Tag: Staycations

REVIEW: PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering, Singapore – COLLECTION Lifestyle Room

Excellent picks in terms of location, amenity and offering. If champagne breakfast is your thing, this is your hotel.

It certainly took a while for PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering, Singapore to reopen after Singapore’s ‘Circuit Breaker’.

While many other hotels were eager to go to tap on the local staycation crowd in Singapore since June, one hotel that were noticeably absent was Parkroyal Collection Pickering, Singapore. Originally slated to reopen in September, the hotel then further extended its closure owing to its property being used for government mandated isolation purposes.

Eventually, it reopened its doors on 1 Nov 2020, and I immediately booked a stay for that night to see what has changed in the midst of pandemic.

In this post:
• About the hotel
• The booking – Yay to Staycay
• Checking in
• The room
• COLLECTION Club Lounge
• Afternoon tea
• Evening cocktails
• Champagne Breakfast
• The facilities
• A note about service
• Final thoughts

The hotel

Parkroyal Collection Pickering, Singapore opened its doors to much fanfare in 2013, being one of the first few eco-friendly hotels which was quite a novelty even as recent as seven years ago.

Parkroyal Collection Pickering – View from Hong Lim Park

The hotel was designed by WOHA, a Singaporean architecture firm known for incorporating extensive greenery in their buildings. The hotel features over 15,000 square metres of lush gardens, waterfalls and planter walls, which constitutes more than twice the hotel’s total land area. The greenery also lends itself to the iconic facade which subsequently became an important landmark in Chinatown.

The hotel’s sky gardens are designed to be self-sustaining and consume minimal energy through the usage of solar cells, motion sensors, rainwater harvesting and reclaimed water.

The hotel was previously known as PARKROYAL on Pickering and subsequently rebranded as PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering, Singapore earlier this year. The Parkroyal Collection (it’s styled in all upper case, but it’s rather tiring to read) is a new brand under the Pan Pacific Hotel Group, currently with only two properties under that fold: the Pickering property, as well as the up and coming PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay.

The hotel has 367 rooms, with 7 diffeent room types.

For the entry level rooms, they include the Urban Room, Lifestyle Room and Signature Rooms. The Urban room and Lifestyle rooms are both between 28 to 32 square metres, but only the Lifestyle room comes with a bathtub if that’s important for you.

*Parkroyal Collection – Urban Room (photo credit: Pan Pacific Hotel Group)*

If you are looking for a bigger suite for your family, you can also book the Urban Junior Suite, which is about 1.5 times bigger than the base level rooms.

*Urban Junior Suite (photo credit: Pan Pacific Hotel Group)*

At the higher end, there are five room types with lounge access: COLLECTION Room, COLLECTION Lifestyle Room, COLLECTION Signature Room, COLLECTION Junior Suite and COLLECTION Signature Suite.

The first four room types: the COLLECTION Room, Lifestyle Room, Signature Room and Junior Suite types are essentially similar to their non-COLLECTION room counterparts, except that guests in these rooms enjoy lounge access.

At the higher end, there is a 73 square metres Signature Suite, featuring a separate bedroom and living space so you can stretch out very comfortably in. The suite also comes in both twin and king bed configurations, so that means that you can enjoy the suite with friends without that awkwardness of sharing a bed.

*COLLECTION Signature Suite (photo credit: Pan Pacific Hotel Group)*

There is also a single large suite called the PARKROYAL COLLECTION Suite, which was formerly known as the Presidential Suite. This single suite is a beautiful 166 square metre space located directly under the COLLECTION Club Lounge, with two adjacent smaller rooms beside the suite that guests can also book if they have a larger group in tow.

Parkroyal Collection Suite (Photo credit: Pan Pacific Hotel Group)

The Booking – Yay to Staycay

Pan Pacific Group is running a staycation promotion Yay to Staycay for stays from now until 31 Dec 2020, offering up to 15% off stays along with a host of other perks such as:

30% savings on food and beverage at hotel-operated dining outlets
20% savings on spa treatments at St. Gregory spa

For stays on Sundays to Thursdays, guests will also enjoy either a complimentary early check-in at 11am, late check-out at 4pm or upgrade. This is in addition to your GHA Discovery benefits, if applicable.

The rates are fairly reasonable, with weekday prices starting from S$223.20++ for the Urban Room with breakfast, and S$277.20++ for COLLECTION Room, which their name for club rooms.

Weekend rates is at a rather hefty premium, starting at S$283.50++ for the Urban Room with breakfast, as well as S$316.80++ for the COLLECTION Room. Note that stays on Fridays and Saturdays will not enjoy the additional perks of early check-in or late check-out, or the upgrade.

These rates are currently available for stays up to 31 Dec 2020, so grab them fast if you want to try the property.

For this stay, I booked myself the COLLECTION Lifestyle Room, a mid-sized room with club lounge benefits.

A couple of days before my stay, the hotel sent me an email to confirm which perk I will like to take up, given that my stay is on a Sunday. I opted for a late check-out instead of an early check-in, so that I could work in my room for most of the day.

Checking in

On the day of my stay, I arrived at the standard check-in time of 3pm. There was a handful of people at the check-in area, but fortunately there was an agent who could attend to me almost immediately.

*Parkroyal Collection Pickering – Check-in lobby*

The check-in process was fairly swift and not too different from pre-Covid days, with the usual checking of my ID documents and acceptance of my credit card for the deposit.

Very soon after that, I had my room keys in hand and off I went to check out my abode for the night.

A note about parking: Parkroyal Collection Pickering offers free parking for guests, but this is limited to two parking tickets per day. So if your party has more than two cars or you intend to move in and out of the building often, you might be better off parking at the public car parks nearby.

The Room

The Lifestyle Room that I booked is perched on the upper floors of the hotel, facing Hong Lim Park.

The room is a fairly compact room. At 28 square metres (32 for some rooms), the room is representative of some of the newer hotels built in recent years.

There is a sizeable king-sized bed right in the room. I need to talk about this bed: it’s probably one of the most comfortable bed I have slept on in a while. The bed was heavenly, the pillows worked for me, I didn’t feel like I tossed and turned much through the night. I flipped the sheets, but I have no idea where they got the mattress from.

By the window, there is a chic-looking work desk with an ergonomic chair. To locate power sockets, simply look under the bay window seat in front of the desk, where you can find international power sockets, USB charging ports and the HDMI TV ports.

Power sockets, TV audio/video inputs, HDMI port and USB charging port

In front of that table is also a full sized couch, where I spent quite a fair amount of time napping in between afternoon tea and evening cocktails.

The bathroom is integral to the sleep area, divided by a full-height sliding door. When opened, the bath area does make the room look far more spacious than it actually is.

The Lifestyle room comes with a bathtub and a separate standing shower stall. The bathtub sits right next to the window so you can always gaze out towards Hong Lim Park while taking a soak. Don’t worry about people looking in: the facade is rather cleverly designed with some external flaps that prevent rooms from the side wings from looking in.

Parkroyal Collection Pickering uses Metis amenities, an Australian dermatology brand that is commonly found in Australian serviced apartments and hotels. Metis has two ranges of hotel amenities: the Daily Solution range and the Ultra Hydration range, and Parkroyal Collection Pickering uses the latter.

I’ve used their amenities on my travels in Australia before, and wasn’t particularly impressed, but that’s purely a personal preference.

The hotel also provided a care kit, which they called the Pan Pacific Cares kit. In the kit you will find a couple of disposable surgical masks, Zappy antiseptic wipes and a travel-size hand sanitizer all contained in a clear zip pouch. Very handy.

The hotel also installs a Nespresso machine in every room, so even if you don’t have lounge benefits, you can still make yourself some machine coffee with the complimentary pods available in your room.

For tea people, the hotel stocks TWG tea, and you can always ask for more.

Interestingly the hotel doesn’t provide disposable bottled water. Instead, water in the room is filled in a reusable glass bottle, in a bid to be environmentally friendly. These bottles cannot be removed from the room (you will be charged for them if you do so), and will be refilled and resealed for every guest.

As with many other hotels, the hotel has cleared out all the minibar items from the fridge, so you can use it for your personal stash of drinks and snacks.

Note that COLLECTION room and suite guests are entitled to free non-alcoholic drinks from your minibar, so you may be wondering how is that possible since the minibar is empty. I’ve asked the front desk, and you can always call up room service to request for the beverages to be served to your room, although my experience with this wasn’t great (more on this later).

COLLECTION Club Lounge

With the introduction of the Parkroyal Collection hotels, this property has renamed its club lounge from its former name of Orchid Club to the COLLECTION Club Lounge.

The COLLECTION rooms and suites come with the following benefits:

Access to the COLLECTION Club Lounge at Level 16 from 7:00am to 10:30pm for all-day non-alcoholic refreshments and the following:
- Champagne breakfast from 7:00am to 10:30am
- Afternoon tea from 2:00pm to 4:00pm
- Evening cocktails from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Priority check-in and check-out
Two pieces of laundry per room, per day, non-accumulative during your stay (excludes dry cleaning or extra services such as express service and stain removal)
Complimentary non-alcoholic beverages in minibar
Complimentary one-hour usage of Club Boardroom per room per stay (subject to availability)
20% savings on all Business Centre services
20% savings off a-la-carte items at Lime

Perched atop the middle ‘column’, the lounge on the 16th floor boasts of a squarish footprint and can hold up to about 40 people at full capacity.

The COLLECTION Club Lounge is a beautiful double volume space with an incredibly high ceiling and plenty of natural light. When I first stepped in, the first thing that struck me was how the entire lounge took on the same design motifs as the hotel room with the wooden frames and fixtures, yet look so elegant and hospitable, as though I’m in someone’s living room.

The first thing that greeted me when I entered the lounge was a large communal table, which unfortunately was barely utilised during my stay given the prevailing social distancing measures.

Further in behind some shelves, you will see setups for smaller groups, including sofa and coffee tables that are good for lounging, or dining chairs and tables which some guests may be inclined towards.

The layout also conforms to the social distancing measures mandated by the government as a requirement for hotels to accept leisure guests, so you can dine in peace.

The lounge opens daily from 7am to 10.30pm, offering all day non-alcoholic refreshments for guests.

In addition, the lounge also offers a champagne breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktails at the following times:

Champagne breakfast – 7.30am to 10am
Afternoon tea – 2pm to 4pm
Evening cocktails – 6pm to 8pm

For those who cannot resist a bubbly breakfast, note that the champagne breakfast is offered daily, unlike some other hotel lounges that offer it only on weekends.

Afternoon tea

Parkroyal Collection Pickering presents its afternoon in a three tier stand, offering a collection of sweet and savoury bites that rotates every day of the week (you can view the menu here).

This was the menu for Sunday:

SUNDAY

Pulled Pork with Cheese Sandwiches
Mini Beef Burgers
Soft Shell Crab in Golden Man Tou Bao
Vegetarian Sandwich Rolls (V)
Meatless Meat and Asparagus Quiche (V)
Deep-Fried Prawn Wantons
Choux Choux
Opera Cake
Scones with Clotted Cream and Jam

If you are a visual creature, here’s how the food was presented:

The afternoon tea also comes with a choice of hot coffee or TWG tea, which of course comes with unlimited refills.

If you are not up for the full works, you can always request for select items, which the staff will be more than happy to bring to you.

The afternoon tea set was fairly substantial, and I found myself having a bit of a hard time finishing all the items, given that I had lunch not too long ago.

I’m usually a scones person, but one thing I noticed was that the scones came with jam and…. cream cheese. And yes, there’s no clotted cream, which was personally disappointing for me.

Another item worth mentioning was the soft shell crab on mantou. The deep fried soft shell crab was expertly cut up and balanced on a fried mantou, with a dollop of mayonnaise to complete the dish. Perfect.

The desserts were rather excellent too and I had to stop myself from asking for a second slice of the opera cake. I’d recommend that you pass on the choux choux.

The next day, as I had a late check-out, I went up to the lounge again for a second high tea and to get some work done in the lounge as well.

I went fairly late at about 3.45pm and was only expecting to get a pot of tea to enjoy while I work away on my laptop. To my surprise, the staff proactively brought to my a table a set of high tea refreshments, so I decided to indulge in it.

The menu for Monday was as follow:

MONDAY

Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese on Muesli Bread
Tuna with Mayonnaise on Baguette Bread
Mediterranean Grilled Vegetables on Sourdough Bread (V)
Mini Plant-Based Beyond Sliders (V)
Crispy Prawn Bean Curd Rolls
Mini Chicken Shepherd’s Pie
Guanaja Crunchy Chocolate Tart
Blueberry Cheesecake
Scones with Clotted Cream and Jam

I had tried Impossible plant-based meat before, but this was my first time trying Beyond meat, presented in the form of the mini sliders. Verdict: it was delish, and in my opinion, a little more meat-like than Impossible. If not for the menu, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that it’s not real meat.

I was personally looking forward to the chicken shepherd’s pie. In my mind, I had dreamed of a mini Don pie, chunky pieces of meat with a top layer of mashed potatoes, but it turned out to be a major disappointment: while it looked pretty, there was barely a pinch of chicken in the flat lukewarm pastry.

The sandwiches were tasty as well, but the star of the show has gotta be the chocolate tart. Tip? Don’t waste your calories on the blueberry cheesecake either.

Evening cocktails

Parkroyal Collection Pickering COLLECTION Club Lounge runs the evening cocktails daily between 6pm and 8pm.

When I first took a look at the evening cocktail menu, I was blown away. I should have taken a hint of it when I saw a team of chefs in the lounge preparing the food for the evening cocktails.

COLLECTION Club Lounge – Prep for evening cocktails

Apart from the long list of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, the lounge serves enough food to make it a full meal. Here’s the menu:

STARTERS

Romain lettuce | Mesclun mix
Condiments: Caesar Dressing, Thousand Island, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Bacon Bits, Parmesan Cheese, Herbed Croutons

Carrot stick | Celery stick | Cucumber stick | Cherry vine tomatoes Condiments: Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, Guacamole

Cheese and crackers
Table Cheese: Port Salut, Goat Cheese, Brie, Kikorangi, Tomme de Savoie
Condiments: Water Crackers, Dried Fruits, Grapes

House baked assorted breads with butter
Soft Rolls | Mini Ciabatta | Olive Bread | Mini Multigrain Breads | Sesame Lavosh (Crispy Bread Stick) | Grissini (Bread Stick)

Fresh fruits
Watermelon | Grapes | Dragon Fruit | Guava | Honeydew | Pineapple | Grapefruit

COLLECTION Club Lounge – Assorted breads

And that’s only the starters. Here’s the hot food & dessert list, with a menu that changes everyday:

SUNDAY

Morning Bak Kut Teh with Condiments
[Hong Lim Hawker Delight]
Steamed Siew Mai, Har Gau and Jade Dumplings
Saffron Couscous with Dried Fruits and Nuts (V)
Pork Ngoh Hiang Skewers with Asian Salad
Vietnamese Grilled Pork Salad with Spicy Lemongrass Dressing
Strawberry Mousse Cake
Green Tea Panna Cotta

*COLLECTION Club Lounge evening cocktails spread*

The menu excited me, especially the Hong Lim Hawker Delights. Note that lounge only serves these specials on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, offering the following special dishes:

Friday: Tai Wah Pork Noodles with Condiments
Saturday: Heng Kee Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee
Sunday: Morning Bak Kut Teh with Condiments

All of the above are my favourites, and to have them served in a hotel lounge is simply divine.

The Hong Lim Hawker Delights are part of a time-limited culinary offer at the Lime Restaurant, with the same three dishes offered at their dinner buffet called ‘The Best of Lime’ on Fridays and Saturdays ($78++ per pax), or Sunday Super Lunch ($88++ per pax).

The Bak Kut Teh, or pork rib soup, is not the usual Singapore peppery style broth that you get at most other places. This is the black herbal version that is less commonly found but equally popular among locals.

Hong Lim Hawker Delight – Morning Bak Kut Teh with Condiments

The soup came with two large pieces of pork rib, along with a serving of white steamed rice and the usual accompaniments of braised peanuts, salted vegetables and the all important cut chilli in sweet black sauce. The soup unfortunately came a little lukewarm, but still delicious.

COLLECTION ClubLounge evening cocktails – Dim Sum

We also had the steamed dim sum, which was pretty good by lounge standards. A special shout-out to the pork ngoh hiang, I probably had three servings of it.

COLLECTION Club Lounge evening cocktails – Grilled Pork Salad, Saffron Couscous

Drinks wise, the lounge offers a wide repertoire of beverages, including wines, beers, spirits, cocktails, mocktails, soft drinks and coffee or tea. While the option are barely premium, the hotel does a pretty decent job in making their cocktails, so do give those a try. The lounge even serves Singapore Sling, a drink that is pretty famous but not widely served.

For those who like bubblies, unfortunately the hotel only serves Prosecco for the evening session, so if you are devoted to champagne you will have to wait till the following morning.

One other magical thing about the lounge is that the large windows allow it to transform into a cozy space, as evening turns to night through the cocktail session.

Champagne Breakfast

This got me a little excited, as this is this probably one of the handful of hotels that offer daily champagne breakfast at the lounge. The last time I had a champagne breakfast in a hotel lounge was during my stay at Westin Singapore, and even then, champagne breakfast was only served on weekends.

For the record, COLLECTION Club Lounge serves breakfast from 7.30am daily, ending at 10.30am on Mondays to Fridays, and 11am on weekends.

Food wise, the breakfast fare was considered pretty sumptuous compared to some other hotel lounges post Circuit Breaker. There was sufficient variety to go around as well: salads for the health-conscious, the hearty American breakfast, as well Asian options for those with a localised palette.

BREAKFAST SPECIALTIES

Danish pastries (V)
Butter Croissants, Danish Pastries and Muffins

Fresh salad bowl (V)
Fresh Greens and Condiments
Dressing: Thousand Island, Balsamic, Lime Vinaigrette or Roasted Sesame Dressing

Cold cut platter
Smoked Salmon, Pastrami and Coppa Ham, served with Capers, Chives, Cream Cheese and Lemon Wedges

Assorted cheeses (V)
Boursin, Brie or Cheddar Cheese served with Nuts and Dried Fruits

Toasted bread basket (V)
Your choice of White Bread, Wholemeal Bread, Soft Rolls or Baguette
Spread: Butter, Strawberry Jam, Apricot Jam, Orange Marmalade. Nutella or Australian Honey

Cereal with dried fruit and nuts
Cereal: Cornflakes, All Bran, Weetabix, Muesli or Special K
Milk: Full Cream, Skimmed or Soya

Yoghurt
Your choice of Natural or Fruit Yoghurt served with Yakult and Fruit Compote

Seasonal fruit platter

—

LIVE STATION

Eggs – Any style
Poached | Sunny Side Up | Over Easy | Scrambled | Omelette
Served with your choice of Mushrooms, Onions, Cheese, Tomatoes, Spinach, Spring Onions Chilli or Mixed Peppers

Chipolata sausages
Chicken or Pork Chipolata Sausages served with Crispy Bacon, Herb Grilled Tomatoes, Baked Beans, Oat Meal and Hash Browns

Rice Congee
Served with Spring Onions, Fried Shallots, Pickled Vegetables, You Tiao, Salted Black Bean Fish, Salted Egg and Ginger

Steamed dim sum
Chicken Siew Mai, Prawn Har Gao and Assorted Steam Bao

Stir fried carrot cake

Vegetarian fried noodles (V)

Fried rice of the day

As you can see from above, that is a lot of food for a lounge, and leaves you to wonder what Lime Restaurant offers for breakfast (you can always check out the menu here). Even if you ordered one of everything, you may be hard pressed to finish everything.

COLLECTION Club Lounge – Champagne breakfast

My stay companion and I started off with an omelette, the chipolata sausages, some dimsum, and the carrot cake. On the side, we also asked for some danish pastries as well as cold cuts to go with the champagne.

On that note, the lounge serves Piper Heidsieck as its choice of champagne. Not the best of the lot, but it’s still better than some cheaper champagnes carried by some hotel bars.

COLLECTION Club Lounge – Piper Heidsieck champagne

The omelette is on point, power packed with flavours from half dozen different ingredients that you can pick and choose from.

I usually have pretty mediocre experience with the Asian fare at hotel breakfasts, but this time round the dim sum was good enough for me to ask for seconds. To be fair, they are not mind-blowing, but just better than I expected. The fried carrot cake was decent, but if I could offer a suggestion, I wished it had more eggs in it.

COLLECTION Club Lounge breakfast – Fried carrot cake

The only disappointment from breakfast was probably the sausages. The sausages were served with hashbrowns, crispy bacon (so dry and crispy, I love ’em!), oatmeal and baked beans. The accompaniments were great, but the sausages lacked a good bite and flavour. I abandoned after struggling with the first sausage.

COLLECTION Club Lounge breakfast – chipolata sausages

The Facilities

As a full service hotel, Parkroyal Collection Pickering comes with all the works, including a (somewhat) infinity pool, a full sized gym and an on-property spa.

Facility	Location	Operating hours	Capacity limits
Fitness Centre	Level 5	8am to 10pm	6 people
Swimming pool	Level 5	8am to 10pm	20 people – 8 in main pool – 4 in jacuzzi
Spa	Level 5	10am to 10pm	By reservation only

All of these facilities are located on level 5. It used to be case where you could use the car park lifts to access level 5 directly, but with the safe management measures that the hotel had to put in place, you can now only access that floor using the guest lifts, if you are a staying guest with a valid key card.

Parkroyal Collection Pickering swimming pool, level 5

The pool and fitness centre are unfortunately not 24-hour, and operate from 8am to 10pm daily. As with many other hotels, there are capacity limits now imposed for both the gym and the pool, with a maximum of 6 people in the gym and 20 people at the pool area respectively. On top of that, only a maximum of 8 people are allowed in the pool at any one time, and another 4 people in the outdoor jacuzzi area.

The pool area has plenty of cabanas which make for the perfect instagram shot, but apart from that I have never really seen anyone making good use of it either to lounge or for drinks, despite the hotel operating a poolside bar.

There are also plenty of deck chairs for you to lounge in, although the layout of the building also means that you don’t really get a lot of sun.

The fitness centre is rather compact but adequately equipped for a good workout. There are three threadmills and a couple of elliptical machines, along with resistance training machines, cable machine and a rack of dumbbells.

I didn’t try the hotel spa, but St Gregory Spa is apparently an award-winning brand, so if you are keen you can always pamper yourself with some spa time. Prices are fairly reasonable based on hotel spa standards (menu here), and even more so if you factor in the 20% discount.

For those who love spa facilities such as steam rooms and saunas, here’s some bad news: the hotel has closed off the steam room (the only such facility available) until further notice due to the current pandemic restrictions. You can either lounge in the open air jacuzzi next to the pool, or take a soak in your room’s bathtub.

A note about service

There was a minor hiccup during my stay at the hotel. Remember I mentioned earlier about requesting for minibar items from the concierge?

As I was working in my room and caught in back-to-back meetings after lunch before checking out at 4pm, I thought I wanted to have a drink from the minibar menu. Since the minibars are no longer pre-stocked, I called up the operator (Parkroyal calls it the ONE CONNECT service) to request for some sparkling water.

Long story short, I had to call up ONE CONNECT four times over close to two hours to chase for my drink. Over the four calls, while they were apologetic, they claimed that they had a backlog of orders to fulfill and therefore took far longer than they would like to.

By the end of 1 hour 45 minutes, I was done with my meetings, and called up the operator one final time to tell them I no longer needed the drink. I packed my staff and proceeded up to the lounge for a coffee before checking out at 4pm.

When I was in the lounge, a staff member (presumably a supervisor or manager), Serene, came up to introduce herself and apologised for the lapse in service.

I’m not one for kicking up a big fuss, but I did explain in no uncertain terms that a two-hour wait for a beverage service to the room was not acceptable. She did further explain that by the time she was aware of the issue, she immediately sent down a staff from the lounge to the room, by which time I have already left the room. To her credit, she did offer some form of service recovery by asking if I wanted to stay for evening cocktails even though I have already checked out, but I had to decline as I had to leave. I ended up having a pretty good chat with her for a bit, and I have to say that she definitely saved the day simply because she was the most customer-focused staff I encountered in this entire stay.

While the experience was resolved positively, the original issue underscored my main gripe with the hotel: the lack of attention paid to service and the lack of manpower. There was also a clear knowledge gap among the wait staff, which needs to ironed out soon before it becomes a bigger issue.

In my time at the lounge, there has been times where the staff were not familiar with items on the menu without referring to their order chit. We asked for pain de chocolat during breakfast, they came with a cheese plate. At the evening cocktails, we asked for ngoh hiang, the staff looked confused until I said ‘pork skewers’ simply because that’s what written on the menu.

Another issue was simply the lack of manpower. During the cocktail session, the lounge with only three wait staff serving tables and they weren’t certainly skivving off, as they were buzzing from table to table during the two-hour session. However, there have been instances where staff members forgot our orders, or took too long (I’m using 15 minutes as a benchmark) for a drink. I also observed that there’s only one single staff manning the bar, which is clearly insufficient for a lounge of this size.

The lack of manpower resulting in longer wait times is certainly the fastest way to piss off guests in the lounge, particularly when they wait a long while for refreshments and drinks in a two-hour session.

Final thoughts

PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering definitely holds an impeccable standard in terms of its design, facility and offering.

Despite the service kerfuffle, I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the hotel. The room was incredibly pleasant to both rest and work in, the lounge definitely punched above its weight in its food and beverage offerings, even though service needs a bit of work. The hotel also has top-rated facilities, including an instagram-worthy swimming pool and a working gym.

What the hotel really needs to work on is the quality of service, especially if it intends to compete with the bigger boys. While we know for a fact that hospitality is not a high-paying industry, it is still critical that they are well trained and equipped with both product knowledge as well as guest relations skill to provide the unforgettable experience for guests. if they fix that, I will definitely be back again.

4 November 20

REVIEW: Fairmont Singapore, Deluxe King Room

Fairmont Singapore is easily one of Singapore’s most popular hotel, mostly owing to its prime location in the heart of the city, as well as being the adjacent property to Singapore’s tallest hotel, Swissotel the Stamford.

Despite being rather familiar with the property, I have not done a stay at this hotel in a long while, so I thought I’ll give it a bit of my money for a weekend stay.

In this post:
• Introduction
• About the hotel
• Pre-arrival check-in
• Actual check-in
• The room
• The facilities
• Dining options
• Brunch in the Skai
• Breakfast at Prego
• Final thoughts

About the hotel

Built as part of Singapore’s iconic Raffles City in the 1980s, the hotel opened as Westin Plaza. The hotel was rebranded as Raffles the Plaza in 2002 when Raffles International Group took over the management of the hotel. In 2007, the hotel underwent another name change to Fairmont Singapore.

As an upscale hotel, Fairmont Singapore boast of over 770 rooms in two towers – North and South Tower – starting from 45 square metres to two Presidential Suites spanning 190 square metres.

At the time of my stay, the hotel was partly used for Singapore government’s quarantine facility for Stay-Home Notices (SHNs), with the South Tower exclusively used for SHN.

As such, Fairmont Singapore is not offering any Fairmont Gold rooms at the moment, as the Fairmont Gold lounge is located on the South Tower. Unfortunately, all the newer suites are also all located in the South Tower, hence unavailable for reservations.

The North Tower comprises 373 rooms with only two room types: the Fairmont Rooms and the Signature King suite. One thing to note as well, the North Tower has not been renovated since 2014 while the South Tower was most recently refurbished in 2019. As such, guests who have previously stayed in the South Tower in recent months will most likely notice the difference in the rooms across both towers.

Fairmont has developed a set of service measures to ensure guests’ wellness and safety during their stay, including ensuring safe distancing and using contactless options where possible.

These are pretty basic measures, but we will talk more about other specific measures that the hotel has taken during our stay.

Pre-arrival check-in

The check-in process begins before you even step into the hotel – 48 hours before, to be exact.

About two days before my arrival, Fairmont sent a pre-arrival online check-in form. Apart from filling in personal particulars, I had to also submit images of IDs of all guests, as well as make an online deposit of the room charges via credit card, so make sure you have all of those ready before completing the form.

While completing the online check-in form, the hotel may also prompt you for paid upgrades, such as this one:

Some may be of good value, so be sure to check them out. For my stay, I was offered an upgrade to Signature King Suite at S$94.16 nett, which was of good value given that my original room booking was under S$150, bring the total to less than S$250 for a suite.

However, I wasn’t planning to spend too much time in a huge room by myself, so I passed on the upgrade.

Upon completing the check-in, you will receive a QR code via email, which you will use upon arrival at the hotel.

*Email confirmation of pre-arrival registration*

The actual check-in

For those who prefer to check-in the old school at the hotel, that is still possible so fret not if you do not wish to do a pre-arrival online check-in.

At the hotel, check-in was a breeze. I arrived at the hotel at about 11am, hoping that they would afford me an early check-in.

The hotel lobby was demarcated into two zones: The general lobby and free access to the North Tower, and a cordoned-off walkway from the driveway to the South Tower, which is current used as government quarantine facility for Stay-Home Notices.

*Cordoned off walkway from entrance to the South Tower (on the right) for guests on Stay-Home Notices*

After doing the necessary SafeEntry at the door, I found myself in an empty lobby, so I walked straight up to a counter where I was attended to immediately. What was a nice touch was also a hand sanitiser available at every counter, for a peace of mind.

*ALL Priority Welcome counter, with a hand sanitiser pump*

The front desk agent asked for my QR code, and I scanned it using my phone. She pulled out my registration details, went to retrieve a phyiscal folder with my keys and details of my stay, and promptly walked me through my stay.

As an ALL Gold member, I also had two welcome drinks, which I could use at Prego, Eight (the poolside bar) or for the first time, as part of in-room dining.

Because I have done the deposit and ID documentation online before arriving, I didn’t have to take out my wallet at all during the time I was at the front desk. In less than five minutes, I took my keys and was on my way to my room.

One key thing to note: the hotel will no longer provide room make-up service every day. So if you are staying for more than a night and require your room to be serviced, you need to call up the front desk and request for it.

The room

For my stay this time, I was booked into a Fairmont King room. Unfortunately there was no free upgrades into a suite, but I was given a room on the 24th floor in the North Tower, which offers a pretty good view towards the Marina Bay and the swimming pool.

The Fairmont King room is a 45 square metres room, which is the entry level room at Fairmont Singapore.

At 45 square metres, it’s larger than most other entry-level hotel rooms across Singapore, so that means that there’s ample space for everything in the room.

An oversized bed takes centrestage in the room, along with a full size couch by the side of the bed. At the foot of the bed was also a bench, good for hosting friends (remember you can only have a maximum of five people in the room) or simply storing your stuff.

The couch next to the bed was incredibly comfortable, and I spent a good amount of time lounging there with a coffee in hand while reading my book.

Across the bed was a large stand, with a flat-screen TV. There is also a generous work desk, making it perfect for those who need to work within the room.

The room also comes with a balcony, a feature of all Fairmont rooms. This is good for guests who smoke, given that smoking is permitted only on the balconies.

As part of the welcome amenities, Fairmont has prepared a care kit, consisting of a pack of masks, hand sanitiser and antiseptic wet wipes.

To my surprise, Fairmont has also provided a fruit basket, a birthday cake and a handwritten card. It was my birthday month, and this was definitely a very pleasant surprise.

The room also comes with a Nespresso machine, along with three coffee capsules, although you can always request for more. Fairmont also serves TWG teabags in the room for those who prefer tea to coffee.

The bathroom is also fairly spacious and has been refreshed in recent years. There is no longer a bathtub in the bathroom, but instead replaced with a standing rain-shower, with a marble slab as a seat for those who prefer to bathe seated.

Fairmont Singapore is currently using Le Labo amenities, presented in small bottles within the bathroom. Le Labo is better known for their fragrances, given that they are a New York-based perfume house. I’m not a big fan of their amenities, and they don’t quite lather up as easily as other amenities I’ve used before. Plus, the rose scent wasn’t particularly attractive to me.

With the pandemic still in the midst of us, Fairmont has also made several changes to the experience within the room.

First up, Fairmont has done away with all the in-room printed matter, including magazines and the information compendium, effectively converting all communication materials digital using the TV. While this is a necessity during this pandemic, this also means that the writing material has also been removed and has to be requested for.

The only printed material in the room was a card-stand with a QR code for in-room dining menu. For those who prefer, you can also navigate the menu via the TV screen using the remote control.

The mini-bar is also emptied out, which is a plus point given that Fairmont uses an automatic charge system for its mini-bar, where any item taken from the mini-bar will be charged to the room bill immediately. An empty mini-bar will mean more chilling space for your own drinks.

The hotel also offers complimentary premium wifi for all guests. When I tested the speed in the room, it was at a decent 20mbps for both up and downloads.

The facilities

As part of the government’s required safe distancing measures, Fairmont has also placed capacity limits on all it’s recreational facilities, including the fitness centre, swimming pool and the Willow Stream spa.

The gym can take up to a maximum of 15 guests, with reservation mandatory. Guests can book their slots before or during their stay using the booking link provided in the pre-arrival email, or simply call up the spa directly for bookings.

For both the fitness centre and swimming pool, each room is only entitled to make one booking per day, up to a maximum of two guests for the fitness centre and four for the pool. However, if you are doing only a one-night stay, you can actually make bookings for both days (the day you check in, and the day you leave).

The gym is opened from 7am to 9pm daily, with slots of 2.5 hours available for booking. The five time-slots are: 7am, 9.45am, 12.30pm, 3.15pm and 6.15pm. You do not have to start at the allotted start time, but you will definitely have to vacate the premises by the end of your booked slot.

To book the spa facilities, you will first have to make a booking for a gym slot and then call up the spa to let them know, so they can reserve a spot for you.

While the spa facilities are still operating, Willow Stream is severely limited the usage of the facilities. In the male changing room for instance, each spa pool can only hold one person, while only one person can use the steam room and the sauna at a time. With four pools and two rooms, that means that only a maximum of six people can use the facilities at any point in time.

As for the swimming pool, there are 6 slots of two hours each, starting from 7am. For the pool you can book for up to four people per slot, but again every room is entitled to only one slot per day of their stay.

When I was there over the weekend, I was unable to get a slot for the pool at all during my stay on both days. Note that the pool facilities are originally shared between both Fairmont and Swissotel, so once Swissotel starts accepting guests for staycations, getting a slot will be even more challenging.

Welcome drink

As I mentioned earlier, Accor ALL silver members and above are given a welcome drink during their stay. At Fairmont, this benefit can be taken either at Anti:dote, or through the in-room service.

I opted to collect my welcome drink in my room and the ordering option was simple. You simply call up room service, inform them that you will like to use your welcome drink, and they will tell you the options you have.

We opted for a glass of cabernet sauvignon, as well as a mojito (yes, cocktails are available too!). The only downside was that the drinks took quite a bit of time to arrive.

Dining options

Guests familiar with Fairmont and Swissotel the Stamford will know that both hotels boast a huge repertoire of food and beverage outlets. However, due to Covid-19, only some of these restaurants are bars are opened.

At the time of writing (September 2020), only the following restaurants are opened:

*Swissotel the Stamford*
JAAN by KirkWestaway	Open Tuesdays to Saturdays Lunch: 11.30am to 2.30pm (except Tues) Dinner: 6pm to 10.30pm (Note: AccorPlus benefits don’t apply here)*
SKAI	Open daily Lunch: 11.30pm to 2.30pm High tea: 3pm to 5pm Dinner: 5pm to 10.30pm
Clove	Open Fridays to Sundays, 12pm to 10.30pm
Kopi Tiam	Closed
TWG Tea Salon & Boutique	Opened daily, 10am to 10pm (Note: AccorPlus benefits don’t apply here)*
Bar Rogue	Closed
Stamford The Brasserie	Closed
*Fairmont Singapore*
Prego	Open daily for breakfast and all-day dining until 10.30pm
Mikuni	Open daily except Wednesdays & Sundays Lunch: 12pm to 2.30pm Dinner: 6pm to 10.30pm
Asian Market Cafe	Open daily Lunch: 12pm to 2.30pm (until 4pm on weekends) Dinner: 6pm to 10pm
Szechuan Court	Closed
Anti:dote	Open daily Lunch: 12pm to 2.30pm High tea: 3pm to 5pm Dinner: 5pm to 10.30pm

Brunch in the Skai

As I was staying over the weekend for a celebration, I went over to SKAI for their Brunch in the Skai, which is their signature champagne brunch available every Saturday from 12pm to 3pm.

Priced at $158++, the post Circuit Breaker crowd came back with a vengeance: I had to make my reservation more than a month in advance to get a table. And even with the reservation, you could not choose a window table, seating was allocated by SKAI.

*Brunch in the Skai champagne brunch, $158++ per pax*

For three hours, you get free flow of Taittinger champagne, house wines, select cocktails and all you can eat from the menu below:

The charcuterie board, seafood on ice and cheeses used to be served buffet style, but with the safe management measurements imposed by the government, these items have now been converted to a table service.

While the selection of items doesn’t seem extensive, the quality of the items are excellent, and well worth the price tag even on its own. The desserts were also surprisingly good, I was almost tempted to ask for a second serving even though I was stuffed and buzzed by the end of the session.

*Brunch in the Skai – selection of food items*

Note that if you are an Accor Plus member, the price of the champagne brunch is broken down into two elements: S$88++ for the food component, S$70++ for the beverage component. This means that the appropriate discount for the food bill (50% for two people, 33% for three etc) will only be applied to the food component, while a flat 15% discount is given for the beverage component.

Pro-tip: One beauty of Swissotel the Stamford and Fairmont Singapore is the ability to cross-sign restaurant bills to your room from any restaurant within these two hotels, regardless of which hotel you were staying with. You can still present your Accor Plus card for the dining benefit, and then the dining bill will added to your room bill which will give you ALL points at the end of your stay.

By contrast, settling the dining bill at the restaurant itself will not give you any Accor ALL points.

Breakfast at Prego

My room didn’t come with complimentary breakfast, but I could still walk into Prego for breakfast if I wanted to.

Since June, hotels that have reopened for staycations have been offering a la carte breakfasts, as opposed to a buffet that was previously the norm.

Similarly, Prego also offers an a la carte menu, with AccorPlus benefits available if you are dining in a group (i.e. up to 50% off). Note that if you are dining alone, a standard 15% discount will apply.

Final thoughts

I got the room at a pretty good rate so I’m not complaining. While the rooms in the North Tower definitely pales in comparison to those in the South Tower which were just recently refurbished in 2019, it was still a very pleasant stay.

The room was comfortably sized, with enough space to lounge around even within the room. I personally loved that couch by the side of the balcony, which I spent a considerable amount of time on reading with a cup of tea.

The hotel was also highly flexible when it came to check-in and check-out timings. I got the room at 11am, while the front desk was kind enough to extend my check-out time till 2pm, giving me a solid 27 hours for my stay. This was unlike my stay at Mandarin Orchard, which offered a 12pm check-out as a ‘courtesy extension’. Having said that, your mileage may vary – it really depends on the occupancy for the next day.

I also personally liked the fact that only one tower was available for staycation guests while the rest of both Fairmont and Swissotel the Stamford were used for Stay-Home Notice guests. This means a significantly lower demand for both the fitness centre and the swimming pool, making bookings for a slot at these facilities much easier. When the hotels start opening up the rest of their rooms for staycation guests, the demand may shoot up and you may find yourself being unable to book any of these recreational facilities, so always call up the hotel to check in advance.

Despite the Fairmont Gold lounge being unavailable, the stay overall was very pleasant. Armed with a wide array of very good restaurants within walking distance, as well as a shopping mall at the feet of the hotel, you will probably be pretty well occupied during your stay.

16 September 20

Citi Prestige Staycation offers
With international travel almost impossible right now, hotels and banks are coming together to put together enticing staycation deals for you to have a semblance of a vacation without your passport.

Citi Prestige has updated its staycation offers for cardmembers, offering a complimentary second night stay at three hotels.

Two of the hotels, Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel and The Fullerton Hotel, were already on offer earlier in July, while the latest deal included St Regis.

Details of the offers below:

Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel, S$350 net
- Deluxe Room for 2 nights
- Daily breakfast for up to two adults and 2 children (below 12 years old) or three adults
- Complimentary S$100 net dining credit per room per stay
- Early check-in at 11am and late check-out till 2pm (subject to availability)
- Complimentary parking
Marriott has imposed a blackout date of 25 to 31 December, so the rate will not apply during that period.

To book this offer, you will have to call the hotel (6831 4555) or drop them an email.

The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, S$490 net
- Premier Courtyard Room at S$490 net for 2 nights
- Daily breakfast for two adults
- Complimentary S$80 net dining credit per stay
To book this offer, click here. Note that if you want to book this rate, you will need to select a minimum of 2 nights during your search. A nightly rate of S$209 (before taxes) will give you the magic S$490 net for 2 nights.

The St. Regis Singapore, S$600 net
- Executive Deluxe Room for 2 nights
- Epicurean breakfast for two adults
- Complimentary S$50 net dining or spa experience credit per room per stay
- Welcome bottle of Champagne
- Signature St. Regis butler service
- Complimentary parking
To book this promotion, cardholders will have to email the St Regis reservations team and quote CitiPrestigeStaycation.

Terms and conditions

While you can find the full terms and conditions here, these are probably the key ones you want to take note of:
- Only the main cardholder can utilise this promotion. Supplementary cardholders are not eligible.
- The reservation must be made using a Citi Prestige credit card.
- The cardholder must be present and present the same credit card at check-in, and for full payment upon check out.
- The cardholder who booked the stays must be one of the staying guests.
- Complimentary night is non-transferable and not valid for stays at another hotel.
- Complimentary night must be utilized during the same stay as the purchased nights.
- Purchased and complimentary nights must be of the same room types.
- For the avoidance of doubt, the complimentary night cannot be combined with another “stay a minimum night and get free night” type of offer run by the hotels directly.
Cardholders are also only entitled to a maximum of one free night per hotel. In other words, you could book one room each at The Fullerton Hotel, Marriott Tang Plaza, and the St Regis, but you can’t book two nights at a single hotel and get two nights free.
2 September 20
REVIEW: Mandarin Orchard, Club Deluxe King Room
It’s been almost half a year since anyone in Singapore had a staycation, so when STB announced that staycations were allowed once again in Phase 2, many people made a beeline to make a booking at their favourite hotel, to make up for the lack of a overseas holiday.

I was no exception. I made my searches, and the Mandarin Orchard deal caught my eye: A club room, breakfast and late check-out for under S$250 nett? Let’s check it out.

In this post:
• Introduction
• The reservation
• Check-in
• The room
• Top of the M
• Afternoon tea
• Evening cocktails
• Breakfast
• The facilities
• Final thoughts

Let’s face it: pre Covid-19, with the option of going overseas for a short getaway, plus the allure of many hotels in Singapore, the chances of choosing Mandarin Orchard for a staycation was hardly in order.

During the times when tourists are flocking to Singapore, Mandarin Orchard typically commands a premium for its excellent location, despite its dated features. With over 1,200 rooms, this hotel was popular with Indonesian visitors, given it’s prime location in the heart of Orchard Road.

The reservation

I booked the ‘Club Indulgence Staycation’ offer some time back in July for this stay. At the point of booking, none of the Saturday dates in August were available, so I chose a Sunday for my stay.

The entitlements of the offer included:
- Access to Meritus Club Lounge at Top of the M, featuring 360-degree views of Singapore
- Personalised express check-in and check-out
- Daily breakfast for two
- 50% discount at Triple Three (food bill only)
- Complimentary early check-in and late check-out until 6pm, subject to availability
However, this same offer was later simplified, with perks such as the 50% off food bill at Triple Three and early check-in/late check-out entitlements removed.

So I thought I scored a good one, and I was honestly hoping to be able to work in the room on Monday till practically the end of the day.

A few days after I booked the stay, the hotel sent the following email asking me to select a time band to check in. The options began from 2pm – which is their standard check in time – with no mention of any possibility of early check-in.

I meekly complied and chose 3pm as my preferred check-in time.

Check-in

On the day of my stay, I went forth to the hotel at my allotted time: 3pm. Obviously there wasn’t any crowd, in fact, at the time I was checking in, I was the only one checking in.

Note that the hotel has closed its ground floor check-in desks, so all check-in has to be done at Level 5 instead.

Signage pointing guests to Level 5 reception

At Level 5, there were hardly anyone at the check-in desks, so I guess the staggered check-in timing worked.

Mandarin Orchard reception desks

Check in was relatively fuss free. After going through the formalities, including filling up a health declaration form that asked if I had visited China in the last fourteen days (China honestly is probably one of the safest places to be in right now with respect to Covid-19), the agent asked me to download the Meritus app so I could use the mobile key. After what semed like an eternity to download the app and for her to set it up, she passed me two physical key cards as well.

What the heck.

“So anything else I can help you with, sir?”

I then asked about a late check out.

“Let me check on that for a moment sir.” A few seconds later… “Sir, the usual check-out time is 11am, so we will be able to extend your stay until 12 noon.”

What about my 6pm late check-out?!

I thought to myself, never mind, I’ll sort this out later at the Club Lounge.

The room

Mandarin Orchard is a massive hotel, with over 1,000 rooms across two wings in the heart of Orchard Road. The property offers 6 room types and 3 suite types, ranging from 28 square metres up to the Presidential Suite running at a spacious 154 square metres, larger than most apartments in Singapore.

The room I was given was a Club Meritus Room. This is equivalent to a Deluxe Room, which is an entry level room at the hotel, except that my stay came with the Meritus Club access.

At 28 square metres, the room is spacious by local standards as newer hotel rooms are smaller in size.

The room came with a King-sized bed, along with a glass-top work desk. For day-lounging, there’s a side armchair, although some other rooms may feature a couch or day-bed instead.

The TV was of a modest size, mounted on the wall just above a cabinet that houses a mini-fridge. As with STB’s recommendations, the fridge is now empty, and any mini-bar item that you may need has to be requested from the in-room dining menu.

Empty mini bar

The writing desk is ample in terms of size, with a handful of power sockets enough to set up a work-from-room setup if you wish. One thing to note however is that there is also two USB ports and a HDMI port meant for you to connect your devices to the TV, and these are not equipped to charge your devices.

The lower row of USB and HDMI sockets are not meant for charging

On the bed-side table, there were also ample sockets and USB charging ports, so you shouldn’t have a shortage of charging points for your devices.

Bedside telephone & charging sockets

The bathroom was sort of a blast to the past. There was a single vanity, along with a bathtub to the side. On the other side of the bathroom was the toilet, as well as a shower cubicle.

Mandarin Orchard uses ETRO, an Italian fashion brand, better known for apparel rather than amenities. But in any case, this is somewhat a step up from the previous in-house branded amenities that the hotel uses. The hotel also provides other bathroom necessities, including toothbrush kits, a shower cap, sanitary bag, sewing kit, emery board, shaving kit and comb.

All in all, the room is definitely dated, but comfortable enough. It is definitely in need of a refresh (badly), but at least the condition of most of the fittings are still fairly decent, with no visible signs of wear and tear.

One of the sitting areas along the corridor

Top of the M – Mandarin Orchard Club Lounge

Having checked in only at 3pm, I decided to head directly to the Top of the M for my afternoon tea before heading to the room.

The Top of the M, as Mandarin Orchard has decided to call its club lounge, is located on the Orchard Wing, perched right at the top on levels 38 & 39.

As a summary, these are the entitlements for guests with Club lounge access:
- Daily breakfast at Meritus Club Lounge from 6.30am to 10am on weekdays, and 7am to 10.30am on weekends and public holidays
- Daily afternoon tea from 3pm to 5pm
- All-day refreshments and cookies
- Daily evening cocktails and hors d’oeuvres from 6pm to 8pm
- Exclusive check-in and check-out at the Meritus Club Lounge
- Complimentary internet access in guestroom and Meritus Club Lounge
- Complimentary use of meeting room for 1 hour per day, subject to availability
- Complimentary local telephone calls
Note that only lifts 6 & 7 at the Orchard Wing will get you to the lounge. The lift will only bring you to level 38, and after registering at the front desk and doing your SafeEntry check-in, you can take a hike up a flight of stairs to level 39.

A bit more about the space: the lower floor comprises the front desk who will assist you with any requests you may have, including late check-outs, turn down service, and even parking coupons. There’s also a business corner for those who need to get some work done, or print anything.

Top of the M – Business corner

Mandarin Orchard has limited the maximum capacity of the lounge to 40 people at any point in time, and in the welcome note they did encourage you to make a reservation if you intend to visit.

Also, the lounge is only open to guests above 18 years old, so if you have kids you may have to reconsider visiting the hotel.

Afternoon tea

So, it’s time for afternoon tea. When I headed up to the main lounge area on level 39, there were barely a handful of guests. Momentarily I was expecting to see the usual buffet spread of pastries and sandwiches a la pre-Covid-19, but when I went to the counter I saw nothing. I was a little surprised, but I was quickly attended by a staff who explained to me what was available for the day and that it will be served to the table.

Empty counters – you might have to get used to this for a while

Before we talk about the food, one thing for sure, the view is amazing.

Almost bird’s eye view of Orchard Road from Top of the M

Top of the M – Mandarin Orchard club lounge

After gawking at the view, I quickly ordered a decaf coffee, and found a seat at a sofa. Then I took a look at the table. While the utensils are laid out, there’s also some new items in this Covid-19 age: a sanistising wipe and a ziplock bag for your face masks.

Sanitising wipes and ziplock bags are the new norm

The staff came by with two sets of afternoon tea, and I had to decline one set as I was alone.

Afternoon tea on this beautiful day was a pair of sandwiches (egg and tuna), one plain and one chocolate scone, a brownie, a cheesecake and a white chocolate praline.

Unfortunately, the items were all served cold. I generally prefer my scones warm, because cold scones tend to be too hard and crumbly, just like what happened with the scones on offer today.

The sandwiches were pretty disappointing too, somewhat reminiscent of those you buy at a petrol kiosk, that has all the filling only at the edge of the sandwich and hollow within.

The saving grace was actually the brownie, although again, it would have been excellent if it was warm.

Needless to say, I didn’t bother with seconds.

Coffee was out of a Nespresso machine, so that’s pretty standard fare.

The entire time I was having my afternoon tea, not a single staff came by to offer a refill of my water, nor asked if I needed another helping. I personally thought this was a missed opportunity, as this is a detail that the hotel could leave an impression on by offering tip-top service even if the fare was lacking. Each time I needed a refill, I would have to don my mask, walk up to the main counter, and asked for what I need.

Evening cocktails

Evening cocktails are served daily to Club room guests, from 6pm to 8pm at Top of the M. As the Club Lounge was limited to 40 guests at any one point in time, I made it a point to make a reservation for the evening just to be safe.

At 6pm sharp, I made my way to the lounge, only to find that I was one of the first groups to arrive. Even with the next half hour or so, there was only at best 20 people in the lounge.

As with the afternoon tea, Mandarin Orchard has stopped serving a buffet spread for its evening cocktails, but instead shifted to a table service system. A staff came by with a drinks list to take our drinks order, while another came by with the first of our fare for the evening: a plate of cheese and nuts, and one with cold cuts.

Evening cocktails – cold cuts and cheese platter

Shortly after, there was another plate of hot snacks, as well as a platter of cakes. I have a preference for hot food, so the hot plate hit the spot although some items tasted better than they looked.

Evening cocktails – Hot snack platter

To finish off, there was another platter of desserts, rather similar to what was on offer during the afternoon tea.

Evening cocktails – desserts

As for drinks, Mandarin Orchard’s club lounge offer a pretty standard fare, offering a choice of sparkling, red and white wines; Tiger beer; a selection of soft drinks; coffee, tea and sparkling water.

The very simple beverage list

I didn’t stay for the entire duration of evening cocktails, and left for dinner after one round of drinks. To be completely honest, I wasn’t really quite blown away with the quality of food and drinks, so I was pretty glad that I had dinner planned elsewhere.

Breakfast

Guests with club lounge access will have an option of where to go for breakfast: either at the club lounge Top of the M, or at Chatterbox.

I decided to check out Chatterbox’s offering of breakfast, which is located closer to the mall side of the hotel at the Orchard Wing. Breakfast hours are between 6am to 10am on weekdays, and 6am to 10.30am on weekends, which is a tad early for weekends if you ask me.

Once again, SafeEntry is a must before you enter the breakfast area.

Breakfast at Chatterbox

At Chatterbox, the hotel has cordoned off half the restaurant as a breakfast area. There were only about 15 tables, mostly four seaters and only two tables able to take the maximum of 5 guests permitted by law.

Dining area with tables complying with safe distancing measures

When I arrived at about 9.30am in the morning for breakfast, there were only about five groups of guests, although another three groups stepped in shortly after I did.

A big change post-coronavirus is the absence of the ubiquitous buffet spread. Breakfast is now served a la carte, with a digital menu accessible by scanning a QR code.

Breakfast menu was rather limited and came with an a la carte pricing for walk-in guests without breakfast entitlements. They are rather pricey and definitely not recommended if you don’t have a free breakfast with your room.

Pro-tip: I found out from the staff that I could order parts of a meal, such as an a la carte egg dish if I didn’t want the full American breakfast.

I started off with some coffee and a yogurt, before ordering an American breakfast for myself.

Chatterbox – American breakfast

Service was far less than ideal again, with no one coming around to check if I needed a refill for my coffee or anything else. The only time someone came around to ask if I needed anything else was for a last order at 9.45am.

Given that the brew wasn’t fantastic, I later decided to finish up quickly, and head up to the lounge for the better option of Nespresso coffee.

Up at the lounge, the breakfast service has just concluded, and staff was busy clearing the tables. I took a quick glance at the menu, which is slightly different from what is being offered downstairs:

Top of the M – breakfast menu at the lounge

Maybe I should have come up here for a better view instead.

The facilities

Mandarin Orchard also boasts of a tiny pool and a gym, for those who needs to get a workout done during their stay.

The pool is an outdoor pool located on Level 5, the same floor as the reception area. Note that the pool is limited to five people at any point in time, and you are recommended to reserve a slot before heading to the pool.

Mandarin Orchard swimming pool

Five people isn’t a whole lot of quota for a hotel of this size, so if you really need the pool, please book. In fact, the swimming pool is tiny for a hotel of this size, but then again, a hotel in the middle of Orchard Road isn’t really where you want to spend time lazing at a pool, if you are visiting from abroad.

Mandarin Orchard’s fitness centre is accessible 24 hours, but again limited to five people at any one point in time.

The fitness centre is located on level 37 on the Main Tower, and you will have to register at the reception desk, get your temperature taken and get a different access card to enter the gym.

Getting to the gym is an interesting journey by itself: the lifts at the Main Tower will only get you to 36th floor, and you will have to hunt for the stairs to get you up to the fitness centre. That’s pretty much a warm up.

At level 36, find this door and go through it, before opening a second door to the right.

Climb the staircase up to level 37.

Once up at level 37, you should have no problems looking for the gym.

The gym is fairly well equipped, with barbells, weights training machines and cardio machines available for a good workout. Note that there’s no shower facilities in the fitness centre, although a restroom is available.

Mandarin Orchard fitness centre

Note that some machines are ‘closed off’ for social distancing purposes.

Select machines are closed off for social distancing purposes

Final thoughts

The hotel is not great, and mediocre at best.

Putting aside the late check-out gaffe, I felt like this wasn’t really the idyllic ‘city holiday’ hotel, even though the price point at S$244 nett was really not bad at all for a club room.

Service was a complete miss, if you asked me. While most the guest services agents are polite, most of the service staff across various touchpoints seemed to lack energy. I’m not sure if this was because of the ‘new normal’ where they are instructed to minimise interaction with guests, or was it the dearth of foreign visitors that made it all too dreary for the morale of the team, but I definitely didn’t feel like it was a place that I’d return to for another stay.

The mandatory table service as opposed to a buffet-style service is the perfect opportunity for staff to interact with guests, but this was a missed opportunity by the team. Simple things such as introducing what’s on the plate were not done, and I would imagine this may frustrate those who has dietary restrictions.

Food and beverage offerings were also lacklustre, with most of the items from afternoon tea, evening cocktails and even breakfast unmemorable and not worth stuffing yourself with.

The rooms, fittings and facilities are all looking very tired and I’m definitely looking forward to what Hilton will do with the refresh after 2022.
26 August 20
Hilton Singapore approved for staycations
The hotel joins a list of 200 over hotels that are allowed to accept leisure guests in Phase 2.

Hilton Singapore has joined the list of hotels approved for staycation bookings in Singapore yesterday. The Orchard Road top-end hotel joins the green list of hotels allowed to take in leisure guests, which now covers more than half of all hotels in the city.

Rates from $168++ available

At the time of writing, the earliest bookable date for Hilton Singapore is 15 Sep, although all weekend dates in September are unavailable for some reason.

If you look further into Oct 2020, you will be able to find rates starting from S$168++.

Some services are unavailable

For those who are interested in exploring a stay at this old-time favourite, note that some key services are modified.

For those looking at a Club room, note that the Executive Lounge is closed until further notice.

What this means for guests with Club benefits, including Hilton Diamond members, are that the following services are modified, according to our conversation with the hotel:
- Afternoon tea will no longer be served
- Evening cocktails will be served as takeaway bento sets to be retrieved at Opus Bar. Drinks wise, every guest will receive a bottle of wine every other night of your entire stay. All food and drinks are to be consumed within your room or suite.
- Breakfast will be served to your room, according to the selection on the in-room dining menu offerings.
Hilton Singapore Executive Lounge – probably no similar setups for a while

No buffet breakfast for now as well

Despite that, my understanding is that the hotel’s restaurants, including Opus Bar & Grill, il Cielo, and Verde Kitchen are operating as usual for lunch and dinner.

The fitness centre and swimming pool are still open, but with limited capacity. For those who are looking for a massage, note that the hotel’s spa will remain closed for the time being.

A quieter swimming pool experience

Another point to note is that parking will be limited to self-parking only, as valet services is currently unavailable as well.

Final thoughts

The changes above are not deal-breakers, although it will certainly mark a very different staycation experience for those who frequent this hotel. For some of those who hate the breakfast crowd, this may be a better experience given that you can dine in peace in your own room.

One upside of Hilton Singapore is the spacious fitness centre and swimming pool, so this will also mean that the hotel can surely accommodate more guests at any one point in time, so chances of snagging a slot is probably higher.

Be sure to take advantage of the low prices for now, before they go up in the weeks ahead!
19 August 20