tingadingling

Avoid MBS like the plague. Stay at the Ritz, which is excellent, and stroll over to MBS for drinks at the skybar (first date with the fiance there so still fond of it) and the selection of restaurants. I like Osteria Mozza for Italian, or if you're breaking the bank, Waku Ghin for Japanese.

The fancy hotels in Singapore are quite disappointing, but for business I enjoy the Conrad or MO and for vacation, the Fullerton Bay harbour rooms are a great joy. Decent bar on the top floor as well, Lantern.

tomcat007

The Raffles is good. It has old colonial style architecture, but its well maintained and the service is excellent.

kingsroadgal

Raffles is just an incredibly special place, and I would never miss the chance to stay there when I am in Singapore. The service and the ambiance of the hotel are absolutely stellar. Honestly, there are few things nicer than wandering through the teak-floored halls of Raffles at night and breathing in the tropical air. A "must-do" experience if you can possibly can. Love it.

stimpy

I've tried most all the top hotels in Singapore and after about 50+ visits I choose mainly based on location now. In almost every case, I just discount non-Club rooms when thinking about these hotels. There are great clubs at the MO, Ritz, SL, and IC. I know the FS has improved since I last had a bad stay there years ago, but I don't know if their club is any good now. I went to the bar at the FS recently and it was much improved. But all these hotels are decent enough even if they aren't world class.

Anyhow, for location I personally think the IC is the best. I hate Orchard road and Marina Bay is off away from everything. Location is key in Singapore because often it is difficult to get a taxi. On a rainy Friday afternoon it is nearly impossible. So access to the MRT is key and the IC is right on top of a busy metro junction. And on top of a shopping mall and in a neighborhood of a hundred small interesting restaurants. The shopping mall itself is a better place to catch a taxi than any hotel. Raffles is nearby and a decent choice too, if touristy.

For pools, I think the MO and IC are among the best. I like to swim at 6 or 7am each day and both of those pools are perfect for that. But you can also comfortably take an afternoon snooze at either one. Pool service is best at the MO of course. At the IC I get free minibar so I bring my own drink down to the pool.

stimpy

I stopped by the bar at the FS recently which has been nicely remodeled. They have some delicious "snack" offerings there and great service as you would expect. However the alcohol quality wasn't up to par with European FS's for example. Yet the prices seemed even higher than London. A few drinks and a couple snacks lead to a S$224 bar tab!

Raffles

We are in SIN for a week in late May with our 2 kids (7 and 4) and our nanny (28!). Our nanny can look after the kids whenever we disappear to meet friends, of which we have a few as my wifes bank transferred a lot of staff down here.

My gut feeling is to book into Capella because it has the beach access and the kids can head down there on days when we are out. Cost is not really important.

Any reason why this is a bad idea?

Baghoarder

Capella is a great choice with kids that age. We stayed in a 3 bedroom club villa with our boys (6 and 8) last July. Four pools (counting the club), tennis court, easy beach access, restaurants very good with children, convenient access for Universal Studios etc. You'll be catching a taxi into town a lot, but I didn't find this too much of an inconvenience (we found Uber very good in Singapore).

gypsyjaney

This is a very interesting thread for someone like myself planning their first visit to Singapore for over 30 years (I don't count a few hours spent between connecting flights). We are usually Shangri La people - there has been a lot said about the Valley Wing, but has anyone tried the Horizon Club here and is it as good as in Hong Kong?

I will now be checking out the others hotels which have been mentioned here - there's a lot of useful information. We have also had Fort Canning recommended to us (we like historical, traditional hotels, whenever possible) so I was wondering if anyone has stayed there and what there is of interest in the area. We did consider Raffles, but it looked to us a bit 'Disney' and touristy (sadly).

stimpy

Are you sure there's no posts here about the Horizon Club after hundreds of posts? I'm sure I've seen posts from people who love it, but I haven't tried it in too many years. I've never tried Fort Canning but I hear it is nice and relaxing. I wouldn't call Raffles Disneyland and lots of hotels in Singapore cater to tourists. To me Orchard Road hotels are much more touristy than Raffles.

gypsyjaney

Yes, I've been through all 28 pages with no luck, hence my question! The H.C. does get a few mentions, but they are only brief, so nothing that helped me much with my decision making. Have to say, the Shangri La website could be a bit more informative as it wasn't a great help either. However I'm assuming that the standard shouldn't vary too much, so thinking we may play it safe and stick with the Shangri la this time round.

The late checkout offer at the M.O. club is also tempting however and people seem to like it there - Shangri la is (perhaps deliberately) silent on this score. I thought about giving Raffles a shot just for the experience, but I see that its way out of our price range.

There has been mention on Tripadvisor of a 25% per day service charge being added to his bill at the Shangri la and if this refers to 25% of the room rate it would make a hefty difference - does anyone know if this happens at other hotels? I don't recall it happening to us before.

stimpy

I generally stay at the MO on the end of my Singapore visits because I'm usually on a midnight flight back to Europe and the 8pm checkout for Club guests is great. I will be there again next month after spending the bulk of my stay at the IC. FHR currently has a 3rd night free promo at this MO so it's a pretty easy choice to spend my last 3 nights there.

I have a friend who swears by the Horizon Club, but he doesn't have any experience at other Singapore hotels so I'm not sure what that means. But I expect it should be pretty good.

As for a service charge, most hotels in SE Asia have what they call "plus-plus" or ++. That means the rate they first quote you doesn't count tax and service charge. So be careful when you make your reservation to understand the true rate.

gypsyjaney

Thanks, we will not be travelling for a while, so have a bit of time to decide. I will definitely take a closer look at the M.O.- as you rightly say, the late checkout is worth a lot.

quitecontrary

That's exactly what we're doing in April and we'll probably spend a few days at the IC on the way down to Bali next month.

stimpy

Good plan. Make sure you have Club at Bali. It's a great hotel with Club.

mitwg

I've never actually tried the Horizon Club at Singapore as the Valley Wing being available kind of nullifies the benefits of a Horizon Club.

Comparing the Valley Wing lobby to the Horizon Club at Island Shangri-La HK, I prefer the setting at ISL (and breakfast at Petrus) then the VW at Singapore, with the club feeling a bit more exclusive than the Valley Wing lobby/champagne bar. If there's one thing going for Singapore though, the cocktail hours aren't limited to a certain time window so you can even have a few drinks after dinner here, which wouldn't be possible in HKG.

In regards to a late checkout, I have not ever been declined of a late checkout at the Valley Wing (4pm) but that might be because of my membership with Golden Circle. Without it however, you can still book a room at the Valley Wing through the Visa Luxury Hotel collection (crappy version of FHR), and I think that gives 3PM check-out.

Location wise, I definitely prefer the MO over the Shangri-La. While the Orchard location isn't so bad, the MO is just so close to everything being located at Marina Bay and the fact that you can get to an MRT station without having to go out in the heat is a big plus in S'pore. Also love the fact that I could go for a run around the bay in the morning from the MO before I head into work, location is almost perfect for that 3km bay circling run.

If there is something I like about the Shangri-La though, there's a passageway that connects the Valley Wing to the main wing of the hotel. If you go out here at any time past 10pm, you can see the pool area with essentially nobody there and it really gives a 'serene' feel to the place. Last time I was there, I arrived from Doha at like 12am and I went for a stroll at 2am around the pool area. I must've looked crazy but it was pretty awesome.

Overall, I'm really fond of both hotels and I think the rooms are nicer at the Shangri-La VW, along with the quality of food, breakfast etc. but the MO isn't far behind on these areas and usually the location does it for me so I head to the MO more than the SL.