Just wrapped up a 20 night stay at the JW Marriott Singapore. I didn't see much in the way of post-pandemic reviews or pictures in this thread, so I thought I'd share my experience. This was my first time at the JW, having booked it after learning that my hotel-of-choice, the the Westin Singapore, was not on my company's preferred hotels list. It worked out in the end, as the JW is a wonderful property that I might not have otherwise tried.
I was coming in on the overnight flight from SFO which arrives around 6 AM, so I booked my stay to start on the previous night. I tried to call the hotel prior to departure to confirm that they had pre-reged me, but couldn't get anyone to answer. I gave up after the second try (this was an international call), and instead used the "chat with the hotel" feature in the app. I heard back within a couple of minutes from an agent who confirmed that I had been pre-registered and that my room would be waiting for me.
The hotel is located in South Beach, a mixed-use development between the Raffles Hotel and Suntec City, just north of Marina Bay. It isn't walkable to the CBD, and though only 2-3 minutes walk to the MRT (covered but outdoors), it's on the Circle line. I found this to be the worst thing about the hotel, since most places I go are on the Downtown and East-West lines, which require a transfer or a 10+ minute walk, albeit mostly through air conditioned malls. A Grab to the CBD was $10-15 most mornings.
The lobby was long, narrow, and dark. Though Suntec has a convention center, this is decidedly not a "convention" hotel, and I can't imagine how they would handle large groups given the size of the lobby. Check-in was cold but efficient. No status recognition, though I did get upgraded to a "Club Premier Larger Guest Room" which is the second largest non-suite room. I was under no illusion that I would get a suite upgrade for a 20-night stay. I asked for a higher floor was told to try again in the afternoon. When I did, they said they would get back to me. I got the feeling they were brushing me off but the next morning there was a note under my door saying that they will move me to a higher floor room on Friday.
My original room on the 11th floor was beautiful, and in excellent condition, looking as pristine as it did in the earliest photos of this thread five years ago. It was also pin-drop quiet, I never heard a peep from other rooms or the busy Nicoll Highway outside the floor-to-ceiling window. Only real downside was the view, which was completely filled by the Suntec City mall across the street. My new room on 19 was nearly identical, except I now had an open view from the CBD to Marine Parade, and south all the way to the sea. Unfortunately, both temperature and road noise increase as you move higher, and the windows that proved adequate on 11 didn't quite cut it on 19. I could never get it any cooler than 19.6 degrees, and in addition to the road noise I was also treated to a concert somewhere in Marina Bay, which was quite audible until it ended around 10:00 PM.
I was surprised by the service, which had a bit of a DYKWIA quality to it. Cold, aloof, even condescending in a "can I help you... SIR?" kind of way, until they put my room number into the system, after which it became downright obsequious. This happened consistently at both the front desk and the club, even when I was in business attire. The only exception to this was the restaurant, where I found the service quality to be consistently poor and rather surly throughout my stay, as if they were doing me a favor by allowing me to eat there.
I do want to call out housekeeping as truly outstanding, a sad reminder of the diminished service that's now standard at US properties. And if you're the kind of person who laments the death of turndown service, man, this is the hotel for you! I personally hate turndown, and asked for it to be discontinued on no less than 5 occasions during my stay, but they were there like clockwork, every single night.
Others have already commented on the well-stocked lounge and frigid 18th floor pool, both of which appear to be unchanged from before the pandemic. I didn't hear any mention or see any signs pointing to a second pool on the 6th floor of the other building, in fact I forgot it even existed and didn't go looking for it. I wonder if maybe it was not re-opened following the pandemic? I'll look for it on my next stay. Other than that (and mask wearing), I didn't see any obvious lingering effects of the pandemic closure in the hotel.
The wifi worked well. I forgot to measure the actual speed, but was able to stream Hulu without any lag or performance degradation throughout the stay and despite the high hotel occupancy. I only had issues one night, but they may have been on my side since they went away once I rebooted my computer. The biggest annoyance was having to go through the captive portal to reconnect once per week, but given that I've had recent hotel stays that required reconnecting several times per day I'd say this was trivial.
Overall I would rate this as one of the better hotels I've visited in some time, especially among the longer stays. Beautiful, comfortable rooms, great housekeeping, solid lounge, and a central location if you don't mind MRT transfers or mostly take taxis. I'm back in Singapore in a few weeks, and will be staying at the JW again, this time for 11 nights.
I forgot to take any pictures of the lobby, but here are pics from the room:
Long entry hallway with a sofa, useful if you feel like sitting next to the door and staring at the wall.
Waiting for me when I arrived.
Original room on the 11th floor, lovely view of Suntec City.
The upgraded view from the 19th floor.
Fireworks!
Instead of the hallway sofa, the new room had a hallway murphy bed.
Arrivals-lounge style laundry valet closet, if using the cartoonishly expensive (even by hotel standards) laundry service.
Bathroom was luxurious, if a bit tight.
18th floor pool, bigger than it looks.
That's about as much sun as it gets.
Cool rainforest effect during the daily deluge.
