The hotel is a 10min walk from the airport and the train station to SHA. There is a 7-11 enroute if you need to stock up with snacks.
If you arrive before check-in time then you can spot discreetly from outside the main entrance of the hotel using FR24 .
An airport view room can be booked and is required, we were allocated 6067. The hotel is new, so had all mod cons... Electric curtains, USB and USC plug switches, and the usual high quality furnishings. This room had twin beds, and a sofa / table / chair adjacent to the window. We moved the sofa to face outwards and give more comfort.
In May FR24 coverage was patchy with aircraft dropping off/appearing on at around 1500ft. If you have an SBS/ADSB set-Up then it will help you a bit and there is a power plug just below the windows to help with power. The windows also opens if you need to put an antenna outside. Once closed up, the room is well insulated from airport noise.
The Internet worked well in the hotel. Of course, being in China, WhatsApp and some other applications are restricted. I was able to communicate with home using teams, but the calling option is also prohibited.
The fridge wasn't the best but by the evening the drinks were suitably chilled. There is a limited room service menu, which we did use, as there was so many needed frames coming in we weren't able to leave the room for any duration.
During the stay all arrivals we coming from the South towards us, so the approaches were easily seen. All departures were also visible, either taxying out or on the departure roll. There are big gaps between the terminal and satellite so it's fairly easy to see everything.
Floor 3 is reception/bar/restaurant which doubles as the breakfast buffet. This is served from 0600 to 1000. This was included in our room rate. rooms are on floors 5, 6 and 7. Rooms ending in 001 to 073 odd numbers view towards the taxiway between the two terminals, the remote gates and with views of all runways. I was on the fifth floor and the view was absolutely fine. Chinese superstition means there are are no rooms with the number 4 in them, nor a 4th floor. The hotel is huge and has well over a hundred rooms per floor so room numbers are 4 digits (e.g. 5001 onwards for the fifth floor).
The Crowne Plaza looks like it is the same building design but probably with fewer, larger rooms.
Note if using Didi (Chinese Uber) while it is okay to get dropped of directly at the hotel, you cannot be picked up here and have to walk into the terminal and the eHailing point.
