Shanghai Travel Forum

Has anyone stayed in the Shanghai Julu Garden Villa hotel. It looks like it is near the resturants behind the bar strip on Julu road. This kind of makes it seem a little undesirable, but the few coments I saw online were very positive.

I would like to know about the noise level, cleanliness, comfort of beds and rooms, TV and anything else you can think of. I just worry it is like the last Chinese three star hotel I stayed at in Shenzhen, bad bed, no English TV, terrible breakfast, and on and on. Thanks all!

I see it's been weeks with no replies for your question, so I'll offer my meager help.I have lived in Shanghai three years, but I don't know that hotel. I don't even know Julu Road. There are some very expensive hotels in Shanghai that are marketed to western travelers, and there are Chinese hotels that are marketed to the Chinese (call them "Chitels") and are rated by Chinese government. The beds can be hard wood, because that's what the Chinese like. They use a two inch thick pad made of shredded, recycled cotton as a mattress. They are never troubled by noise; as a matter of fact, guests often keep their hotel room doors open while they rant and rave loudly to each other at 6:00 a.m., even taking the loud talk out into the corridors unconcerned for any other guests who may be sleeping. Breakfast buffets in Chitels feature foods that I can't stomach but my Chinese traveling companions love. Eggs boiled for two hours, sliced pig kidneys, seaweed. If they have any "muffins", the flavors will be strange. Cable TV in some Chinese cities is offered in various packages, like in western cities. A Chitel wouldn't choose a package with the one national English channel. In Shanghai, my experience has shown that there is no package choice for cable TV. Every subscription includes CCTV-9 the one national English news, travelog, and documentary channel (all related to things in China), plus the Shanghai ICS station which has a format for Chinese who want to improve their English. It has a few western programs that rarely last six months before being phased out, such as that "Great Race" thing and "Hanna Montana". Otherwise it has travelogs (some are actually not about China) and news that is mostly about China. The channel number is is unrelated to the CCTV number, go figure. You just have to surf though 60 or so stations to find the two English ones.

All things considered, you are probably better off seeking out a hostel (often priced like a three star, but with very limited atmosphere), or one of the over-priced (by Chinese standards) western chains. The Jinjiang Inn chain is similar to Great Western or Motel 6 chain in the U.S. and they have several in Shanghai. Price is around 300RNB per night. Not sure about their breakfast deal.

I have stayed in many chinese hotels over the past 21 years. I was looking at this hotel because it comes across as a botique hotel in an old house.

That end of Julu Lu is quite interesting. First there are the chicken bars, a half dozen that have been there 10 to 15 years. Many of the Tongren bars came from here. Second are the large number of beautiful old houses behind the iron fences. Many have been converted to very upscale and somewhat private restaurants, and possibly other things.