How is a hotel Number 1 on Tripadvisor (and one Number 2447)
Get the Number 1 of the great judge of Internet hotels, Tripadvisor it's complicated . If it's Number 1 out of several thousand hotels, that's quite a feat. But there always has to be a winner.
In Shanghai the hotel level is overwhelming : The Peninsula, The Ritz Carlton Pudong, Shangri-La, The Puli, The InterContinental. According to Tripadvisor, Number 1 is the Mandarin Oriental Pudong . It is true that he only has a year to live. It is true that belonging to a respected and tested label accumulates a lot of knowledge. It is true that they write much more reviews those who live bad experiences than those who enjoy. Happiness is much less narratively interesting. But there is the hotel on its throne. In a week in which there is talk of kings, it is appropriate to speak of hotels that reign as this one does.
HOW SHOULD A HOTEL BE LIKE TO BE THERE?
Tuned up
A hotel is like an orchestra. Sometimes, an instrument is out of tune, a musician fails and a note escapes. Tripadvisor talks about that note, not about the rest of the symphony . Therefore, the level of refinement of a hotel that aspires to the throne is brutal. All : service, color palette, shower flow, quality of views and concierge's smile must be aligned. This is very difficult but it is achieved without apparent effort. Apparent. Attest.
Everything has to be tuned
Photogenic
The photographs taken by the guests, almost always lousy photographers even though Instagram would have you believe otherwise they should turn out fine. The Mandarin does not have a corner that looks bad in photos, even if they are moved, poorly framed and with flash. She's like some kind of Greta Garbo : Impossible to catch him in a waiver. And that even the greatest divas have their bad day.
photogenic above all
service, service, service
This is what the active user of Tripadvisor feeds on the most. The hotel may be in a vacant lot in an industrial estate , cold water in winter and a chintz quilt. Pe ro if the service is good, it will be remembered . And vice versa. It is not necessary to explain this to the Mandarins because it is the heart of your business . They achieve that complicated thing of not being servile and of anticipating our thoughts. This is how someone writes it on the web: "So nice, so clean, so designer, so many friendly employees that made me feel like a celebrity."
Details, service and photography
Everything is debatable. Nothing is. Let's explain. One of the most recurring criticisms of the Mandarin Oriental (the only one) is that it is in Pudong , the financial district of Shanghai. The one with skyscrapers, offices and shopping malls to understand each other. "Located in a quiet area of Pudong, it's awfully quiet at night and there is nothing within walking distance. For me, this is a plus. And it's not entirely true . If you want to party, you go to Nanjing Road, a three euro taxi ride or you go down to the hotel bar, beautiful. And you can walk to the IFC Mall , where you're going to end up spending three or four hours. The architecture is magnificent, there is a horizon, silence and you capture the soul of a very interesting Shanghai. What is good for some is not good for others and vice versa. . Therefore, it is not negative, only debatable. A Number 1 hotel must be able to handle this.
If it's in the center fine, and if not too
Details to go-go What an active Tripadvisor user likes best is to bait in the small. We agree that a towel rack next to the shower makes life easier, but it's not what makes you either love or hate a hotel. In a Number 1 hotel like this one in Shanghai all details work : small drawer with stationery material in case someone wants to do crafts, reading in the bathroom, sneakers with which you will want to go out to the street, materials of a very high level, a section of handmade ice creams (That's why they were invented in China) at breakfast, a car that takes you wherever you want in Pudong, and so on until the most petard of guests is exhausted. Impossible to catch a mistake. It even makes you angry.
Details to go-go
We will have to see the evolution in a year, when there are more reviews, but you have to look with respect at number 1 in a city full of number 1 hotels. Actually, the top ten hotels on the list justify a trip to a city that arouses the same emotion as New York did twenty years ago.
But after climbing to the tops, let's go down to the plains : How is, for example, the Lihao International Hotel, which is ranked 2447 out of 3715? A place that receives comments of this caliber:
"Bad experience - don't stay here unless you literally just need a roof over your head for the night near the airport."
“Don't stay here!!!”
“Horror hotel”
The photographs are not as atrocious as expected, but they are also accuse the website of misleading.
The Mandarin Oriental Pudong, heaven. The Lihao International Hotel, hell. Life.
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