One, the Grand Hyatt in the landmark Jin Mao tower, is half full and discounting rooms at about $200 (€145, ￡131) a night. The other, the newly opened Park Hyatt in the Shanghai World Financial Centre, has also slashed prices – and it will not even declare its occupancy rate. And just across the river is the Hyatt on the Bund, also no more than half full.

This plethora of proximate Hyatts captures the plight of a sector hard hit by the global economic crisis: the foreign bankers, lawyers and consultants who normally patronise such five-star Shanghai hostelries are sharply cutting their travel budgets.

China's national tourism administration announced on the 8 Jan that the number of overseas visitors fell 2 per cent last year from 2007 to 130m, reflecting security measures surrounding the Olympic Games and the global financial crisis. Spending by foreign visitors fell by 5 per cent.