Lestie Hotel Hengshan Road, Xujiahui, Shanghai Reviews

Wife and I just spent 13 nights in a Yarrow Suite @AUD350 p/n.(via Trip.com). I have previously stayed at this property on a number of occasions when it was under different ownership and was known as GianGong/JinJiang, and when I was always very satisfied with my stays. On this current occasion however, I was a bit disappointed - mainly due to the virtual complete lack of English language capability from any staff (previously there had always been an English speaker on duty at Reception). So most of our comunications had to be via a cellphone translation App. I get it that we are guests in China but do feel that having the facility to make ouselves understood is of worthwhile value. Further more we felt the breakfast buffet offerings were disappointing - whilst being plentiful, most dishes were served cold - which in the middle of a Shanghai winter is not good enough. Also after a few days the supply of cutlery knives apparently ran out (from pilfering??), so that towards the end we certainly expanded our expertise in the use of chopsticks. On the positive side the availability of a laundry room is very handy facility. Perhaps this property has suffered adversely from the pandemic and it was noted that its up-market gift shop no longer exists. Also, the overall locality around Hengshan Road seems to have lost a lot of its vitality as it currently is not the "party street" that it previously was. We actually sought to extend our stay by a couple of days but were quoted a much increased price for our room although it appeared to be the only one occupied on our floor. So we moved to the Donghu Hotel which offered better value for our Aussie dollar (and where most of the front office staff speak English). In summary I feel that the Lestie Hotel is still good but has perhaps evolved principally towards the Chinese domestic market, is a bit over-priced, and so I would not recommend it to foreigners.