How do you choose a hotel when you travel? I wanted a nice hotel in Shanghai, somewhere reasonably central, not too expensive, and not too modern and soulless.
I figured I could skip the research phase of hotel selection and just book the hotel in the French quarter that I remember staying at before, in 2010—if I could figure out which one it was. Luckily, in 2010 I took a photo of the hotel sign!
Still, booking was not as straightforward as I assumed it would be. The hotel had been bought by the hotel next door, so the name had changed, from Hengshan Picardie Hotel to Hengshan Garden Hotel. Upon arrival, we discovered they had closed down what had been the main entrance on the corner. In fact, not just the lobby, but also the rooms we stayed in weren’t in the original building I remembered. Still, the experience was fine overall.
See below for 10 photos of the hotel, then and now.
Hengshan Picardie Hotel, 2010
Hengshan Garden Hotel, 2024
