24-Hour Room Service: PuLi Hotel and Spa, Shanghai

Shanghai is a city of restless reinvention, of quick-fire change, of shiny and new and bigger and better and taller and wider and more expensive and louder and louder and... frankly, it all gets a bit much after a while. Time, perhaps, for an Urban Resort Concept.

A what? Well, in the PuLi's case, "Urban Resort Concepts" is the name of the management company that runs the hotel. However, the idea – let's call it an Urc from now on, shall we? – is also touted as the point of difference between the PuLi and Shanghai's other luxury hotels. It's a "distinctive duality", whereby guests combine being in central Shanghai "with the quiet, emotional indulgences of a peaceful, luxurious resort".

So, does the Urc work? Well, yes actually. The testosterone-fuelled architecture of modern-day Shanghai is undeniably impressive, but those of us who don't drive Maseratis or walk the streets weighed down by Louis Vuitton are secure enough to realise bling isn't everything when it comes to hotels.

The 26-storey tower of the PuLi (the name translates as "the beauty of carved jade") isn't exactly titchy, but with 209 rooms and 20 suites neither is it overwhelming in size. The public areas – particularly the double-height lobby, with glass walls overlooking a small pond – are designed to give the impression of discreet luxury rather than the colonial-era glamour or the cutting-edge construction techniques on offer elsewhere in Shanghai. If that's what you're after then try, respectively, the recently restored Fairmont Peace Hotel (jostling for position with the "heritage architecture" of the Bund), or floors 79 to 93 of the Shanghai World Financial Centre in the Pudong district (where the Park Hyatt forms part of the third-tallest building in the world).

Global hotel chains such as Fairmont and Hyatt are drawn to Shanghai; indeed InterContinental recently chose the city as the location for the first Asian property in its boutique-hotel chain, with Indigo on the Bund opening last month. However, although there are other Urcs in development, for now the PuLi remains resolutely one of a kind. And the central location means that the "urban" part of the brief is easily fulfilled.

But what about the "emotional indulgence" bit? Well, head to the third floor and you'll discover a green-tiled pool, a tooled-up gym and a set of what are described as "experiential showers", which I'm afraid I failed to experience. I did try the Anantara Spa, the first in Shanghai, which offers massages and treatments using green tea, as well as a form of traditional Chinese massage that is "a combination of tui (pushing), na (pulling and dragging), an (rapid rhythmic pressure), pai (tapping), cha (rubbing), zhen (vibrating), bo (vertical pressure) and dian zue (acupuncture)." All that for just 1,380 yuan (£132). Ouch.

Location

The tumult of Shanghai means that green space is at a premium, which makes the PuLi's position, soaring above the pretty green triangle of Jing'An Park, all the more impressive. The busy east-west axis of Nanjing Road runs close by, with the carriageways of Yan An Road passing just to the south. At night the two transform into gleaming white-and-red ribbons of car headlamps and tail-lights.

The boutique shops of the former French Concession are just beyond Yan An Road; the touristy Bund is a taxi-ride to the north-east; and a cab from Shanghai's gleaming Hongqiao airport terminal costs around 150 yuan (£15) and takes 45 minutes.

Comfort

Most of the PuLi's guests are here to do business: free Wi-Fi is available throughout the hotel and a stay in the club rooms on the 20th-25th floors confers benefits such as your own GuanJia (butler), a complimentary minibar and two hours of boardroom use per stay. However, the emphasis throughout the PuLi is also on more sensual pleasures.

The Chinese motifs – black lacquered furniture, screen-style partitions in the spacious rooms, reproductions of Han dynasty ornaments – are redolent of the Mandarin Oriental's low-key-but-Eastern design palette. The Long Bar which dominates the hotel's lobby is a 21st-century take on an idea pioneered in the colonial days of the Shanghai Club (now the Waldorf Astoria Hotel). And the Jing'An restaurant overlooks the park, with a flavoursome menu (the beef cheek was particularly impressive) overseen by executive chef Dane Clouston, who hails from New Zealand.

Room service goes by the slightly over-familiar name of "home delivery", but should you venture outside for a meal you can stay connected with the mobile phone provided in each room, which also confers free local calls. Indeed, technology is everywhere: a battery of buttons to work the blinds in your room, a Bose Wave iPod dock, a Nespresso machine, flat-screen TV and DVD player.

One final perk of a stay at the PuLi is the opportunity to dine at the members-only Kee Club (00 86 21 3395 0888; keeclub.com) in the former French Concession, where the decadent spirit of colonial Shanghai is summoned up with cigar rooms and high-end private dining. But you'll soon be itching to return to your Urban Resort Concept: the Urc that doesn't irk.

The PuLi Hotel and Spa, 1 ChangDe Road, JingAn District, Shanghai (00 86 21 3203 9999; thepuli.com)

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