The Peninsula Shanghai

From the Hideaway Report

August 2011 Hideaway Report

The Peninsula Shanghai opened in September 2009, the first new building on The Bund in 60 years. Our car from Hongqiao Station pulled into the driveway, where a trademark Peninsula green Rolls-Royce limousine was parked next to a tumbling fountain. The similarities with the original Peninsula in Hong Kong were immediately obvious. Both hotels are based around a large and striking lobby, which also serves as a casual restaurant and as a venue for afternoon tea (accompanied by a pianist and string quartet). Overall, the Shanghai property does not feel quite as spacious or grand as its illustrious ancestor, but both the warmth of our welcome and the slickness of the service were immediately recognizable.

The most desirable rooms are those facing the river and the futuristic skyline of Pudong. Our 12th-floor Deluxe River King provided a compelling view of both the vertiginous financial district and a procession of sizeable cargo ships making their way slowly down to the confluence with the Yangtze. The room was conservatively furnished in a palette of cream, gray and Ming-porcelain blue. Lacquered panels provided an explicitly Chinese reference, while a glass-and-chrome occasional table and a strikingly patterned carpet evoked Shanghai’s art deco heritage.

Michael Kadoorie was known as an enthusiast of in-room technology long before its use became widespread, so it was no surprise to discover every gizmo in the modern repertoire, including a built-in flat-screen TV and “spa” mood lighting in the lavish marble bath. However, it came as a considerable shock to find that the outrage of hotel telephone charges had finally been addressed: At The Peninsula, the room phone connects to the Internet, and international calls are free!

As you might expect, the hotel comes with a magnificent spa, which includes an 82-foot lap pool beneath a third-floor glass roof. Restaurant options include Yi Long Court for Cantonese food, where chef Tang Chi Keung boasts a Michelin star; and Sir Elly’s Restaurant for French/Mediterranean cuisine, a spectacular duplex venue with a 14th-floor roof terrace. Asian hotel restaurants sometimes seem excessively corporate, with too many parties of sober-suited businesspeople and too few couples or families. To an extent, this was true during our stay at The Peninsula, so in the main, we opted to eat out. The excellent M on the Bund (Tel. 021-6350-9988) is a five-minute walk away, serving modern European cuisine in an exceptionally stylish setting, while for those in search of Shanghainese cooking, we recommend Fu 1088 (Tel. 021-5239-7878) or Jesse (Tel. 021-6282-9260).

As our departure date approached, I found myself striving to reach an overall judgment about The Peninsula. The most impressive aspect of the new property is the service, which after slightly less than two years is as polished as that at its elder sibling in Hong Kong. And its location is virtually ideal, certainly far more convenient for the leisure traveler than that of its rival, the Park Hyatt in Pudong. However, I found both the architecture and the interior design slightly less remarkable than I had anticipated. And the atmosphere of the hotel feels comparatively parochial. The lobby of The Peninsula in Hong Kong is the world’s living room, a place where you might bump into absolutely anyone, whereas the Shanghai property can feel like a private club for the city’s new rich. That said, The Peninsula Shanghai is a remarkably fine hotel and is now unquestionably the city’s most desirable address.

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