Shanghai invented its own style once. In the 1920s and 30s, architects on the Bund fused Parisian geometry with Chinese craft and produced Art Deco buildings that still define the city’s skyline — the Peace Hotel’s green pyramid, the Bank of China’s carved crown, the jazz ballrooms where the city’s orchestras played until dawn. That style had a name in local dialect: hai pai — Shanghai style. East and west, engineered together with a bit of theatre.
Shanghai · DECO is a love letter to that moment, built for a very different traveller. When the hotel opened in 2017 under Shanghai Star Hyatt Hotel Management Co., Ltd., the brief was precise: take the light-luxury segment beside Pudong Airport and give it a soul. The team chose hai pai. Sunburst motifs went above the reception. Gold stepped lines traced the corridors. The rooms received deco geometry, proper blackout curtains and — the part every guest touches — Sleemon sleep mattresses.
The 2023 renewal
In 2023 the hotel completed a full renovation. Soft furnishings were replaced, the coffee programme was rebuilt around Bonza Melb. Coffee — a 300-square-meter house pouring Melbourne-style specialty coffee — and the restaurant re-committed to Shanghai fusion cuisine, the same east-meets-west idea the building itself performs. The rooms gained refreshed bathrooms, new movie packages and the little details frequent flyers notice.
What the name means now
Guests gave the hotel its nickname and it stuck: the Deco. For one verified Trip.com guest it is simply “stylish” — the word they chose after a one-night transit stay. For the families from the Disney shuttle, it is the bunk bed on the fifth floor. For the exhibition crews, it is the 100-seat meeting room and the 2.2-metre bed above it. One building, four different hotels, depending on why you landed.
The promise has not changed since 2017: old Shanghai glamour, at the price of an airport hotel, with the timetable of the airport itself. The shuttle leaves every hour. The coffee is better than it needs to be. The jazz-age idea lives on — you just check out at noon.