During my 2 week visit to Shanghai, I stayed at 2 different hotels, Jin Jiang Inn in Jia Ding and Home Inn closer to Shanghai CBD, both are chain hotels.
In this post I will review the Jin Jiang Inn in Jia Ding District, Shanghai opposite Shanghai University. Jin Jiang Inn was cheaper than Home Inn; Jia Ding is a suburb, I am not sure if this affected the prices. Click here for the video review, and read the text below for a breakdown of the hotel.
Overall: 9/10
Based on my stay at the 2 branches of the 2 hotel chains, I would recommend the Jin Jiang Inn chain over Home Inn because it is cheaper with more/better facilities and better breakfast food. The customer service was very nice and friendly, and there was no smoking inside the hotel. The lobby was small but bright, clean and modern. The rooms were also very clean and well kept, and the more I think about it, the more I am pleased at this budget hotel.
Location
The Jin Jiang Inn I am reviewing is located in Jia Ding on ChengZhong Road across the road from Shanghai university Jia Ding campus, however you can find them all over Shanghai.
Address:
English: 197, Cheng Zhong Rd, Jiading District, Shanghai
Chinese: 上海市嘉定区城中路35号
Jia Ding is a suburb in Shanghai, this one is located directly across the road from Shanghai University’s west gate.
The hotel door front is located along a street lined with other shops. The hotel is the one with the red logo just visible, above the man in the scooter in the picture below.
Locality
Cheng Zhong Road is a long main road. Towards the south there is a bridge, and towards the north, is the busier ‘city center’ with lots of shopping centers, restaurants and buses. The closest bus stop is abut 230m up the road towards the north on the same side as the hotel and will take you there, the buses stop at every stop, be ready to get off, you will see the large shopping centres.
About 650m south past the bridge is Tesco, a large shopping centre and grocery chain. You can either walk to the shops or walk to the bus stop and catch a bus, but the bus stops across the road diagonally from the shopping mall.
There are 2 metro stops nearby, Jiading West located due west, and Jiading North, located north west. Click here for a guide to Shanghai’s metro system. Jiading North is about 2.3 km away and easier to find as it is straight along the main road Cheng Zhong Road. You can also catch a bus up the road and get off at the metro stop.
You can also catch a taxi from the metro stop to the hotel and vice versa.
The hotel
This is the hotel card
You can only access your own floor with your card, by tapping in on the elevator, however there is nothing stopping you from using the fire escape stairs to access other floors.
You also need the card to get breakfast, which comes free with your room. The breakfast room is in a separate area to the main building but can be easily accessed by a side door from the lobby, or outside via the carpark, neither of which I have a photo of.
The lobby is small however the hotel is larger than it looks from the outside, with about 8 floors and the lower floor is quite large.
Hotel Facilities
24 hour reception, non-english speaking.
Free wifi in all areas (lobby, room and dining room)
Small lobby has a small couch and coffee table and toilet facilities and free drinking water to fill a cup or bottle with.
Luggage storage
There is a self service laundry facility.
Carpark
Plenty of taxis are available outside the hotel that pass by, you need to hail one or you can ask the desk to call you one.
Breakfast consists of Shanghai style light vegetable stirfries, steamed buns (meat, vegetarian and custard), congee, individual tubs of yogurt, milk, soymilk, coffee and seasonal fruit. Take away is possible, they provide disposable plastic bags.
Photos of their lobby can be found here: http://www.jinjianginns.com/4387.html
The room
I shared a room with a room mate so this review is for a double room.
The rooms are actually quite nice for a budget hotel, they are clean and quite homey with timber patterned flooring that is not uncomfortable to walk around on, and easy for suitcase wheels to roll around on.
At this particular hotel, rooms above ground like mine have openable windows. The photo above was taken at night, but during the day there is good day lighting in the room. A friend of mine stayed in an underground room with no windows, but everything else was just as good.
Magazine on the table is provided by the room.
Other room facilities:
-cheap disposable slippers that is replaced everyday if you open them (slip off the paper ribbon that binds them together). I feel this is a waste and so try to keep the ribbon and put the slippers back in them so house keeping doesn’t replace it every day.
-Clothing rack with cloth hangers and a small storage cabinet
-There is a television with all the local Chinese channels
-Writing desk with pull out tray, and a tea table connected to it
-Desk lamp on table (can be unplugged and moved to bed side table)
-One chair
-Free tea and boiling water facilities (boil the water before drinking, tap water in China is not directly drinkable)
-2 Waste baskets (one in bathroom)
-Cable and Wifi internet (included in cost of room)
-Power plugs located along top of table, easily accessible
-Free bottled water daily
-Air conditioning
-Each bed has their own reading light
-Phone
-Wall mounted Hair dryer
Bathroom
Standing shower with hand rail on wall.
Toiletries supplied including toothbrush, toothpaste, comb and soap (not pictured). Wall mounted refillable shampoo and body wash.
Price
Unfortunately I do not recall the price per night, but I do remember that it was cheaper than Home Inn near the city. However, I went as part of a set program, so the host of the program probably did a deal with the hotel.
Note:
One thing I encountered at this hotel and Home inn was that strangers were distributing unwanted escort ads under the doors of all the guests’ rooms. The front reception told me there is nothing they can do as even if they ban the person, the ad company just sends another person, who books a room and uses the card to access the hotel lift to distribute the cards. You can just bin the cards.
Verdict:
I give this place 9/10 for it’s cleanliness and how well maintained it was. Service was good and the staff were friendly. Breakfast had a good variety. Wifi was good. Bit far from the closest metro station although the taxis are cheap. More could be done about the unwanted ads being distributed.
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