This hotel is quite acceptable for tour groups and business visitors. Rooms and en suites are comfortable, clean (stayed this time on 13th floor) although Tian Mu Road is busy and could be noisy on lower floors of the hotel. The hotel is quite well located, being near a major station. Breakfast is generous (and regularly replenished at breakfast time), a Western and Chinese style buffet is served in a large dining room. Our tour party was asked to pay a room key deposit in advance, the only time this occurred while we were in China. Front desk staff speak English and were quite helpful.

I usually stay at the Zhong Ya over the road from the East China; however, given that the Zhong Ya has become rather noisy throughout the night on account of the construction of a supermarket nearby, I decided to try the East China for a change. It's near Shanghai Railway Station. Its standard rooms are slightly more expensive than those of the Zhong Ya. I arrived at my Standard Room floor. The corridors smelled, the carpets were torn and tatty. I entered my room where my nose was assailed with some violence by the acrid smell of stale cigarette smoke. I knew I could not tolerate one whole night of this so I turned on my heels and down I went to Reception and asked for another room. I explained the cirgarette smell problem. Well! All Standard Rooms, they explained, are smoking rooms and if I wanted a non-smoking room, I would have to book into a Deluxe room at about 150 RMB per night more expensive than the 320 RMB Standard Rooms. Surely the hotel could not have allowed 100% of its standard rooms to be polluted with cigarette smoke, I complained. Surely, they keep one Standard Floor for non-smokers. No, the receptionist said, sourly, all Standard Rooms were smoking rooms and all would have the same smell - and, I take it, the same torn, tatty carpets. There was nothing for it, I said, but to check out and go to the Zhong Ya over the road where, despite the noise, at least smoke-free rooms are available. I moved to the check-out desk - but there came the cry, "OK, we'll change the room" and I was booked into a quite nice Deluxe room at the Standard Room price. I won't stay there again. 320 RMB should buy quite a decent Standard Room in a 3-star hotel in Shanghai. My advice to travellers is to avoid the East China hotel unless you're willing to pay a price well above what is reasonable for a 3-star hotel to get a smoke-free room. If you want to pay 450 - 500 per night for a room, you can do much better than the East China. If you've got this sort of money, head into the city to the Nanjing Road area.

This hotel is very NOISY. There are 16 lanes of traffic outside and the traffic is thick 24 hours a day. Just around the corner is a huge railway station where 2 million commuters travel each day. Although an old hotel, it has been partly refurbished but the lifts are slow & small, bedrooms are small and the furnishings look old. Staff are friendly and the breakfasts were great. It's close to a major shopping district so there's plenty of good shopping close by. The hotel is adequate but not really condusive to a good night's sleep. It's certainly not luxurious as well, although it's clean and functional. If you want a higher standard of accommodation stay elsewhere, as Chinese 3 star isn't equivalent to western 3 star.