Second stay at Shanghai W, a birthday trip from anticipation to disappointment.

Second stay at Shanghai W Hotel, the first was last year for our anniversary trip, this time to celebrate a birthday. Pros: 🌟 Excellent location, very close to the Bund, walkable if the weather is good. Right downstairs is Baiyulan Plaza, with stores like Bawang Chaji, McDonald's, KFC, Miniso, etc., very convenient for takeout. 🌟 The room is very spacious, bottled water is plentiful, almost every table has two bottles, more than enough to drink. 🌟 The toothbrush in the amenities is very good, the sound system is great, and the ambient lighting is even better. 🌟 If you can get a room with a view of the Bund, it’s absolutely stunning! Overall, the location is impeccable, but the service quality is inconsistent. Not exactly unsatisfactory, but something just felt off. Last year during the off-season, we got an upgraded room and were given a W exclusive cardholder and a small cake, which was a pleasant surprise for guests like us who are not high-tier members. The staff was very thoughtful. Even when we went to the bar, they proactively informed us that just by showing membership, we could get a 10% discount. The overall experience was great, which is why we returned this year. But this year, during the peak season, the experience was only mediocre. On the first day of check-in, the front desk said they upgraded us to a Bund view room. We were very happy at first, but the actual room was a corner room with a long corridor entrance, a strange layout, and only a very slanted partial view of the Bund. The fridge, bathroom, and windows all made strange noises, and it felt like no one had stayed there for a long time; the facilities were a bit old. We felt uncomfortable and requested a room change. Fortunately, the staff later moved us to a mid-position room with a half view of the Bund, which we really appreciated. My girlfriend had noted the birthday in advance, and W Hotel also said they would prepare a birthday cake. We didn’t receive it the whole day, so we called the front desk the next day to inquire, and their response was infuriating. The first callback said, "Are you sure you didn’t receive it? Didn’t you see it on the table?" (There was only one round table in the room; how could we miss it?) After confirming we really didn’t get it, the second callback said, "Because you changed rooms yesterday, the cake was delivered to the old room." That was it—no apology or offer to make amends. Instead, it felt like it was our fault for changing rooms. Before check-in, the cake was clearly not placed in the room. If it was later delivered to the old room, that means staff entered the room without permission while we were out and left the cake there all night. After repeated inquiries, they finally said they could send a replacement, but it wouldn’t be a birthday cake, just a small cake, and asked if we could accept that. It was really frustrating. We then contacted the duty manager, who handled things very well. Not only did they upgrade us again to a room directly facing the Bund, but they also redid the birthday decorations and gave us a small gift and red wine (the view was truly beautiful!!). The manager said staff would help move our luggage. When we went out for dinner and came back, the new room wasn’t ready yet. The manager said they would call us when it was ready so we could pick up the new key card at the front desk. But when we returned that evening, the front desk said they couldn’t find our check-in record and that the room assigned to our key card had already been given to another guest?! We were completely stunned. The key card wasn’t deactivated, so theoretically, we could still enter the old room. This is a very serious security issue! They didn’t apologize and were very dismissive, just repeatedly saying they couldn’t find the record and had no intention to help. In the end, we had to ask another duty manager to handle it. After re-entering our ID, they finally found our information. During the entire three days and two nights, flying from Osaka to Shanghai, we changed rooms three times within 24 hours. The internal handover issues alone wasted a lot of time and left a regret on this birthday trip. Overall, the only person who showed responsibility was the duty manager who handled our issues. Other frontline staff, including the initial front desk duty manager who made the mistake but didn’t hand over properly, had a really terrible attitude. ‼️Final reminder to everyone: absolutely do NOT choose the corner room!!!! The layout is really, really strange!!! After we changed rooms, no one stayed in that room until we checked out!!! Sleeper