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Singapore St Regis [Master Thread]

Old May 7, 2008, 4:41 am
  #31  
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Originally Posted by Always Flyin
...Very few of the hotels around the world are priced at the level of St. Regis hotels...
st regis as a brand isnt that expensive, especially since most participate in spg.

there are plenty of more expensive properties that nickel and dime, as discussed in this thread in the luxury hotels forum >
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=798111

Last edited by Kagehitokiri; May 7, 2008 at 4:52 am
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Old May 7, 2008, 11:53 am
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by Kagehitokiri
st regis as a brand isnt that expensive, especially since most participate in spg.
Uh, huh. Priced down there right next to the Hampton Inns of the world.
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Old May 7, 2008, 2:38 pm
  #33  
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Originally Posted by rolov
Tanglin Road
its about 1 block from Orchard Road
It's actually on the corner of Tomlinson Road (I used to live on that road a couple blocks down when I was a kid) and Orchard Road. It is opposite the Regent Hotel.

I still remember what was on the plot of land before the SR was there. Many homes, many restaurants including a place where they played Wayang Kulit.

Sigh.. memories.
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Old May 7, 2008, 9:14 pm
  #34  
 
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After 12 days away I am swamped with work so it may be a couple of weeks before I give a full review of our stays at 3 Starwood hotels.

However, I thought I should take a few minutes to give this brief information about the St Regis for anyone concerned about the negative reviews on Trip Advisor.

My treatment as a Plat was way and above my expectations. We were upgraded to an Executive Suite for the 4 nights.

The Room: A description and photo of this room can be found on the Starwood website, but it really doesn't do it justice. Later I will rave on about the quality, details and amenities. For now all I will say is it is pure class. The drains in the bathroom were covered and there was no smell (something mentioned on TA).

Extras: Because of the suite upgrade we were also offered complimentary full breakfast and use of other facilities including the sauna and steam rooms.

The Staff: I was a little overwhelmed walking in, there are so many staff it feels like a guard of honour. However there is nothing "snooty" in the attitude here. I would describe them as warm, gracious and friendly.

The Butlers: Except for one tiny glitch on our first night, we had none of the problems reported by others, they were wonderful.

Our impressions: I am so glad we spent more than one night here. It was only with time that we fully appreciated the attention to detail, it really grows on you. We wanted to "experience" this hotel and it certainly was an experience. Do I really need a Butler? No. Do I need someone to open the door and warmly welcome me back every time I re-enter the hotel? No.
But we quickly got accustomed to it

Starwood Lurker II, please pass on my initial comments. I will report all the details as soon as I can.
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Old May 8, 2008, 1:04 am
  #35  
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Originally Posted by snufl
Starwood Lurker II, please pass on my initial comments. I will report all the details as soon as I can.
Hi snufl,

Definitely! Thank you for your comments and compliments.

I have forwarded it to my colleagues at the property.

Have a nice day!

[email protected]
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Old May 8, 2008, 2:52 am
  #36  
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Originally Posted by Starwood Lurker II
...
Definitely! Thank you for your comments and compliments.

...
Ok. I shall look forward to my upcoming stay at end of May as a Plat and see how it goes, lah!
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Old May 8, 2008, 12:26 pm
  #37  
 
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I wonder what they'll do for gold member. My rate there already includes breakfast. Anyway, thanks for making me look forward to my stay though it's not for several months.
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Old May 10, 2008, 5:36 am
  #38  
 
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I stayed in the St Regis Singapore for about 2.5 months earlier this year, so I got a very good sense of the place. I really loved it!

The rooms are excellent -- big room, very comfortable bed, huge fantastic bathroom. I loved the showers, with the 3 mini-heads hitting your chest. And the TV in the bathroom that you can watch from the tub or the toilet is very nice too. I really prefer the "long" rooms, on the back side of the hotel, over the "wide" rooms on the front side. They feel much more spacious to me, and the desk faces into the room, not to the wall. Though others liked the L-shaped couch and forest view of the "wide" rooms.

The biggest thing for me was the service, particularly the style of it. It was less subservient, more "friend-like". Part of this may be because I stayed for such an extended period. But colleagues who came through briefly also commented on this. It was great being greeted by the excellent doormen every night as I arrived back... the interaction felt more like friends greeting you, and helped to get some of that "coming home" feeling that you miss when on business travel. Everyone in the hotel greeted me by name everywhere I went, and seemed genuinely interested in how I was doing, how my day went, etc. When going through the lobby the manager on duty would often ask about how my stay is going, and actively solicited feedback about how to improve things at the hotel. When a butler would bring breakfast or coffee on a weekend morning, s/he would ask about what I was planning to do that day, and have recommendations about their favourite spot on the beach on Sentosa, their favourite restaurant or bar, some interesting event happening, etc. During the course of the 2.5 months I had a few occasions to make unusual requests of the butlers, and they were always very happy to help, and seemed to enjoy the chance to do something a bit different (from setting up a rose-petal bath and wine, to finding a pair of nail clippers)

The facilities are also great. The indoor airconditioned tennis court was a great way to work off stress and get a bit of exercise (though it was far too echo-y). The spa/sauna is very very nice as well, though I would have used it far more often if it was open later (closes at 10pm).

There were some teething problems at the beginning as they were getting the hang of things, primarily around being late or missing my morning coffee a few times. But that quickly went away, and coffee was always brought on time to the minute, to the point where I used it as my morning alarm. Once they started activating the bathroom TVs, they had an issue where sometimes they would come on in the middle of the night, though my understanding is that this has been fixed now. Other such issues like that have probably been resolved by now, and if not will be soon. It's the normal stuff associated with a brand-new hotel where the staff are just getting used to things.

My positive experience wasn't just because I was spending a couple months straight there. Several of my colleagues have also stayed at the St Regis, and they all rave about it -- and they are very, very frequent business travellers, who have seen it all.

One TripAdvisor review recommended that people go to the Fullerton instead, which made me chuckle. The Fullerton has a beautiful exterior and lobby, but the rooms really suck. If you're in the cheapest room, it resembles a Holiday Inn, and you don't even have an exterior window, just a window into the lobby! And that's if you can get one of the cheap rooms... they must only have like 10 of them, because they're constantly sold out and you're told you have to upgrade to a more expensive room. I stayed in one of their very pricey Esplanade rooms once as a result, and it did have a nice big wall of exterior windows, and the room was much bigger, but at its core it still wasn't anything special. Oh, and I was paying significantly more than a colleague on the "club" level, but he got access to the lounge and I didn't. When I pointed out to management the ridiculousness of the fact that I was paying more but getting less, they pretty much said tough luck.

So I would heartily recommend the St Regis Singapore... though it's really spoiled me. I was in the Le Meridien Shanghai recently, which is a great hotel in anyone's book, but I kept thinking about the various ways it was inferior to the St Regis Singapore

Last edited by Nobby; May 10, 2008 at 6:01 am Reason: fixed typo
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Old May 10, 2008, 6:12 am
  #39  
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Nobby, just curious, would renting one of the residences have been possible? or do they require 6-12 month leases?

BTW in luxury hotels forum here, shangri-la valley wing and ritz carlton club are best regarded for service.
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Old May 10, 2008, 6:40 am
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Originally Posted by Kagehitokiri
Nobby, just curious, would renting one of the residences have been possible? or do they require 6-12 month leases?
The residences are still under construction, so it's not on option yet. I don't know if they'll have a serviced apartment rental option... I hope they do.

I've heard that a lot of the people who bought residences were people who live elsewhere but want a home in Singapore for when they're in town. I'd imagine of those people might be planning to rent it out on short-term leases when they're not there
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Old May 10, 2008, 6:44 am
  #41  
 
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Now if I could just find someone to put me up in the St. Regis for 2.5 months !

I'm guessing that was a nice bill
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Old May 10, 2008, 6:56 am
  #42  
 
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Originally Posted by FlyingOnceMore
Now if I could just find someone to put me up in the St. Regis for 2.5 months !

I'm guessing that was a nice bill
Yes -- and I was under a triple points promotion as well!! So every night at the St Regis earned me a free night at a cat 1 Egyptian Red Sea resort...

Starwood really needs a "safety net" like Hilton HHonors has. If you spend > US$10k with Hilton in a year, you get top-tier status, even if you didn't quite stay enough nights. This is an explicit policy, posted on their website. With Starwood though, I spent >$20k, staying just under 50 nights in a cat 6 property, but because it was less than 50 nights, I'm just Gold. (It was under 50 nights despite being 2.5 months because I'd go out of town for a few days every once in a while to go home or for meetings elsewhere in the region).

Time for -- what's the hotel equivalent of a mileage run?
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Old May 10, 2008, 7:01 am
  #43  
 
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Originally Posted by Nobby
Time for -- what's the hotel equivalent of a mileage run?
That's a 'Mattress Run'. Make sure you find the absolute cheapest method to get your nights too, just to spite them !

At least your points haul made up for it.
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Old May 10, 2008, 7:25 am
  #44  
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ah forgot they werent done yet. i hope they dont have minimum leases, but it seems pretty common for condo residences at hotels. (as opposed to hotel residences or fractionals)

triple points plus gold, but i guess you dont have starwood amex since youre in AU. were still all jealous.

Last edited by Kagehitokiri; May 12, 2008 at 8:36 am
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Old May 10, 2008, 6:10 pm
  #45  
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I just saw some pictures of the interior of the St Regis Singapore taken by a fellower FTer, posted on another forum.

Boy are the furnishings UGLY!

Ornate is one thing. But its downright ugly. I mean, look at the carpet. No, on second hand, don't look at the carpet if you don't want an epileptic fit!

And why does everything clash with each other? The colours, the 'vinyl' looking chair that isn't colour coordinated with the table for instance.

I mean, if you want to do it ornate, then do it with style and not try to cut corners by mismatching furniture. Everything looks thrown together. Where did they get the furnishings made? It looked like they were trying to copy 'european' style but its just all wrong. The bathroom is nice - on its own. The bathtub with its 'wooden' sides is nice .. in a modern zen style bathroom. Instead, the St Regis should have found a bathtub on legs.. you know the ones that stand out on its own? But once you put it into perspective with the rest of the suite, the bathroom sort of sticks out like a sore thumb.

Look at the grand European hotels. They are ornate but yet they scream 'style'. Ok so Singapore wants it grand too. But couldn't they have even picked up a copy of "House and Garden" and chosen some interior furnishings better.

I am seriously thinking of NOT staying at this hotel now that I have seen what awful interiors they have. Maybe I'll go back to the Grand Hyatt.
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