First ibis Hotel Opens in Shanghai

In our Australia trip, Wendy and I stayed in Ibis hotel – in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. We found out ibis is a great hotel – it has everything a casual traveler needs.

Now, with the competition in the budget hotel market heat up in China, not only local brands like Home Inn, Hanting, and Motel 168 is joining the competition, international brand like ibis also joined.

Image in courtesy of ibis hotel

ibis in Beijing

The ibis I saw in Beijing is at Sanyuanqiao, the intersection of the third ring road, and Airport Expressway – just behind the Metro Line #10 Sanyuanqiao Station.

ibis in Shanghai

This is the 5th ibis in China and the first ibis in Shanghai. Tonight, when I visited the Liangyang area to have dinner, I saw it for the first time 0 the Lianyang Hotel. The logo of ibis is very visible in the dark night. According to its website, it opens in Sept, 2008, which is these days.

Here are the locations of ibis hotel in Shanghai:

Ibis Shanghai Lianyang – 上海联洋宜必思酒店

上海市浦东新区芳甸路300号

021-61055555

Link:

The price it shows on its website is 348 RMB including tax per night. It is significant higher than Home Inn (which offers 200 RMB rooms), but with the international brand recognition, and reasonable price compared to five star hotels, it is still very cheap.

Future ibis Hotels

According to ibis website, the following ibis hotel will open in China this year:

China

* Ibis Jinan : 2008

* Ibis Changshu : February 2008

* Ibis Yibin : 2008

* Ibis Tianjin the Centre Dabeiyuan : February 2008

* Ibis Chengdu Kehua : 2008

* Ibis Xichang : 2008

* Ibis Shanghai Lianyang : 2008

* Ibis Ya An : 2008

* Ibis Harbin : 2008

* Ibis Qiqihar : 2008

* Ibis Tianjin Tanggu : 2008

* Ibis Hangzhou Xiasha : February 2008

* Ibis Zibo Huaguang : 2008

* Ibis Shenyang The Centre : February 2008

* Ibis Chongqing Erlang : February 2008

* Ibis Beijing Phoenix : 2008

* Ibis Wuxi Hi Tech : February 2008

* Ibis Wuhan Hankou : February 2008

* Ibis Changzhou Wujin : 2008

In case you also enjoy ibis in many other international cities, you will be happy to know there is ibis in Shanghai too. However, I would love to see how it can compete with local budget hotels, and what is the result… I remember I read a report about its competition with Home Inn in Chengdu

At the very beginning, there is one ibis and one Home Inn in Chengdu. Soon, there are 10 Home Inn, while there is still one ibis there

Let’s see what the French hotel giant Accor is going to do with ibis.

P.S My Photo of ibis in Downtown Sydney

Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang. Ibis is the white one under the Sun

Advice Needed on Rental for Foreigners

At Kijiji, we are thinking about opening up the domestic rental market in China to foreigners.

Olympics is an opportunity. Hotels are already fully booked, and there are many visitors coming to China during August.

We want to offer some English service and escrow to people coming to China, and the project will be a long term project even after Olympics.

So, if you are an expat, or planning to visit China, I have many questions for you.

  • What is your biggest concern in renting from local people?
  • What service do you need to help you rent an apartment?
  • What do you consider to be “must have” in the apartment?
  • etc…

But the key question will be, what is your suggestion about this project? I’d like to hear your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Map of Motel 168

This is the email I am trying to answer.

Dear Jian Shuo Wang,

I’ve just read ur blog in the net. I’m so happy because next week I will be there (Shanghai) and I know nothing about your city. And thanks god, I’ve found ur blog and it helps me a lot.
And I would like to ask some other info from you. My accommodation is Motel 168, No.1280, Gong He xin Road. I did check in the list of branches in Motel 168 website but I couldn’t find out this branch, do you know where is this road, in which district?
And the place I have to go to everyday from Motel 168 is: Building No. 10, Lane 777, Guang Zhong Road West, Zhabei district, Shanghai 200072, P.R.China  and another address is Azia Center, No.1233, Lujiazui Ring Road, Pudong District, Shanghai 200120, P.R.China
Could you help me to draw a simple map or just mark in the map the way to reach those places from my accommodation?
Thank you very much
Tram Nguyen

Tram is facing a very typical problem many visitors have. Because of the fast pace of chain hotels in China, most of the information is out of date, even on the website. Some are developing new branches at shock speed. When I blog about the Motel 168, it just opened one branch near my home, and now, it is everywhere.

Let me help Tram out.

Locations of Motel 168 in Shanghai

As of today (Febuary, 2008), Motel 168 has been spread out to many locations in Shanghai. Look at this map! This is the speed of expansion of a typical chain hotel in China. Besides the current 72 hotels, they have more to come.

dd04

dd05

Below is the distribution China wide:

dd06

It is a pitty that they don’t have English version of the same information, and there are only still 6 hotels in its English website. So I will try to do a translation.

Scroll up to the Shanghai map, and you will see the numbered location.

  1. 20 Hongxu Rd.
  2. 816 Zhangyang Rd.
  3. 1885 Hongqiao Rd.
  4. 257 Siping Rd.
  5. 1515 Zhaokun Rd.
  6. 1148 Wuzhong Rd.
  7. 179 New Jinqiao Rd.
  8. 678 Anyuan Rd.
  9. 427 Liuzhou Rd.
  10. 300 Huoshan Rd.
  11. 715 Aomen Rd.
  12. 518 Zhoujiazui Rd.
  13. 365 Shangcheng Rd.
  14. 29 Huaxiang Rd.
  15. 4518 Chuansha Rd.
  16. 1119 Yan’an Rd.
  17. 85 Wuning South Rd.
  18. 2988 Yindu Rd.
  19. 951 Hutai Rd.
  20. 1122 Daduhe Rd.
  21. 55 Cishan Rd, Gaoqiao, Shanghai
  22. 333 Siping Rd.
  23. 1, Lane 3040 Pudong Avenue
  24. 1209 Huashan Rd.
  25. 531 Jinling Rd.
  26. 435 Zhongshan North Rd One
  27. 400 Wanping Rd.
  28. 1286 Gong He Xin Rd.

40. Building 3-9, Lane 1 Xujiahui Rd.
41. 1398 Jingao Rd.
42. 38 Huqingping Rd.
52. 9830 Hunan Highway

Location of the Asked Motel 168

So you see, the Gong He Xin Rd. hotel is marked as 28.

For the other two locations, I didn’t find it in this map, and not even in the upcoming hotel list. I guess they are already built, but this map itself is not updated. I am afraid I cannot help you to point the exact location. But I can tell you, the hotel on Lujiazui Ring Road may be close to the point 13, and the Changzhong Rd. hotel  MAY be close to piont 28.

Hope this helps.

Apartment Sharing in Shanghai

Disclaimer: This post is about a commercial service provided by my close friend Fay. My point-of-view may be biased because we know each other very well.

Last Friday, in Starbucks, after I chatted with another group from Taiwan, Fay joined, and we had a nice conversation about what Fay is doing. Fay is from Taiwan, and then graduated from UC Berkeley. We worked with each other when she was in eBay. Then few months ago, she left eBay to start something completely new. I didn’t see for a while, and I was happy to catch up and understand what she is doing.

Fay’s Rooms

When we talk, Fay mentioned a project she is doing. After quitting, she found her good apartment in downtown Shanghai is somewhat a burden for her to carry on. So she thought of the idea to rent her living room out. She said many visitors to Shanghai has been tired of 5-star hotels, and want to try something local. For more experienced people than back-packers, the condition of hostel may be to harsh, and there must be something in the middle. She had a nice experience to share her room with more than 10 persons already. Later on, her friends joined the network and asked her to manage their living rooms, so she has the little inventory of 4 rooms to manage now. Pretty interesting, isn’t it?

This is what she said on her Fay’s Rooms Website.

Fay’s Rooms is a network of short-term apartments and room rentals catered to independent-minded travelers who are tired of the boring ol’ hotel rooms or have “graduated” from crowded hostel bunkbeds. The rooms and apartments offered by Fay’s network are located in prime locations and come with modern furnishing and internet connections, so you can have the comforts of home at a fraction of hotel costs. Additional traveler services such as itinerary planning, personal tour guide, translation assistance, ticket booking, and cell phone rental are available upon request. Fay’s Rooms is currently active in Shanghai, where Fay resides, and has future plans to expand to other cities in China and throughout the world.

It is a nice small startup, with an ambitious plan to go big.

The “Mix” Experience

I chatted more about who are her guests, and she was very excited about this part. She told me people who stayed in her living rooms are all highly educated, with good manner, and are all interesting. She promised me to share the good stories with us, and here it is:

29-yr old Swedish girl working a book about real people in China (she followed like 10 people through the last 7 years to see how their lives have changed). She lived with a Swedish family in Shanghai back in 2000 and speaks pretty good Chinese

Anthropology professor from California who’s planning to take her students to Shanghai next year for a Chinese language and home stay program. She came first to survey the city.

Fashion model casting agent from New York who’s checking out the China/Shanghai scene

College girl from Stanford doing a study on shopping malls in China

College guy from Chicago doing a study on Chinese manufacturers who make American flags; in Asia for the first time

Real estate developer guy from New York in Asia for the first time

Several college students from Europe who have already traveled to 100+ countries and are in China to learn some Chinese.

As you may guess, I am more interested in the opportunity that people from different parts of the world gather in a small living room (of cause one by one) and can find something interesting from their local host – Fay, who happen to love talking a lot. I bet their experience will be different from others.

In my vision, there will be more and more services like this targeting international travelers in Shanghai. As I said for many times, Shanghai is not a traveler friendly city yet. That may be is the reason why I started this blog, and why Fay shared her living room.

Final disclaimer: I didn’t PERSONALLY check any rooms posted on faysrooms.com. I only can tell you Fay is a great and honest person.

Jinjiang Inn at Pudong Airport – Part II

This is the second part of my first part on Jinjiang Inn at Pudong Airport.

There are basically only two hotels near the Pudong Airport – within walking distance – one is a little bit more expensive – the Ramada Pudong Airport Hotel, and the other is cheaper, the Jinjiang Inn.

Here are the questions about the hotel:

We have some questions about the Jin Jiang Inn and we hope you will be so kind to give some information.

1) Will that hotel still be there January 16th, 2008?

2) Is there a possibility to make reservations via internet in English?

3) Is there a shuttlebus from the airport to the hotel or is it really on walking distance?

Of course we have time enough to arrange but nevertheless we hope to hear soon from you.

Here are my answers.

1) I don’t know exactly whether they have room on the specific date. Check their website (English) for more information and make reservation accordingly.

2) Yes. Use the website I provided. They provide hotlines and an email address.

3) It is REALLY within walking distance, but it is not a very short distance – depending on how far you think is acceptable for walk.

Check this map below to see the satilite image of the hotel: You can see on the map, there is a rectangle building with parking lots – that’s it.

On this map, I put the small image of the hotel just near the middle of the upper edge of the map (left of the map button), and show you the Pudong Airport at the bottom – the big square lake is the entrance to the airport and you can see planes there.

Judge whether it is OK for you to walk – depending on many luagge you take. Anyway, just as I suggested, don’t take the taxi since they have been waiting there for hours and don’t want to take you for that short distance.

24K Hotel Offers Booking for 2010

24K Chain Hotel offers booking for 2010 rooms today. They promised the price for their rooms remain the same if guests book the room today.

During the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, it is expected that 70 million people (4 times more than Shanghai’s current population) will visit he city, and hotel price must go up quickly.

The 24K Chain Hotel’s policy for booking is 30% payment upon reversation, and full payment three month before the check-in date.

About the Hotel

24K Hotel is another budget hotel in Shanghai. The other I have introduced are: Jinjiang Inn, Motel168, and Rujia.

The 24K Chain Hotel at People’s Square is a pretty good one. I have arranged some friends to stay in this hotel, and their feedbacks were very positive. The price is between 268 – 368 RMB per night.

Will the Reservation Work?

I don’t think anyone can make travel plan (especially exact date) four years in advance. However, to keep the price flat during the 2010 hotel rush hours is somewhat attractive.

Many international hotels like Shangri-la, Hilton is expanding their facilities in Shanghai to get ready for the boom of guest in 2010. Will it be easy to find some place to stay? I doubt it.

East Hotel Shanghai

screen-wangjianshuos.pick-logo.pngEast Hotel (东方宾馆) is one of the many splendid hotels in the history of Shanghai but fade out to be a small potato in the hotel industry. It is just at the People’s Square – Xizang Road, and Guanxi Road. I see the roof of the hotel everyday from my window in the office. The history changed very thing.

The Old East Hotel

The building is currently the Workers’ Culture Palace – according to the translation of the current owner. Before it was turned into the current “palace” in 1950, the building was the “East Hotel” building. It is the oldest hotel on the Xizang Road. From 1929 to 1950, it was one of the best hotels in Shanghai (along with many others, like Yangtze Hotel, Park Hotel, and Pujiang Hotel…)

The building itself is wonderful landmark for the area – I will take picture next time and put it here (I don’t have it now, although I pass it very often if I take bus to office).

In 1950, the hotel was changed to the Workers’ Culture Palace, and there are many organizations working in the building. The good thing is, there is small one floor serve as hotel. The hotel is operated by the Shanghai Workers’ Union, and is still named as East Hotel Shanghai. However, this hotel is no longer the top hotels in Shanghai. It is on the sixth floor of the building.

The Current East Hotel

The current East Hotel is a three-star standard hotel. “Three-star standard” hotel in China means “not a three-star hotel yet”. It is built according to the standard, but not confirmed by any organization.

The price for standard room is about 280 RMB (35 USD) for rooms with a window, or 240 RMB (30 USD) for rooms without window. They only have one floor, or 40 rooms in the hotel.

I have been there one, and found it is not that bad. The elevator is scary – small, and noisy, but the hotel on the sixth floor is OK, with pretty clean rooms. The best thing of the hotel is location. It has the best location, and in a historical building. I would say it has even better location than the JW Marriott Hotel, or the Hyatt Jinmao if you want to find a place very near to Metro Line (both #1, and #2), and many lines of buses (up to 20?).

It is a cheap hotel. Don’t expect anything too high out of the hotel. Just a place to stay. There is no gym, no swimming pool, no business center… beside a small coffee (which is nice, and with good view), there are only beds…

You may want to have a try, and be back to comment on your experience.

Contact:

Location: 120 Xizang Middle Road 上海西藏中路120号(市文化宫六楼)

Phone: 021-51096884,56113081

Disclaimer: I didn’t stay in this hotel so I don’t know whether it works or not.

It is funny. I have not stayed in any hotels in Shanghai, except two: one is the Jianguo Hotel – I stayed there to stand by the Y2K bug at Microsoft at Jan 1, 2000; the other is the Garden Hotel – where we had our wedding.

Cheap Budget Hotel in Shanghai

screen-wangjianshuos.pick-logo.png

I know many people will like this post. It is about cheap hotels in Shanghai. I talked about fancy 5-star hotels before, but of cause, people who stay there may not bother to check out articles on this website.

As I said, I haven’t stay in any hotel in Shanghai, so I don’t have hand-on experience. Today, I found a good page B14 of April 26, 2006 on Shanghai Times 申江服务导报 on cheap hotels in Shanghai. Let me quote some data there.

Jin Jiang Inn 锦江之星

It is one of the oldest cheap hotels in Shanghai. They have 26 hotels in Shanghai so far.

Price: 178 – 238 RMB

Reservation: +86-40082099999 (24 hours)

Website: http://www.jj-inn.com/

They provide Internet access, 0.3 RMB/minute, 30 RMB/day

Breakfast: 15 RMB/person.

Jian Shuo’s Personal Comment:

There is a Jin Jiang Inn at Pudong Airport, and one at Pudong (Huamu Road 花木路). They are very good – nice from outside. It is very similar to the next two hotels I will introduce. I didn’t see too much difference between them.

Motel 168 莫泰168

It has the best decoration among the three (Jin Jing Inn, Motel 168, and Rujia).

Breakfast: 25RMB / person

Price: 168 RMB – 298 RMB

Website: http://www.motel168.com/

Jian Shuo’s Personal Comments:

Motel is very modern, with nice decoration and colorful rooms. They have the walls painted in light green, light blue, and sometimes red.

Reservation: 800-820-7168

Rujia Hotel (Homeinn) 如家快捷酒店

This is a simple, but very widely distributed hotel. They are started by the same group of people who started CTRIP.com (NASDAQ: CTRP)

Highlight: They provide free Internet access.

Breakfast: 10 RMB

Room Price: 178 – 238 RMB

Reservation: 800-820-7822

Website: http://www.homeinns.com/

Jian Shuo Wang’s comment:

I have many friends, who only stay at Rujia. The guys in Daqi.com always stay in this hotel, no matter it is one person, or a group of 20 people. It is their default choice of hotel. So I believe it may be better than other two (Disclaimer again, I never stayed in any of them).

The only problem is, it is very hard to reserve. It seems to me that their occupation rate of rooms must be more than 95%. So do book ealier.

Good Luck

These three hotels are all clean, safe, and convenient. Most and more people are staying in these hotels. If you don’t have enough budget to stay in a fancy hotel, I highly recommend these three to you.

Other articles on Shanghai Hotels:

Yangtze Hotel is Good

screen-wangjianshuos.pick-logo.pngTo be honest, I am not familiar with hotel in Shanghai at all – I never, ever stayed in any of the hotels, because I live here. Unfortunately, hotel recommendation is the most frequently asked question.

I helped to arrange my friend and his family in Yangtze Hotel yesterday. Today, his feedback to the hotel is really good. So I feel safe to recommend it to my readers.

Name

Yangtze Hotel 扬子饭店

Yangtze is named after the Yangtze River – the longest river in China.

Location

Although I never been to the room of the hotel, one thing I can confirm is, you cannot easily find a hotel that has better location than this one. It is just at the People’s Square, the very center of the city. There is a church beside it. It is just at the No. 2 exit of the Metro Line 1 and #2.

The door of Yangtze Hotel opens just before the door of Raffles City (where I work everyday). It is near to almost everywhere – easily reached via Metro or taxi.

Here is the map.

Price

As of this week (March 13 – March 18), the standard room is 560 RMB (or 70 USD) per night.

The Room

I didn’t see the room myself, but my friend told me there are old style rooms and very modern style rooms. The sink in the modern rooms are made of glass, and there are curtain between the restroom and the bedrooms. They even have computers…. Let me find time to take a look.

The History

Yangtze Hotel looks like a very normal hotel from outside. I even didn’t realize there is a hotel at the gate of my office building. For me, it is only a cheap place to have lunch. We enjoy the fast food of the hotel – 15 RMB for the lunch – not bad.

I checked the history of the hotel on Internet. It has unordinary history. It was built in 1934, and was once named “the third best hotel in the fareast” in old times.

Wow. Let me take pictures of the hotel tomorrow. People always ignore important stuff besides us.

Reservation

Book it via CTRIP: Yangtze Hotel.

Forget about the 1078 RMB listing price. It never charged that high.

Yangtze Hotel

740 HanKou Road, Shanghai 200001

Tel +86 21 6351 7880

Fax +86 21 6351 6974

Email:sales@e-yangtze.com

Website

They have a website: http://www.e-yangtze.com/

If you stayed in the hotel, please share your comment.

P.S. There is always good and cheap motel like Motel 168, and Jinjiang Inn. They are 268 RMB or 168 RMB per night. They are also good – clean, fully equipped, and convenient. The only problem is, they are often fully booked. There are other hotels like this, Sports Hotel is one example.

Cheap Place to Stay in Shanghai

Living in a city does cause some disadvantage for a city guide like me. It is, I have almost no idea about which hotel is the best place to stay – I can tell you something about Bejiing and Guangzhou, but I never stayed in a hotel in Shanghai.

Last time, when my friends came to Shanghai, I HAD to find a place for them. Since they are traveling on their own money (v.s. business trip), I arranged them to Home Inns (如家) in Pudong. There are three major chain motel companies in Shanghai: Motel168 (my recommendation), Jin Jiang Inn (Chinese website), and Home Inns. All of them offer single room at price as low as 168 RMB (20 USD), 158 (less than 20 USD), and standard room around 268 RMB (30 USD). It is not bad for budget traveler. Although it is not as good as a star hotel, but they also offer convenient transportation, and clean room. I would highly recommend them.

My friends invited another famous journalist to join them in the hotel for one night. The other day, the poor journalist complained about the hotel he stayed – his expectation is a 5 star hotel paid by his employer. So make it clear whether low price or decent place what you want.

Hope this information is helpful.

Jinjiang (Jin Jiang) Inn at Shanghai Pudong Airport

OMG. What was my last time to post a topic related to Pudong Airport (PVG)? July 2004! I should spend more time to help travelers to this city.

Today, Sabri from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia emailed me to correct the telephone number of Jin Jiang Inn of Pudong Airport of my previous post. Here is what he/she feel about the inn.

I come across you useful site while searching for hotel near to Pudong airport. Finally I found it, Jin Jian Inn, but the tel. number. for the hotel as stated are incorrect. Anyway I managed to get the correct number as : Tel: 021-68353568, fax: 021-68853550. I hope you can update for the benefit of all.

JJ-Inn is a nice inn to stay for catching next flight out of Pudong. So near to the said airport, but difficulties is to get there. Many taxi drivers from airport just don’t want to take you there. Normal meter taxi will cost you RMB15 bur they may ask for RMB50. The hotel only provides shuttle service to Pudong airport but not airport pick-up.

Again TQ for your website which I think will help those coming to Shanghai/China a lot.

Rgds.,

Sabri,

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Thanks Sabri!

There are Two Hotels Near Pudong Airport

Pudong Airport is very far from the downtown, which you may already know. It is about 30 km away from the People’s Square. So there is almost nothing beside an airport and related logistic areas and two hotels.

One is Ramada. It was newly opened and the other is Jin Jiang Inn. Ramada is a four star hotel with good service/facility, and Jin Jiang Inn is just an inn offering very reasonable price. Ramada provides pickup service while Jin Jiang Inn, according to Sabri, does not provide this service. You can choose one if you just transit to a flight of the next day.

Avoid Taxi to These Hotels

Both of the hotels are within walking distance to Pudong Airport – I guess within 10 – 15 minutes. Avoid taking taxi as much as possible! It is not for the benefit of you, the passenger. It is for the taxi drivers. I just want passengers to know that all the taxi drivers in Pudong Airport have waited in the dirty parking lot for more than 3 hours before they appear before you. A typical ride is more than 80 RMB if the passenger goes to Pudong or 100 – 150 if the destination is Puxi. If you want to go to the Jin Jiang Inn, you will hurt the taxi driver badly. Although it is the reality that he has to go – if they refuse as Sabri experienced, they are subject to very high fine and other punishment if the passenger complain to the administration.

The old saying in Chinese is, “Don’t let others experience what you don’t want to”. So if you don’t have too much luggage, find an alternative – like to check with the counter for shuttles going to that area, or ask for what the airport have to help you. If you do want to taxi, I think 50 RMB for the short ride is quite reasonable for their waiting time.

Youth Hostels in Shanghai

For budget travellers, Youth Hostel is a good choice. I stayed in the Youth Hotel in Hong Kong and the experience was wonderful. I just didn’t find time to post the pictures and my experience with that Youth Hostel yet. I promise I will do it when I visit the next Youth Hostel.

According to International Youth Hostel Federation’s website, there are two hostels in Shanghai: The Pu Jiang and the Captain.

(They seems to redirect their hostel page to hostelbooking.com, which is out of their website)

Locations

The two hostels are within walk distance. They are all at the Bund, the most historical area of the city. To be more accurate, one is 50 meters west of the Bund and the other is on the other side of the Suzhou River, connected to the Bund with a 100 meter long bridge. Both of the hostels are located in very old buildings.

Captain Youth Hostel

The Captain Youth Hostel is located at

No. 37 Fuzhou Rd,

Shanghai City, 200080 CHINA

Here is the map:

It is relatively better than the Pu Jiang Hostel. The equipments are newer and it seems more like a typical Youth Hostel.

Be warned that although that area is the heart of the city, there were no good restraurants nearby. Shanghai may leave you an image of old fashioned, crowded and dirty city if you don’t walk around to see the whole city.

The Pu Jiang Hostel

The Pu Jiang Hostel, or Aster House Hotel (as its old name) WAS one of the most lurxious hotel in far east in 1900’s. It was the first foreign hotel in China when it was built in 1846. Many big names arrived and stayed there, including Einstein, US President Grant, Bertrand Russell and Scott Joplin. There were a nice small plate near the door of the rooms they stayed. For example, Einsteins’ room is Room 404. I paid a visit to the door days before and was quite impressed by the nice architecture.

The Astor House Hotel is still a splendid hotel with today’s standard. There are 5 stories in that hotel. The Youth Hostel is located on the 6th floor. Insteresting? Actually it is some simple rooms built on top of the original hotel. The rooms are not as good as other Youth Hotel. I wondered why there is no youth hotel sign any where in the building. I didn’t see the message boards there either.

Prices

One bed costs 50 RMB (or 6 USD) in both hostels. The website quoted 8 USD. If you pay by the counter, it should be only 50 RMB with your YHA card.

More Choices

I would recommend budegeted traveller to try either Motel 168, Rujia or Jin Jiang Inn. Their standard rooms are 156 RMB to 268 RMB, but they are really good.

Cheap and Clean Hostels in Shanghai

If my friends or family came to Shanghai, I would recommend one of the three brand of chain hotels to them: Motel 168, Rujia Inns, and Jin Jiang Inn. They are cheap, clean and convinient.

Unlike those star hotels in Shanghai, their price is about 168 RMB – 298 RMB (20 USD – 36 USD) per night for the standard room. I took picture of one of the Motel168 room in this entry: Cheap and Clean Motel in Shanghai – Motel168. The other two hostels are similiar. I cannot tell too much difference between these brands right now, since they are so similiar in price, room, and background.

To reserve, call their hotline or reserve online:

Jin Jiang Inn

800-820-1838

or (+8621)38744588

http://www.jj-inn.com/

Rujia Inn

800-820-3333

or (+8621)54614638

http://www.homeinns.com/

Motel168

16831683

or (+8621)63168168

http://www.motel168.com/

Jin Jiang Inn and Rujia Inn are China wide chain hotels. You can find it in many cities around China. Motel168 just started and is only available in Shanghai.

Cheap and Clean Motel in Shanghai – Motel168

screen-wangjianshuos.pick-logo.pngYesterday, I met my sister-in-law and other 5 teachers from the primary school I graduated. They just returned from Hangzhou and visited Shanghai. I took the assignment to arrange a cheap but comfortable hotel for them. It is not an easy job, since a hotel that is both cheap and good is not easy to find everywhere in the world.

I recommended Motel 168 which is near my previous Vanke Waltz House. I am glad that they are very happy with the small motel, and would like to recommend this hotel to my readers.

Location

Motel 168 is a chain hotel that will have 10 more branches in Shanghai. The one they stayed last night is the Liuzhou Rd. Motel. It is relatively closer to Xujiahui and only 1,000 meters with the Metro Line #1.

map-shanghai.liuzhou.rd-motel.jpg

Map in courtesy of SMI

Price

Their standard room for two persons cost only 198 RMB per night (or 25 USD/night). That is very good price already. Their rooms are clean and the lobby/bars are very good. Here are some pictures.

Lobby

shanghai.motel-lobby-v.jpg

© Jian Shuo Wang

The lobby looks better than some 3 stare hotels in China. The receiptions are very nice. Some of them speaks good English.

Wash Room

shanghai.motel-wc.jpg

© Jian Shuo Wang

The wash room is clean without any bad smell.

Room

shanghai.motel-room-entrance.jpg

© Jian Shuo Wang

They painted their rooms in vivid colors, like red, green and purple. This one is a green room.

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There is a TV in each room.

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© Jian Shuo Wang. Sign outside the hotel

Receiption

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© Jian Shuo Wang.

Mobile charger. I remember if you put one RMB coin into the machine and it allow you to charge your mobile phone. They provided many kinds of outlet so one must match your mobile.

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Entrance

The entrance at night. As any other motel, it provides a large parking area.

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The bar in the lobby of the motel. It is rare for such level (less than 25 USD) hotel to have a bar in Shanghai.

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© Jian Shuo Wang

Cards Accepted

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© Jian Shuo Wang

According to the plate, they accept Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, American Express, JCB, and Yinliang – The China Bank Cards.

All rooms are covered by Wireless LAN.

Detailed Map

Want detailed map? I am leveraging my new Shanghai Map Viewer to located it.

It is near Metro Cao Bao Rd. Station.

Booking

The hotel is near the Everbright Exbition and Convention Center. The rooms are very hot and almost all occupied for most time. Very advanced booking is needed.

Their reservation hotline line is +86-21-63168168. Their website is http://www.motel168.com/.