My well travelled friends. Shanghai, one step down from the BIG fancy hotels - any suggestions?

Hi Ngaire,
I am only ever there on business so I tend to stay in big hotels. Do you want to stay on the Pudong side (financial district where the outrageous new buildings are) or the Bund side (older waterfront side but still lots of new construction)? It's easy to get around no matter where you stay. I generally stay at the Grand Hyatt - the world's tallest hotel - which is in Pudong. You can get pretty good rates there most of the time. The Renaissance may be a little less expensive but not nearly so entertaining. On the Bund side, the Westin is very nice and quite convenient. If you are looking for hotels around the PANDA time frame, it may be difficult to find a bargain because of the Formula One race. China's big cities are quite expensive these days - especially Beijing with the focus on next year's Olympics.
Enjoy your trip.
Mary Ellen

I stayed at the Jin Jang Hotel, but this was in 1998. A lot of the big names were in the process of building up at the time...as was the Pudong!!

http://tinyurl.com/2oz5gq
http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=dspv

At the time tho, I recall "floor stewards" who were really helpful, but could not help wondering if they were also keeping tabs on us, LOL! Maybe things have loosened up a bit...