Hanting Hotel (Shanghai Pusan ​​Road Subway Station)

I was staying in Shanghai for Disneyland and wanted a reasonably priced hotel that’s near a Metro. I found the Hanting Hotel on Google, but it says the nearby Pusan Road station is ‘permanently closed’ which isn’t true at all! The station is fully operational so Google is wrong. As a traveler, use exit 2 of the Metro, because that’s the only one that has an elevator to the street. Nobody wants to schlep 2 suitcases up the stairs. Once you check in and stow the luggage, use exit 4 of the metro on your next trips to avoid crossing streets because Chinese drivers are *******. The staff at the Hanting are really nice, but don’t speak English. So pre-load Google translate in advance and download Chinese Simplified language. Type your message to them in English, Google will translate it and the staff will reply on their phones using a translator. It works. And btw, Google does not work in the PRC which is why you have to do this ahead of time. My room was advertised as non-smoking, but clearly a smoker used it before because the evil smell of cigarette smoke hit me the moment I walked in. Luckily the windows open in the room, so the smoke smell was mostly gone after 2 days except for the bathroom. So the air filter in the bathroom must be jammed with smoke particles, because it never went away even though housekeeping sprayed disinfectant. The rest of the room became acceptable. The air conditioning unit was thankfully working, so I kept the room at a nice 21 degrees Celsius. Some hotels disable the A/C in the cooler seasons and force you to accept a centralized temp, so I was happy that Hanting allowed me to set the temperature of my own choice. The room was generally nice (aside from the cigarette smell) but I was really puzzled about the lack of a dresser or a closet or anywhere to store clothing. There is also no clock in the room and no refrigerator or access to a microwave. The amenities were standard. Wi-Fi (the staff has to help you set this up), hair dryer, US compatible outlets. The best part: free breakfast! Westerners might be dissatisfied with just toast and OJ but Asians would love the breakfast spread of vegetables, sausages, fried rice, steamed buns, corn, steamed sweet potato, congee, tons of toppings and flavorings for congee. The surprise was full access to a washing machine and dryer for FREE! The machine provides soap, so all you need to do is load and press the buttons. The staff is willing to help. So after a long day at Disneyland, just load up the washer, take a shower, go back down and use the dryer and everything is fresh for the next day at Disney. I suspect that the hotel is not truly aimed at Western tourists. It’s a little off the beaten path, and it seems all of their guests are Asians. I am mostly satisfied, but damn, that cigarette smell.

Everything was clean, and service was great! They were very polite!