Asia's first Andaz, on the edge of Xintiandi — colour-changing room lighting, a lively LED facade and the best location of the bunch for walking to nightlife. Hyatt's design-led lifestyle brand.
Andaz Xintiandi was Asia's first Andaz — Hyatt's design-led lifestyle brand — and it's the pick of this list for location. At 88 Songshan Road on the edge of Xintiandi, it's upscale-creative rather than corporate, with a signature party trick of guest-controllable colour-changing LED mood lighting in the rooms and a multicoloured animated facade outside. Around 307 rooms, architecture by Kohn Pedersen Fox with interiors by Super Potato. Inside you'll find Shanghainese dining at Hai Pai, the Prohibition-style Bleu Bar speakeasy and the Andaz Lounge, plus an Optime spa with an indoor pool, a gym and a salon — though Andaz does rotate its food and drink venues, so check the current line-up.
The reason to book here is that you're in the heart of Xintiandi, Shanghai's polished, long-popular going-out quarter, about a minute's walk from Middle Huaihai Road, with French Concession bars an easy walk or short hop and the Bund 10–15 minutes by taxi; metro at Xintiandi and South Huangpi Road is excellent. Standard rooms typically run somewhere around ¥1,300–2,500. Hyatt brings strong brand-level LGBTQ credentials — a perfect HRC Corporate Equality Index score since 2005, IGLTA membership, UN LGBTI signatory, the internal HyPride group and Pride promotions — though, as ever, that's corporate rather than a property certification.