48 Hours at the Park Hyatt Shanghai
Room booked: Park Twin Room
Room upgrade: Park Deluxe Twin Bund View
The song: I can't help thinking about you - Variety Lab (as heard at the Park Hyatt elevators)
Have you ever dreamed of really sleeping in the clouds and I am not just talking about the most heavenly beds you could think of? Well if the answer is yes, then this hotel might be on top of your travel bucket-list.
First of all, let’s face the location: Shanghai is generally divided by Huangpu river, separating the financial district - the Pudong area (where the Park Hyatt is situated) and the city centre – the Old Town where all the attractions are situated. Since taxis, Uber and a Chinese limousine-ordering app called DIDI GO (only available in Chinese yet but growing rapidly) are spread all over the city and don’t even cost a thing, it’s no matter where you are staying. So let’s talk about my experience:
After the worst flight I have ever had – well the same airline I was flying out from Shanghai and that in an even worse way (codes starting with MU not to mention the name) – I got picked up by a brand new Tesla limousine (arranged by DIDI GO) and had been driven to one of my favourite hotels in the world – the stunning Park Hyatt Shanghai situated on floors 79th to 91st in the Shanghai World Finance Centre – a 492 metre high skyscraper.
As soon as I entered the enormous elevators, the doors closed and a one-minute-journey to another world started - familiar chill-out music turned on. They opened and what you see is pure elegance inside a completely different world – a lobby surrounded by nothing – just air and wind: Welcome to heaven! Although everyone else might hate cloudy weather, when staying at Park Hyatt Shanghai, I love it. It is actually the only hotel where you can stay without seeing something of the city. Meaning no traffic, no rubbish, no dark courtyards, or narrow streets. And once the weather is good, the view will catch your breath – so it’s always a win-win-situation for me!
Check-in was efficient, the management was on site and welcomed me as well. The room was located on floor 82, so I had to change elevators and move down 5 floors. Being it a Park Deluxe Twin with Bund View – one of a few rooms of this category – it was located on the corner and therefore much more spacious. With nearly 80 square meters of living space, there was nothing I missed: entrée with lots of wardrobe space, separated Toto-electronic toilet (one of the reasons why I adore high-end hotels in Asia) with basin, two heavenly Hyatt twin beds, day bed, Nespresso coffee machine, spacious writing desk with internet access, comfy armchair, television, enormous bathroom with double basins, even bigger walk-in shower, more wardrobe space, a deep bath tub with windows (only two rooms in the hotel have this amenity) and views of the famous Bund (the Champs Elysees of Shanghai) – in between the Jin Mao Tower and the new Shanghai Tower.
The Spa is a heaven for itself and offers one of the most wonderful indoor pools in the world – situated on the 85th floor and overlooking Shanghai East. Personally, the elegant Dedon day beds directly next to the floor-to-ceiling windows are places where I could linger for a long time, not even wanting me to leave the hotel. If there is something they could have changed, it would have been the temperature. During my stay it was the coldest day in Shanghai since 30 years and since a spa should be a warm and cosy place, I felt a bit uncomfortable inside the spa.
How about starting your breath-taking experience with a breakfast with a view? Well, I was blessed when I registered that breakfast is served on the 91st floor – even higher than the lobby on 87th floor. There was a moment when I realized that I could take pictures all day long since this is definitely a unique place in the world. Back to the breakfast, they really offered everything I was seeking for: excellent bread, wonderful presentation, extremely good quality, enormous variety and dedicating service. So I have to admit, a bed and breakfast package is really worth it.
When I returned to the hotel on the second evening, I arrived to my room - and oh my goodness – it was completely covered in orange due to the ongoing sunset (due to permanent fog in Shanghai this is very unique). I could not resist but take a bath in the wonderful spa-like bathroom, using bath salts by Aromatherapy Associates (the complete toiletries are by this brand) and serving myself finest Chinese tea. Now my day was even more perfect and leaving Park Hyatt Shanghai on the next morning was definitely one of the hardest things in life! *
*Not just because of the terrible flight to Hong Kong which was awaiting me :)!
This stay was part of a press trip organized by Stromberger PR and has been complimentary for editorial purposes. However all above written expresses my own opinion.
