the lobby area to check in, one turns to the left and chooses one of the three counters. The set up is done nicely, but the wood or finish looks rather cheap. The majority of the rooms is dedicated for smokers, and non-smokers are confined to 3-4 floors scattered in this high-rise hotels. Smokers rejoice; you have found an ally in this hotel (although in actuality, a lot of Indonesian hotels are still this way, perhaps, just like the Sheraton in Surabaya that only allocated 3-4 floors in its property, too). Check-in hits a snag only because they put the reservation under my first name. A week prior, I have informed them to put the reservation under my last name; I have asked for them to send an e-mail reservation confirmation; and I have requested a room away from the elevator, but as I would find out, none of those requests seemed to have been honored.

We were given the first room closest to the elevator. When I asked for a replacement, I was asked to wait for a long time and then reassigned to the second room closest of the elevator. All rooms had the same small size, but there were two different packages, one of which included a 24-hr Internet. King-size bedrooms appear to have been on the lower floors while the Double-size bedrooms are in the higher floors. Floor 14 seemed to be the highest non-smoking level there was (there was almost 30 floors to the hotel, I believe).

While waiting for the room reassignment, we ate at buzz, the restaurant cum coffee shop located at the lobby area. For a review of the restaurant, click HERE.

The pool would have been suffice to do laps, but unfortunately I did not get to use it. The gym seemed to be all right in terms of equipment, although we did not get to use any; instead, we did use the steam room and sauna room (both quite small, but functional) and took advantage of the Spa offering. My therapist had runny nose and I did not detect this early enough. While treating me, her right hand kept missing from my back to wipe her runny nose: yuck (more on this later). The massage room was tranquil with a separate shower area. Massage was just average.

We actually booked for four nights at the hotel but after one look at the room, we started browsing the Net for other hotels and eventually checked out after only one night. At check out time, a girl who was clearly sick handled my affairs. She was constantly coughing and wiping her nose (the hotel really should have a policy not to put sick people in charge of anything; remember the masseuse with the runny nose?). In addition, while processing my check-out, other clients who she happened to know well kept interrupting her work and bumping me from left and right. I was more than happy to leave the hotel and hopefully never to return.

Alila Jakarta attempts to fall within the likes of boutique hotels, which are usually minimalist in its approach and unique in its outlook, but minimalist does not mean skimming on the quality of furnishings. Minimalist also does not necessarily mean leaving areas empty for the sake of not cluttering them. At least Alila Jakarta has enough taste in not actually calling itself the Boutique Hotel Alila (on our way from the airport to Alila, we actually spotted one hotel whose name was Boutique Hotel something...). According to the hotel's website, Alila is Sanskrit for "surprise"; I could not have been more surprised to find how the hotel really was.


Alila Jakarta
Jalan Pecenongan Kav 7-17
Jakarta 10120
Indonesia
Tel: +62 21 231 6008
Fax: +62 21 231 6007
E-mail: jakarta@alilahotels.com

Grand Hyatt Singapore

Grand Hyatt Singapore should really work on its entrance, which is extremely underwhelming! Upon arriving at the hotel, we got out of the limo and immediately felt like Frogger from that Game Arcade in the 80s. We had to see if we could cut through the throng of passersby without being hit by any. The problem is that the pedestrian sidewalk is right in front of the hotel's entrance, instead of a few feet away.

The foyer is quite vast, well lit but devoid of any seats or adornment. There is a difference between Minimalism and not knowing what to do with a space, which seems to be the case with this foyer. Going further inside brings one to the front desk, the concierge and the cashier's counters. The place never runs out of people; even when all the guests are asleep, security men and the hotel staff roam around. The occupancy rate is supposedly very high, up in the mid-90%, making requests for late-check out a difficult thing. Normally, at other Hyatt locations, late check out means 4 p.m., but here in Singapore, it means 2 p.m. This becomes a problem for people whose flight is not until late night. In our case, our flight departed at 11:40 p.m. We did find a solution for that, but I will save that story for later.

I had a junior suite, called the Grand Deluxe King. All the junior suites are located in the main tower, while the other rooms are situated in the annex. The suites have two Bang & Olufsen TVs (one in the living room, the other in the bedroom; they are really advertising this B&O quite a lot. There is also a B&O store right in the front of the lobby/foyer area, just in case one is enthralled by the sets found in the suites). The other rooms in the annex have the plasma TV sets, but the rooms are smaller than the suites (it makes sense, of course). I was supposed to change to the room in the annex on my 4th night, but overbooking caused them to ask me to stay where I was, which was to my advantage, anyway...

The junior suite separates the work area from the bedroom. The office cum living room area has a nice desk with all the necessarily plugs and Internet accommodations. The room's safe is located at the bottom drawer by the desk; it is big enough to put a small laptop and equipped with electrical outlet for laptop battery charging. Unfortunately, a 17" Mac Powerbook will not fit into that safe. A "mini" long sofa and two armchair companions are placed across the television set. Refrigerator and mini bar needs are discreetly tucked behind closed cabinets. It makes the room look clutter free.

The bed is not exactly Westin's Heavenly Bed, but it suffices. The reading lights are placed so that they cross each other: if there are two people sleeping in this bed, the left person's reading light will come from the upper right hand of the bed, and vice versa. It is not necessary to do this and it creates some unnecessary shadows as well.

The bathroom area has ample amount of space. It only comes with a rain-forest-like shower in addition to the usual shower head. There is no bathtub. Plumbing is rather poor. One can actually hears the water trickle loudly when one opens the faucet at the basin.

***

The well-reviewed Straits Kitchen is all right. My friend and I kept getting hassled at having to sign the bills about 30 minutes before the end of the breakfast period. They should really just lay off that annoying habit and let us be. I do not care what time they close the register. Keep it open until I am ready to sign.

There are many stations for different ethnic food, but most of the taste was mediocre at best, except for the South Asian counter that was tucked in a corner so remote that I had missed it on the first morning. The Roti Prata, Naan and Dal were freshly made (I see them make 'em).

***

The swimming pool is more a relaxation pool. Forget lap swimming because there is no one straight lane available, especially not when there are many kids in the pool. There is only so much you can do avoiding the unpredictable movements of the kids.

The Spa is fine: there are plenty of aerobic machines, Nautilus, and free weights. The steam and sauna, albeit small, work well; and so is the warm/hot dipping pool/jacuzzi. The only thing that they could improve is to put the massage rooms in a more remote area. At the Spa, the 5 to 6 massage rooms are placed along a major corridor, but none of the rooms is sound-proofed, which means that inside, while one is trying to relax, one can hear chatters non-stop from people walking from the reception desk to the work-out room.

***

If your focus in going to Singapore is shopping at the nearby Orchard Road, then the Grand Hyatt Singapore will do the job fine. It is actually located on Scotts Road, only few steps away to Orchard Road. If you want a late check out, check elsewhere. The (Mandarin) Oriental in the Marina offers a Club Experience that allows one to check out at 8 p.m.

(Speaking of the Oriental, that was where we ended up going after we checked out of the Hyatt at 2 p.m. We left our luggage at the Hyatt, then went to the Oriental to have a Spa experience, dinner and drinks, and then return to the Hyatt to pick up the luggage and left for Chang-I.)

The Grand Hyatt Singapore
10 Scotts Road
Singapore 228211
Tel: +65 6235-4111
Fax: +65 6734-0375

Park Hyatt Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

The Park Hyatt Saigon opened just this past July 2005. I checked in four months later, staying in 3 different rooms (2 standard and 1 suite). The prime location in District 1 (considered most desirable in Ho Chi Minh City [or HCMC], the city formerly known as Saigon) makes most of the landmarks available within walking distance. The hotel is next to the Opera House, close to the "Hotel de Ville" (French for "City Hall"), and not too terribly far away from the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Independence Palace. In addition, the upper-end shopping malls are located in this area as well. Most taxi drivers do not know where Park Hyatt Saigon is because it is quite new, but because of its close proximity to the well-known Caravelle Hotel, the latter became a convenient point of reference.

The standard room was quite small. In the first room that I occupied, there were crumbs inside the folder of the hotel information; and no clock (alarm clock). When we came in, there was no welcome bowl of fruits. They were to come much later. Even the Grand Hyatt Jakarta sent one staff member to bring the welcome bowl of fruits immediately after I settled down. The Hyatt Regency Surabaya already had fruits waiting in one's room upon check-in.

The second room, another standard room, had an alarm clock (which made me realize that the first room was missing one). These standard rooms are not the most perfect for a two-person occupancy, unless one devices a schedule for bathroom use (there was only one basin). Even a standard room at Ritz Carlton would have two basins.

The suite definitely worked better, with ample amount of space, a walk-in closet, a writing desk that doubled as a vanity table (right before the bathroom). The suite I had was at the end of the hall. Because the hotel had a curved outer wall, the suite occupied a rather odd space. As a result, the living room area did not look as pleasing as it could be. Alarm clock was again missing from this room. The hotel needs to work on consistency.

Check-in was done in the room, but there was no offer for an express check-out, and I forgot to ask about such service.

Room Service was excellent: I was rather picky in how I wanted my Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) served, but when it arrived, it was exactly as I had instructed it to be served. Other services such as turn-down and shoeshine were very satisfactory and timely.

For some reasons, I was always placed in the 7th floor (there are a total of 9 floors). Standard rooms are rather small but cozy. Noise from the streets in front of the hotel is carried all the way up to my rooms, day and night. At night, it is common for the electricity to fail. The explanation that came from the hotel was that the electricity was supplied by the State, but at night, the State switched it off and therefore the hotel had to turn on its own generator. They apologized the first time it happened and promised that it would not happen again; that it was not a usual thing. Well, luckily I was not born yesterday and knew better. Every night there was a black-out, sometimes more than once. If they knew that the State was going to turn it off every night, the hotel should anticipate it by getting the generator already going to provide a seamless transition from one power supplier to another.

Both the spa and the gym were very nice, clean, and well-attended (in the late afternoon until late night). Both the steam room and the jacuzzi were big. The pool was great for lap swimming. Third-floor guests with pool view actually had a small patio area between their rooms and the pool area. They had French windows so they could step out and go to the pool directly from their rooms. I tried the spa on the first night: ample amount of space for a Thai massage. There was a shower stall inside the treatment room. I took a shower but was surprised that they did not change the bath/shower mat between treatments. Apparently, someone had previously showered there, and no one had bothered to change the mat for a new client.

There was a lot of miscommunication:
- Before I left Saigon, I informed the staff that I would return quite early one day and asked if I could do an early check-in. I was assured that there were plenty of rooms for that day and that one room was confirmed for my checking-in early. When the time came, I was told that there was no room for early check-in. A group of people had just come and had used all the rooms. I had to wait for more than an hour to have a room ready. When finally it was ready, a staff took me to a 3rd floor-room, which was not my preference. So, she moved me back to the 7th floor. While chatting with her, I found out that occupancy that day was only 45%. So, why was it that they said there was no room available?
- I re-checked in to a standard room on a Thursday, but would move to a suite on Friday, and depart on Saturday. I made sure that the limo reservation was for Saturday, and to remind them of the room change. On Friday, I was told that my limo was ready. I had to explain to them that it was not until Saturday that I would need it. By instinct, I checked back on Friday night, and right enough, no limo was reserved for me for Saturday. So, I re-reserved the limo for the departure date. It was confirmed. Much later at night, I got a call, asking if I would need a limo for Saturday, and I told them that I had indeed reserved one earlier. The next day, on departure date, the staff was surprised to find out that I had booked a limo. There was none in the system that noted that.
- The staff charged me double for the first stay, not taking into account that I had prepaid for the hotel via the Internet (the hotel knew very well that I had prepaid because there was a credit on top of the folio). While both sides (the hotel and I) caught the mistake, there was no courtesy call to let me know about it. I had to go down with my laptop to show all the paperwork, and the assistant manager came up with a receipt for a credit already done that very same day (but did not tell me about it.) This was an honest mistake, perhaps the staff members were not yet used to the system.
- Postscript (and take this as a Caveat Emptor): Goldpassport.com never did a perfect job. Something was always missing, and this time it was no exception. They did not calculate Platinum points correctly, including omitting the prepayment in the calculation of the points. However, upon notifying the customer service, the problem was corrected. This blew my mind because usually I would get a courtesy acknowledgment e-mail, followed by the actual correction few days later. This time, it happened within minutes!

There were two things that in my mind I had allowed all this to pass:
1. The hotel was relatively new, only 4-5 months old.
2. Although they made several mistakes, the staff members were extremely friendly and accommodating.

If and when I return to Saigon, I would not hesitate in staying at the Park Hyatt again. While I was in that city, I visited different hotels, saw the lobby areas and observed their atmospheres, and I definitely prefered the Park Hyatt over the other hotels. There was an elegance and tranquility about the Park Hyatt that was not to be found in the other hotels, at least for now.

Ana Mandara Resort (Nha Trang, Vietnam)

Make no mistake: I did not stay in this hotel, but merely visited and stayed in the premise. Unfortunately, a prior commitment to another local hotel (without knowledge of this resort existing) had prevented me from moving. Still, if I were ever to return to this area, I would not mind booking a bungalow over there.

The layout of the hotel was very much like any hotels in Bali: a vast and open lobby area accompanied with a pond of koi fish. From the entrance, one could see the Nha Trang Bay way in the background. After the lobby area, going to the left one could find the New Restaurant and the Lobby Bar, while going to the right one could find the Library and Internet room, the hotel shop, the swimming pool, and the Ana Mandara Restaurant.

Rain or shine, sitting at the veranda of the New Restaurant facing the Nha Trang Bay was a quite a treat. Over desserts on an overcast day, some friends and I chatted the afternoon away. Desserts were heavenly with local flavors of ice cream (rambutan, soursop came to mind). The restaurant offered buffet in the morning, up until around 10:30 am, serving the usual Western breakfast fare, along with more traditional Vietnamese dishes like the fried noodles and Pho, the noodle soup. The ham and jam were fantastalicious!

A pool table was available at the Lobby Bar, another relaxing area adjacent to the New Restaurant. Between this Lobby Bar and the opposing veranda on the southern part was a long rectangular pond with koi fish. Fish food was provided near the pond. At the Library, two desktops and one laptop were provided for guests to access the Internet. Directly in front of the Library and also near the shop, one could find some seats to sit and read or just to gaze across the pool to the Bay. A table with a supply of ginger candies were at one's disposal.

Any hotel in Vietnam, be it in Saigon or in Nha Trang, with a price tag of USD200 is considered a luxury hotel, and as such, the Ana Mandara fits that description.


Ana Mandara Resort & Spa
Beachside Tran Phu Boulevard
Nha Trang, Vietnam
Tel: +84-58-829-829
Fax: +84-58-829-629
resvana@dng.vnn.vn
www.sixsenses.com/ana-mandara

Grand Hyatt Jakarta (Jakarta, Indonesia)

Grand Hyatt Jakarta occupies one of the most coveted locations in the city. From the 70s and probably slightly before then, the M. H. Thamrin Boulevard is a major artery and an example of what a civilized city Jakarta could be. It has less to do with the luxury hotels and shopping malls that line the boulevard than with the discipline that is enforced when it comes to vehicular traffic. During rush hours, there is a mandatory 3-person rule for the main road, except for taxis.

The hotel sits atop one of the more glamorous shopping complex that is Plaza Indonesia, anchored by the Japanese Sogo department store. The lobby looks grand with white marbles and colossal columns, joined by trickling water and vegetation placed in cascading levels. Entering the lobby and immediately looking back and up, one could find a piano lounge, where people wind down or conduct informal business. The echo of jazz music in a grand lobby like this reminded me of old-style colonial hotels from the 60s and 70s (all right, I am way too young to talk about the 60s).

I requested an end-of-the-corridor room and got my wish, with the Fountain on the M. H. Thamrin as my view. The "Selamat Datang" (welcome) sculpture has been a fixture since my childhood days when my family would stay at the Hotel Indonesia or the President Hotel (now the Nikko Hotel Jakarta). Unfortunately, I stayed at the hotel near the Islamic New Year, Lebaran. On that Islamic New Year's Eve, there was a round-the-clock procession of people chanting and praying, joined by honking cars and cursing motorists trapped in the traffic jam.

The room, not a suite, is pleasing to the eyes. The Grand Hyatt brand has really streamlined their designs, or at least, that has been my observation while staying at the various Grand Hyatt hotels. The rooms may not be immediately identifiable the way most Ritz-Carlton rooms are from one location to another, but there certainly is a common thread between the Grand Hyatt rooms: the type of wood, the look of the bed, and the layout of the work area. The bathroom is fairly standard: bathtub, shower stall and a basin countertop. The walk in closet is located across the bath area.

The gym offers plenty to do, and the locker and relaxation areas are sufficiently staffed. There are steam and sauna rooms facing each other, separated by a cold dipping pool. Four to five chaise longues are placed nearby. The shower stalls are equipped with multiple showerheads that attack your body from different angles.

The coffee shop offers "buffet" dinners: such buffet offerings are very common in Asian hotels. They are extremely popular because they offer limitless trips to the counters, and they give a break to the restaurant staff. Usually when one wants to order à la carte, one is encouraged to get a buffet instead. Most of the time, the price of each entrée is such that it only makes sense to order the buffet, instead.

What makes the Grand Hyatt Jakarta more desirable is the fact that it sits atop the Plaza Indonesia and is adjacent to an annex called FX. This gives one the option to eat outside of the hotel without leaving the compound. On rainy or extremely hot and humid days (which is the majority of the time in Jakarta), this becomes a convenient solution.


Grand Hyatt Jakarta
Jalan M H Thamrin
Kav 28-30
Jakarta 10230
Indonesia
Tel: +62 (21) 390-1234
Fax: +62 (21) 3193-4321

The Dharmawangsa (Jakarta, Indonesia)

The Dharmawangsa’s location in a tranquil, residential neighborhood of south Jakarta, its setting amidst a thick lush of greens, and its low-rise architecture (it was only 5-floors high) were qualities that proved to be appealing. A visit to their website and the ease of online reservation made it even easier to book a room in this posh hotel in the capital of Indonesia.

The treatment started at the Sukarno-Hatta International Airport, where, as advertised, someone was stationed at the arrival gate, not only to greet us but also to aid us in the immigration process. We still had to obtain the foreigner’s visas-on-arrival ourselves, but beyond that point, he took over the passports and asked us to proceed to the baggage concourse. We did not have to stay in queue for the immigration; instead, he would deal with this on his own (which begged the question of how safe an immigration entrance policy this country exercised).

The same greeter took care of our luggage and brought us to the curb, where the transportation that we had ordered came to meet us. The hotel provided 5 types of transportation: a regular metered taxi (the Silver Bird taxi company), a BMW-series 3, series 5, series 7, or a Bentley. We chose the BMW-7 and were pleased with the space and cleanliness of the interior. A couple of newspapers, bottled water and candies were provided.

Like at the Amanresorts, check-in was done in the comfort of our room. Because we ordered a suite, a butler was provided for us around the clock. Upon entering the room, one was reminded of the layout of the suite at the Sukhothai Hotel in Bangkok, with the exception that the Sukhothai’s suite floor plan was more spacious with a bathroom area almost the same square-footage of the bedroom; here at the Dharmawangsa Rosewood Suite, however, the living room is bigger than the Sukhothai.

At the foyer, a small kitchen (that included a refrigerator and a small sink) was located across the guest’s powder room. The room then opened to the living room with a study desk, a television set and a sofa in front of it. The hotel provided a small box of butter cookies as well as a plate of fresh fruits. There was no immediate Internet connection; the hotel was actually in the midst of upgrading the system when we arrived.

The new system necessitated each guest to buy a voucher to log on, not too terribly new a concept as this was practiced elsewhere in different hotels. The option was to get a 4-hourly voucher at $5 or a 24-hour access at $15. Unfortunately, the hotel’s IT department should come up with a system to record a guest’s initial log in. We logged in fine at the beginning, but then we shut down and went out. Upon returning, way before our “4 hours” were supposed to expire, I had trouble signing in. I summoned the butler, who summoned another butler, who then called the IT department to deal with this. Every one of them explained to us that the 4 hours were continuous hours, which we understood from the very beginning. Still, the system shut us out faster than the 4 hours allowed us. They did not seem to grasp the idea that 4 hours were 4 hours: we signed on at 10:30, then we should have access until 14:30, even if we logged off in the middle of it. We asked them to check when we first logged on, and they did not have a record of it. We advised them to have a better system. As a courtesy, they provided with a round-the-clock internet for the rest of our stay for free.

But enough about the Internet! After all, we came here to R&R, correct? My partner, who loved beaches and sunny resorts, never imagined in his life that he would end up in Jakarta for a resort-like vacation, but thus far, he was impressed. Again, the location and the setting of the hotel provided a resort-like atmosphere that was conducive to our rest and relaxation.

The swimming pool, in a fat U-shape, was beautifully designed. A local tree called the “Dada Merah” (literally “Red Breast” for it produced red flowers) and the Kamboja (Frangipani flowering trees) were planted along the legs of the “U” shape. The canopying effect proved a beautiful accent to the blue-green tiled pool. The low bending trees acted as if they wanted to touch the surface of the water. During the less attended hours, lap swimming was possible in two directions (along one of the U legs or along the bottom of the U shape). The pool was shared with residents from the adjacent Dharmawangsa residential tower.

The Bimasena Spa, located on the 3rd floor of a 4-story building behind the pool, offered the usual fares of facial, nail care and body scrubs, along with different massage offerings. It also had a jet-streamed warm pool, a dry sauna and a steam room. The steam room could use some cleaning and a makeover as mold appeared on the walls, and the paint of the ceiling was peeling off.

The gym, located on the top floor, offered a limited number of treadmill, stair-masters, and elliptical machines, along with some Nautilus weight machines. A spacious area was provided for stretching and possibly yoga. An indoor pool was available in another part of this 4th floor facility. The area could have been better designed, as this spot seemed to be less inviting to the eyes. There were tables put along the pool, but blocked by the high platform that accommodated the pool.

Finally, the service: it has been disappointingly below par. For a hotel that strived to be very accommodating (i.e., the butler), the Dharmawangsa could fare better in preparing the staff. The concierge was not as efficient as I wished it to be: I left a package with my name and the name of the recipient on top of it in big bold letters. When the person picked it up, the concierge said that there was no guest by that name (my name).

This name business was another source of irritation: I made the reservation on my partner’s name, but e-mailed the hotel to let them know that I would be a guest as well. At the Amanresorts, this would not be a problem, but here, I felt like a vestigial appendage, as every single day the different butlers would greet my partner by name, but would not say anything to me. My name was not even in the system (a reason why the concierge concluded I was non-existent, despite the fact that I had put my name on that package and someone had logged it on the book).

For an Indonesian standard, such a hotel may be a novelty (its website boasts “Uniquely Indonesian”); thus, a lot of people said that it was a great and unique hotel, but in terms of excellence, Dharmawangsa still has a lot of catching up to do. I am not sure if it aims to reach a standard as high as an Amanresort, but that would not be such bad an aspiration now, would it?

The Dharmawangsa
Jalan Brawijaya Raya No. 26
Jakarta, Indonesia
Tel: (62-21) 725-8181
Fax: (62-21) 725-8383

The Four Seasons Shanghai (China)

After four mediocre nights at the Portman Ritz-Carlton Shanghai, the Four Seasons Hotel in the same city restored my faith in high-class hotels. The most basic room in an excellent hotel must still reflect comfort and luxury, and in this case, the Four Seasons Shanghai really excels.

Starting with the reception area that was bathed in light, the hotel set a good tone for the rest of my two-night stay. Staff members were positioned in different areas of the lobby to greet guests as they proceeded to check in. My room was tucked in one corner of the 22nd floor (in the 36-floor hotel). I thought mine would have windows on two sides, but only one side provided the room with natural lighting. Another room was next to mine, but there was not a neighbor across my room. The room, albeit small, was designed really well, and the furnishings were excellent. The plush King-sized bed was topped with four King-sized pillows, all of them soft but very supportive to my back and neck. The lighting made everything glow, including my tired face. All of the light fixtures were equipped with dimmers. The accompanying image is taken from the Four Seasons website, but it resembles closely to my room. Basically WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) and then some!

The bathroom was as big as the bed area. It reminded me of how a standard Ritz-Carlton bathroom usually would be (except the Portman R-C in Shanghai): a wide bathtub with chrome fixtures and an adjoining shower stall with glass windows; marble floor with plush white mat for the sink area. To complete this luxurious bath area were the amenities that were provided by the French company L’Occitane.

The work area consisted of a small desk with an extendable Ethernet cable and a small drawer that flipped to expose different adapters for many countries’ electrical plugs; very convenient, indeed! Open another drawer and one will find yet another universal adapter just in case one wants to work elsewhere in the room. Unlike at the Portman the Ritz-Carlton where I had to keep logging into the Internet once I disconnected, the Four Seasons’ Internet recognized my system for the next 24 hours. If I cleared off my desk in the morning and then started working again in the evening, I did not have to log in again. All I had to do was to plug in the Ethernet cable and to start working. If I had owned an AirPort Express, it would even be very convenient as I could work wirelessly in the room.

In addition, once I logged in, I got a code that would allow me to get wireless connection from other areas in the hotel for the next 24 hours. One disadvantage of this 24-hour contract was that you would be locked into this fee no matter how much connection you used in that period. The Portman R-C charged something like Y1.60/minute, or Y96.60 per 24 hours. If one goes by the minute but reaches the maximum of Y96.60, then one will be charged that maximum price for the entire 24-hours; the R-C option worked well for those who knew they would not be using the Internet for an extended period of time.

Completing the desk was the elegantly designed thick guest information book in the form of a binder. An armoire stood next to the desk, hiding a television set and a DVD player; the safety box; and drawers with Japanese Yukattas or room robes.

Not too long after entering my room, I heard a knock on my door. I must have forgotten to sign something, I thought, but it turned out that I found a gentleman on the other side of the door, carrying a small tray of teapot with two Chinese teacups and two small desserts. He placed the tray on the work desk, poured the tea into the two cups, and then excused himself after making sure that I did not want anything else.

What really distinguished this place from the other regular hotels in and out of Shanghai was how most of the staff had anticipated my every need and how each of them had met my expectation. At the gym, when my mind was thinking of grabbing a towel, someone had approached me with one. On my way to the elliptical machine, another staff presented me with a cold bottle of water and offered me a headphone with the listening device covered in thick white cloth. I was alone when I arrived at the pool area, but when I emerged from the pool, I saw that someone had already put a foot mat by my chaise longue plus bottled water and a glass on the table.

The gym was spacious and had plenty of aerobic machines (treadmills, stair-masters, and stationery bikes). A steam room and hot jacuzzi were located near the shower area, and adjacent to this area was a soothing, relaxing room with chaise-longue and selection of magazines or music to choose.

The massages I had were performed in the room at no extra charge (there was an option of having it done at the spa by the gym.) Those light dimmers came in handy as we dimmed the entire room to set a relaxing mood. The masseur arrived at the appointed time and delivered the deep tissue massage as advertised, which was rare. Some massage places that advertised deep tissue or acupressure massage usually ended up giving me a soft Swedish massage. The set-up and the clean up were very promptly done. Five minutes after the massage, he was already out of the door.

At the Si Ji Xuan Chinese restaurant on the second floor, the maitre d' and one wait staff gave their full attention to me, without being asked. It felt as if each table got its own private server. I was reading the newspaper and a book throughout one brunch, and every time I lifted up my head, my teacup was already refilled, and the pot replenished with hot water. The wait staff worked so efficiently and so flowingly that it seemed like a dance performance.

The morning room cleaning and the evening turndown service made me want to stay there forever. The room always looked very orderly and sparkling new every time I stepped in after a few hours away. And, oh yes, this was also the only hotel in a long time whose housekeeper wrote me a thank-you note for the tips I had left behind on the sink. I have always done this as a habit, but out of the many times I had stayed in hotels around the world, this marked only the second time that someone had scribbled a hand-written note thanking me for it. I left the money at the sink for some time, but it was never taken. Only after the fourth clean up did someone take it.

This hotel, located not entirely in a great area (the Portman Ritz-Carlton had the advantage of being in a more orderly and established area), made me feel as if I were in a resort, not in a hotel in a big city. Despite the location, I would love to return to this hotel when I will be in Shanghai again. In my opinion, this was one hotel whose services approached the level of perfection that I had found thus far only at the Amanresorts in Indonesia.

The Four Seasons Shanghai
500 Weihai Road
Shanghai 200041, China
Tel: +86 (21) 6256-8888
Fax: +86 (21) 6256-5678
http://fourseasons.com/shanghai/

The Portman Ritz-Carlton (Shanghai, China)

It is a safe bet that when I return to Shanghai, the Portman Ritz-Carlton will not rank high in my consideration for places to stay. This was the first R-C hotel that was disappointing. Previous experiences in their other locations, such as in Hong Kong and the Half Moon Bay (California), did not prepare me for the quality of room I would get from the one in Shanghai. The actual entrance to the hotel receded away from the busy road where it was located (Nanjing Xi Lu). The foyer was dark and stuffy, an omen of things to come, I suppose. The reception area was even darker. I understood that they wanted to set a certain mood, but the entire lobby area was devoid of natural lighting, which I thought was unfortunate. The area made me want to run outside, but even if I did, I would not see daylight until I walked very far away from the hotel entrance.

The workmanship of the room was poor: the walls, the moldings, and the paint. I thought that the first time I entered my room, I had checked into a Ramada Inn! The bed was very uninviting: the mattress was hard and not comfortable at all. The pillows were small and not supportive enough. The light buttons on the side of the night table reflected a poor quality. The armchair sofa looked sad alone, without its usual Ottoman accompaniment. The very small bathroom had a regular non-descript bathtub unlike the wider and longer ones with chrome fixtures at other R-C locations, and once again, the workmanship looked and felt cheap. Only those in-house R-C bathroom amenities (Shampoo, Conditioner, Lotion, Bath Gel) and the thick, plush towels reminded me that I was somehow in an R-C hotel. In a nutshell, I did not feel as if I were in a Ritz-Carlton hotel. Somewhere from the receptionist desk to my room, I must have entered an elevator that had whisked me to an entirely different and inferior hotel. The accompanying image is borrowed from the Ritz-Carlton website. WYSI-not-WYG (What You See Is Not What You Get).

The work desk had ample space, but the Ethernet cable was not wired conveniently. The modem was hidden inside a drawer, from where the Ethernet cable originated as well. Instead of wiring it so that it would pop up from behind the desk, this cable had to be released from the front, causing the drawer to remain ajar. There was a hole made underneath this drawer, but trying to get the Ethernet fit in that hole in such a narrow drawer was quite a challenge. Having successfully done this, I was disappointed to find that the housekeeper had restored it back to its original annoying position when s/he had come in to the clean the room. The Internet rate, at Y1.60 per minute, had a maximum daily charge of Y96.60. One does have an option of not paying the entire Y96.60 if one just wanted to use the Internet for just a few minutes; but passing the 60-minute limit entitled one to use the Internet for the next 24 hours. Every time I disconnected from the Internet, I had to re-log in through their web portal.

Not too long after checking in, I ordered a room service: the spaghetti Bolognese looked very old and the strings lumped together as if they were just heated in the microwave instead of cooked fresh. The today’s paper was delivered in the evening: when I inquired why, the icy receptionist answered that they did not get the papers in until the afternoon. Fair enough.

But enough of the negativity: there must be something of value to this hotel? If there are such things, one must thank the team of people working the Concierge desk: people like Apple (a female staff; and yes Gwyneth, you are not the first one to name your baby ‘Apple’), Victor and William restored my faith somehow in this otherwise major let down hotel. At 10:30pm, Victor offered to get me a SIM-card for my cell phone, had it installed and returned back to my room by the time I came back from dinner. Reservations to restaurants were made at the last minute through them and were greatly appreciated.

The gym and the spa people also made my stay more bearable. The gym had a group activity schedule in which guest could join: I decided to take advantage of the adult swimming lesson by Ms. Zhang. I asked her to teach me two strokes (the back stroke and the butterfly) within the allotted one hour. She must be so efficient an instructor that within the very 60 minutes, I was able to do both strokes comfortably. The massages were of good quality. There was a price difference between having it done at the spa or at the room (additional Y50).

The Lonely Planet Guidebook noted that a renovation was done in 1999 at the cost of US$30 million. With corruption running rampant in this part of the world, I wonder how much was actually earmarked for the hotel, because the quality of the rooms and the workmanship (it could not just have been mine?) was downright lacking. The book also said that this PRC (very convenient acronym this hotel could make!) had replaced the historic Peace Hotel as the new favorite hangout for the expats. Calling it cream of the crop of Puxi was a little bit of a stretch. Thank goodness I am moving to the Four Seasons Shanghai soon.


The Portman Ritz-Carlton Shanghai
Shanghai Centre
1376 Nanjing Xi Lu
Shanghai 200040, China
Tel: +86 (21) 6279-8888
Fax: +86 (21) 6279-8800
www.ritzcarlton.com/hotels/shanghai/