The south wing of the famous Peace Hotel on the Bund will get a USD 50 million upgrade starting in April. The building, constructed in 1906, is indeed in need of a renovation. I stayed in some of the rooms in the hotel several years ago, and I was not overly impressed. The rooms are nicely decorated, but it’s all a bit old-fashioned. The furniture is quite worn out and the dark rooms felt and smelled dusty. And on top of that many things did not work properly, such as the jacuzzi and the TV in the bathroom (I was staying in a suite). The service was even worse, and nothing like it would have been in its heighdays 80 years ago.
However, some people love the ambiance of the hotel and the decoration of the rooms and come back here all the time. And to be honest, the themed national suites (among others the English, German and Indian suites) are fantastic. Business friends stayed in two of these suites a while ago, and I was truly impressed when they showed me their accomodation.
According to the Shanghai Daily’s paper edition, several of the hotel’s regular guests announced to the hotel that they would like to stay one last time in their favourite suites ahead of the renovation. I am not sure if this means that these suites, including the themed suites, will disappear after the renovation? The nation suites are located in the north wing, so I would assume not. Or maybe Shanghai’s only English newspaper messed up by reporting that only the south wing will be renovated? We’ll find out in due time.
But because of the upcoming renovation the hotel decided to slash the prices of their 35 most historic rooms by 80%, including the rates of the nation suites. So this might be your last chance to the feel the grandeur of the Peace Hotel, and that for a relatively modest price! Don’t be surprised however if you wake up in the middle of the night because of construction work. I read somewhere that the renovation of the hotel has already started (I could not check it out myself). Maybe that is the real reason of the lower prices?