We have just returned from China and during our trip stayed in Shanghai twice. The first stay was for one night and the second for three nights. We stayed in Les Suites Oriental the first night. This is a nice hotel and deserves the recognition it gets on Trip Advisor but surely not no.1 (except for location), not when you compare it to the Swissotel Grand Shanghai.
Having had a good stay in the Swissotel Beijing we booked into the Swissotel Grand Shanghai and had an even better stay.
The hotel is located at the Jing'an Temple subway stop on the 2 line. We arrive late the first night by taxi which cost just 80 RMB from Hongqioa airport. Please watch out at the airport. We went to what we thought was the tourist office (they said they were the tourist office but not official) to ask for the name of the hotel to be written in Mandarin so we could pass it to our taxi driver. Although they did this it was not first without trying to get us to hire a private car at a cost of 250RMB to the hotel saying that the official taxi rank would be 30 mins. wait and telling us that a taxi would cost at lease 150RMB. Fortunately we saw sense and even though the taxi queue was long it moved extremely quickly and we were sitting in a taxi in under 10 mins.
We booked the room last minute at a great rate which included free internet access but excluded breakfast. During our stay in Beijing the breakfast was one of the highlights but would have cost an extra 300-400RMB per night. Fresh Element have a restaurant only minutes away along the Nanjing road so we breakfasted there - western breakfasts with unlimited coffee - delicious.
We booked a classic room with a king sized bed and were thrilled with our room. The room was clean, spacious, modern, with good bed linen, well designed and even included an expresso machine. The bathroom was well designed; you could even watch TV from within the shower. The hotel is generally up-to-date with lovely public areas and I imagine that all rooms are also of this quality. The TV had the discovery and Nat. Geographic channels along with the news channels you would expect - perfect.
Check-in was a little disappointing with the receptionist trying to sell us a room on the executive floor that included breakfast for an extra 480RMB. The whole check-in nearly bordered on the rude. All the other staff we came in contact with were wonderful, respectful and very helpful.
The gym is large with a cardio room containing running machines, cross trainers, bikes and wave machines and a weights room containing weight machines (no free weights). It was spotless and so was the pool, changing room and steam room. The sauna could have done with a little sweep - you can see where tissue etc have been dropped between the wood slats. There are two excellent whirlpools in the changing rooms too. All in all the spa is beautifully presented and catered for all needs.
The hotel is located along the no. 2 line which we found convenient to get to all the places we wanted to. There is a large shopping mall next to the hotel with a great food hall in the basement where you can buy water and snacks. The Mall contains all the big designer names that we know in the West. The 8th floor is the floor mall and has a branch of Guyi Hunan - arrive early to get your table. There is a 24 hour burger king and McDonalds nearby which maybe handy if you arrive late and of course the Jing'an temple. If you go across the road opposite the temple there is Jing'an plaza - lots of small independent shops in a mall with interesting items for sale - mainly clothes and jewellery. At the back of the small park is Bali Laguna an Indonesian restaurant which was recommended but unfortunately we did not get to try.
All in all we had a great stay and will stay in the Grand again.

Well my company has changed side in Shanghai - going from Pudong to Puxi - until last year we stayed at the Shangri-La Pudong , since this year we stay at the Swissotel Grand. Well right at the beginning - the Swissotel is no match for the Shangri La - but we also only pay half the price of the Shangri La - for this price the Swissotel offers a good business value - would i stay there on a private trip - no - there are much better and fancier hotels in Shanghai. Nevertheless the service in this hotel is very good, employees try hard to please you. The rooms are not big in my opinion but efficiently used, so they do not feel cramped, the same with the bathroom - where they managed to install a bathtub and separate shower stall. I like in particular the use of bright colored furniture and bathroom fixtures, nothing too dark. so overall the room is not fancy but very efficient ( like the Swiss!!!!).... one thing is too criticise - the closet and storage space - just one word horrible! --> i normally stay 1-2 weeks on my trips in a hotel, and ample closet and storage space is very important for me... here i cannot pack out all my things and the closet for your clothes or the cabinets are either too small or non existent.

Housekeeping service very efficient and twice a day. The breakfast buffet - well quite large but the quality of the food sometimes lags a bit, as i said before it isn't the shangri-la, but it certainly does not have that aspiration... it can be crowded at the breakfast which is taken at Cafe Swiss their all dining room...since the hotel is used by many tourists and also groups... on top the swiss airline crew stays there.... they have two other restaurants a chinese and a steakhouse I have eaten already at the steak house... while ok, it is not really excellent... value is ok.

So overall a solid business hotel, comfortable, clean and for us at a very good price (company rate) - you have nothing to complain, but it isn't spectacular... everything functions, no problems ( like a swiss watch) and it also does not wow you...

but as i said before, it is a solid choice, if you want to experience something special - well then do not stay there, there are much more fancier hotel but also at a different price.