Rooms with an Oriental Pearl Tower View: Words to Look for in Room Names (Pearl Tower View, River View, City View)

When choosing a night-view hotel in Shanghai, there's something to check before the hotel name.

It's the room name.

Even within the same hotel, there are rooms whose windows face the river and rooms that face the city.

Shanghai hotels mark this difference with words added after the room name.

If you book the cheapest room without looking at these words, you may see nothing but the building next door.

Pearl Tower View means you can see the Oriental Pearl Tower

The Chinese name of the Oriental Pearl Tower is 东方明珠, and its English name is Oriental Pearl Tower.

So if an English room name includes "Pearl Tower View" or "Pearl View," it's a room where you can see the tower.

On translated booking screens, it may also appear as "Oriental Pearl View" or similar.

Rooms with this word are the surest bet.

That's because the hotel has fixed which way the window faces through the name itself.

W Shanghai – The Bund is a hotel where you need to read room names carefully.

The rooms called Wonderful and Marvelous are city view, so you can't see the Oriental Pearl Tower.

You have to book a "Spectacular" room with Pearl Tower View added to see the Oriental Pearl Tower.

The category name (Wonderful, Spectacular) and the view name (Pearl Tower View) are attached separately.

So a higher category doesn't automatically come with the view.

Regent Shanghai Pudong is similar.

It's best to book the Premium King with Pearl View.

Sometimes the Oriental Pearl Tower is right in front of you from a room on the 33rd floor.

River View depends on which bank the hotel is on

River View means a room that sees the Huangpu River.

But what you see across the river depends on where the hotel is.

At hotels in Pudong on the east bank, River View means a room looking across at the old Bund buildings.

Grand Hyatt Shanghai is one of these.

From a River View room, the old Bund buildings spread wide across the river.

From a River View room at a Pudong hotel, the Oriental Pearl Tower is off to the side or below.

So if you want the Oriental Pearl Tower in the center of your window, River View at a Pudong hotel isn't quite the answer.

At hotels on the Bund and North Bund on the west bank, River View means a room looking across at Lujiazui.

On this side, River View often means a room that sees the Oriental Pearl Tower and the Pudong skyscrapers.

Some hotels, like The Eton Hotel Shanghai, are in Pudong but have riverside rooms that face the Lujiazui towers.

At the Eton, you can see the three Pudong towers and boats on the river while lying in bed.

Bund View isn't always an Oriental Pearl Tower view

A word that's easy to confuse is Bund View.

Hyatt On The Bund sells Oriental Pearl Tower view rooms and Bund view rooms separately.

But from the Bund view rooms, you sometimes can't see the Oriental Pearl Tower.

Having "Bund" in the name doesn't guarantee you'll see the tower across the river.

On the other hand, Shanghai Marriott Marquis City Centre is a hotel on the People's Square side, away from the river.

Yet from this hotel's Bund view rooms, you can see the Oriental Pearl Tower and the three Pudong towers straight ahead.

This hotel is about a 7-minute walk to People's Square Station.

The soundproofing is good, so it's quiet even in the middle of the night.

Even a hotel away from the river can have a Bund view that reaches across the river if the building is tall.

The same word points in different directions at each hotel.

When looking at a Bund view room, always check whether the Oriental Pearl Tower appears in that room's photos.

City View faces the other way

City View is a room that looks at the city on the side away from the river.

If your trip is about seeing the Oriental Pearl Tower, it's best to leave City View out.

Even if the price is tempting, check the window photos first.

City View isn't necessarily a bad room.

At a hotel right in the middle of East Nanjing Road, like Radisson Collection Hyland Shanghai, the city view from a high floor is also impressive.

At this hotel, you can look down on East Nanjing Road even from the breakfast seats.

There's also a photo of a private dining room with a round table and a view of Lujiazui.

If your plan is to walk the pedestrian street until late and come back only to sleep, you can book City View and see the night view from the riverside.

The walk to the Bund is in Walking from East Nanjing Road to the Bund.

Some hotels don't put a view in the name

Some hotels don't attach view names at all.

At Golden Tulip Bund New Asia, the Oriental Pearl Tower view isn't a fixed room type.

At hotels like this, all you can do is write it in the special requests when booking.

Requests aren't always granted.

Sometimes you get a room on the 2nd floor.

What to write and how is covered separately in the "high floor, Oriental Pearl Tower view" request guide.

Travel posts from China even pinpoint the room numbers.

For the Haiou Regent, they book the suites ending in 06.

At the same hotel, the rooms ending in 15 face Waibaidu Bridge, so the view is different.

That means even on the same floor, each room number faces a different way.

For information like this, asking the hotel directly is the only sure way.

Other words attached to room names

Besides view words, room names come with several other terms.

These have nothing to do with the window view, so read them separately.

King and Queen mean one large bed, and Twin means two beds.

At JI Hotel Shanghai The Bund Sichuan Zhong Road, the Twin Room has 2 single beds, and the Superior Queen Room and Superior Double Room have 1 queen bed.

The Standard Two-Bed Room at Puyan Hotel Shanghai The Bund has 2 double beds and sleeps up to 3 adults.

If three friends go together or you travel with a child, the bed size differs depending on whether it's "Twin" or "Two-Bed."

Club and Executive often mean a room with lounge access.

At Grand Hyatt, the Club floor is on the 80th floor, and you can see the Bund from that floor's River View rooms.

The afternoon tea in the lounge had tasty blueberry scones and walnut cake.

The evening happy hour snacks were a bit disappointing, though.

If your schedule leaves little time for the lounge, a River View room without the word Club is enough.

Corner means a room with windows on two sides.

Both Hyatt On The Bund and Grand Hyatt have photos of corner rooms with windows on two sides.

A corner room has a wider view than a room with windows on one side, so you see the river and the city together.

Family and Kids mean rooms decorated for children.

Puyan Hotel has kids' rooms with a slide and a ball pit.

Hyatt On The Bund also has photos of a children's room decorated with a tent.

Kids' rooms put in-room play ahead of the view, so check separately whether a view name is attached too.

The order for choosing by room name

Look at it this way and you won't get confused.

• If the room name includes Pearl Tower View, Pearl View, or Oriental Pearl View, look at that room first.
• If it only says River View, first check which side of the river the hotel is on. On the west bank (the Bund), it faces the Oriental Pearl Tower; in Pudong, it faces the old Bund buildings.
• For Bund View, check whether the Oriental Pearl Tower appears in the room photos.
• Leave City View out, or book it only when you'll see the night view outside.
• If the hotel has no view names, write it in the requests and expect that it may not work.
• Finally, check whether bed words like King, Twin, or Family fit your group.

Other questions

With a Pearl Tower View room, does every floor see it well?

No.

Even in the same view room type, a low floor may have buildings in the way.

Which floor the view opens up from is continued in Which floors see the Bund and the Oriental Pearl Tower.

Which is better, River View or Pearl Tower View?

At a west-bank hotel, the two face almost the same direction.

At a Pudong hotel, River View faces the old Bund buildings and Pearl Tower View faces the tower, so choose by the view you want.

If you first decide whether to see the Oriental Pearl Tower head-on or look up at it up close in the North Bund vs. Lujiazui comparison, picking a room name gets easier.

How do I read room names that only appear in English?

"Pearl" means the Oriental Pearl Tower, "River" the Huangpu River, "Bund" the Bund, and "City" the city.

Knowing just these four words lets you filter the room list quickly.

View rooms tend to cost more than City View rooms.

Prices change by date, so compare the two rooms side by side for your own dates.