FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Truffles and (no) Lobster - A weekend in Singapore on LX F and SQ F
Old Jan 21, 2020, 11:53 am
  #23  
bruce80
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: EDKA, STR, ZRH
Programs: LH SEN, A3*G, IHG plat, DB Comfort, SPG gold
Posts: 964
Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre, Junior Suite

As I emerged from the baggage reclaim area and the customs checkpoint into the arrival hall, I was instantly overwhelmed by the number of people holding up signs and waiting to pick up someone. However, somehow I managed to spot my driver among them, and he asked me to take a seat on one of the benches near the exit, while he went to fetch the car. I had booked the transfer with Blacklane for the way from the airport to the hotel, and on Sixt for the return trip, in order to see how both services would compare. Sixt had actually been slightly cheaper for the same category of vehicle (Mercedes S class or similar), but traditionally, I have always booked with Blacklane. While booking had been quite easy for both services, Blacklane already had to take the first blow shortly before I landed, as they sent an email telling me that they couldn’t find a vehicle from my chosen category, and that they had to downgrade me. However, their irrops handling seems to be quite professional, as they gave me a 50% instant discount on the ride, plus another 50% discount voucher for a later booking in order to compensate, and the Mercedes E class vehicle in which I were picked up was still top-notch, along with a very friendly driver.

On our way to the hotel, it started raining again, and we quickly got stuck in traffic once we were approaching the city center. However, traffic got really bad just as we were approaching the hotel, with several junctions around he hotel completely gridlocked. I was already thinking to get out and walk the last 500m to the hotel, but I thought this might actually look impolite. In the end, the ride from the airport took about one and a half hours, while the ride time without any traffic would hardly be half an hour.

Upon entering the lobby, one of the bellmen instantly grabbed my belongings (something I really don’t like - I can very well carry my own stuff, and more often than not I feel that it’s just a way to force some tips), and I had to tell them that I need a least the backpack in order to be able to check in. Check in itself was quick, even though I found the agent to not be particularly friendly. I was asked whether I prefer points or a welcome drink as my platinum amenity, and chose the points. I was then handed the key cards and pointed to the elevator. On the elevator, I was joined by one of the bell clerks carrying my bag, and he enthusiastically showed me around the room („This is a really nice room, Sir“) - I was absolutely unsure whether it was appropriate to tip here (even though I didn’t have any cash on me anyway), but the entire situation felt really awkward.





Even though I hadn’t received an upgrade (or so it seems), I was still quite content with the room, even though this is one of the old-style Holiday Inns where the room decor feels more than just outdated (but I was prepared to that, as I had been there before). The room was very spacious, but had a slightly odd layout due to the layout of the corner of the building. Directly opposite of the entrance was the not-so-spacious bathroom, with a very dangerously placed hose for the, well, what’s the name for that? The small handheld shower to use after the toilet? - I managed to thread my foot into the loop one night and almost fell.








Then, on the right hand side of the room was a table with armchairs and sofas around it.



And on the opposite side of the room, the desk and the bed.





While the hotel’s breakfast restaurant is facing the same side as the room, it is called „A View on the Park“ - however, what they don’t show in official pictures is that the main view of this side of the building actually is a major motorway, which can get noisy from time to time (particularly as there were some idiots revving their motorcycles to max rpm in the middle of the night).



Something I also found a bit annoying about the room were the outlets of the air conditioning. There were two outlets, and one was directly blowing at the sofa, the other one was directly blowing at the bed. It actually took me a while that there were two separate controls for both outlets, but then, the room would get really damp and stuffy when both were turned off. I ended up enabling the one over the bed during daytime, and the one over the sofa at night.

I was actually suffering from quite some jetlag during the first few nights, and woke up at around six on the first morning. As I couldn’t sleep anymore, I thought it might as well be a good idea to just go to have breakfast as early as possible. When I arrived at the breakfast restaurant, I was one of the first people to be there, and found an almost empty room. However, during the weekend and particularly on Sunday morning, the breakfast restaurant was actually so crowded that there were several people waiting outside to be seated. During the weekend, the hotel had been host to several wedding parties, and that meant lots of families with small children were occupying the breakfast restaurant in the (later) morning. When staff at the restaurant reception told me that I would probably have to wait for about half an hour, I told them to not bother, and went to the club lounge for breakfast instead. While breakfast in the main restaurant was actually quite solid with a choice between international, Chinese and Indian dishes, breakfast in the club lounge was much more sparse and only covered the most common continental breakfast items. Still, having only a small and reduced breakfast was still much better than waiting for more than half an hour in order to get a seat in the completely overcrowded main breakfast restaurant.

Speaking of the club lounge to which my room category had access - the lounge is staffed at all times, and besides breakfast (which includes sparkling wine during the weekends only), they are also offering an evening cocktail reception with a selection of wines, beers and hard alcohol, as well as a choice of soft drinks that is available throughout the day. The lounge is located on the ground floor of an atrium that spans about half the building; while this looks very impressive, people walking along the corridors on the higher floors will inevitably look down into the lounge.







The hotel also features a gym and a pool which are both located on the rooftop. While this is actually a very nice location, both areas are in desperate need of renovation. Additionally, the gym is actually very small and only features about six or seven fitness machines.

I should probably also say something about the location of the hotel itself. It is not directly adjacent to Orchard Road, but located down a small side alley with a variety of restaurants and small shops. Still, the metro stations Somerset and Dhoby Ghaut are both easily reachable by a 5 to 10 minute walk. Other than that, the hotel is also not far from the major shopping malls that the district is well known for.

All in all I have to say that the hotel is perfectly fine for a short stay if you don’t expect anything fancy, but the outdated decor inside the rooms and also at the really crowded situation in the breakfast restaurant were actually something that makes me think whether I would want to return in the future or not.
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