So, here's the promised review.
Wife and I were looking forward to this short staycation over the last weekend. I redeemed one of my Advantage Plus Certs for this hotel. Redeeming the cert in itself wasn't easy as the hotel constantly appears as "not available" on the redemption site. I contacted AAP about 3 1/2 months ago and was offered this past weekend as the first available date.

Using the vouchers means you are slotted into the basic room category - So Cozy.

Fast forward to last weekend and the stay with the wife ended up being "nobody is around to babysit our 6yo, so lets take her along".

And here some pictures:

(For a change no panorama picture as the room wasnt big enough for that)

Check In

On arrival (early check in at 11am) it seemed they were expecting us and ushered us to our room on the 2nd floor for a "in-room check-in". Nice touch. The Asst Guest Relations Manager, a friendly lady called Shona assisted us and also handed my daughter a So Lion plush toy. Again - how did they know I'd be coming with my daughter.

Room

The room was upgraded to a So Urban on the 2nd floor. The rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors have higher ceilings than 4th and 5th. The room was in the Heritage wing and faced Robinson Road. Room was perfect apart from the fact that with little Missus with us, we preferred twin super single beds rather than a single king + (no space for an extra bed). So Shona did the necessary and found us a room on the 4th floor with apologies that everything else was full and the problem with that room was that the ipad control device wasnt working. No issues to me.
We were shown to the new room (same design just lower ceilings).
Main difference between the smaller SO Cozy/Comfy rooms and the SO Urban is of course floor space which is mostly taken up by a bath. So the SO Cozy/Comfy rooms dont have a bath and judging by the floor plans are all located in the Hip wing which either face the internal lobby well or the rear side street.

We were given a drinks voucher for all 3(!) to be consumed either at the bar in the lobby or at the rooftop bar. Softdrinks / beer / some mocktails. We consumed ours on the rooftop with some excellent Truffle Oil Potato Chips.

The mini bar in the room consists of several drawers with "for free" and "to pay" items. Free items are everything in the fridge (drinks/juice/beer) and there are some local snacks in the drawers too that are free. Illy coffee machine is also available. Payable items are hard liquor and some souvenir/personal use items.

As a welcome platter we received two boxes of cookies (changes every week) and two glasses of some fruit cocktail. I have been told they clear the cookies in the evening as they are not vacuum packed in the boxes and may attract ants.
 

Dining

Breakfast here, I agree, is not something I'm used to receiving in Asia. We tend to get those lavish counters with many different options. Here at the So Sofitel, the range is slightly more than what you would get in a Pullman Exec lounge in Asia. Coffee was a bit bland.

Service

Turndown service was provided in the evening.

I was given late check out at 4pm.

Location

A couple of side notes: As it was a weekend we parked at Robinson Central. It was S$2.50 from 1pm Sat - 4pm Sunday.
We had absolutely wonderful Falafel Sandwich at a small place called Fill-A-Pita at Shenton House (along Shenton Way) just 200m from the hotel.
Of course we had Satay at Lau Pa Sat in the evening
 

As promised, here is also my review of Sofitel So Singapore. Thanks to Gilbertaues report, mine will be simplerbecause I have been in the same situation as him : booked a So Cozy room (hip wing) and was upgraded promptly to a So Urban room in the heraitage wing, on the 3rd floor, facing the food market. So the pictures of my room would be the same as in Gilbertaues post. My Platinum status was well recognized and I had an excellent VIP welcome. All the staff I interacted with were very nice and professional. Drink voucher was given. The hotel lobby and restaurant areas have a very chic atmosphere and I was glad to see that the staff uniform (K. Lagerfeld) was not as crazy as in the So Bangkok (C. Lacroix). The hotel looked quite busy during my stay.







I knew the hotel was not a big one (hence the lack of club signature lounge), but I was really very surprised to see how small the building was. Here is a daylight picture and thats just the building you see, not more.



Definitely, the heritage wing is the one to stay in as you have a real outside street view. Indeed, the hip wing has half of its rooms facing a not-very-nice service street (where the car/taxi drop-off is located). And the other half have no street view but are facing the inner (narrow) courtyard which you can see on the picture below (on the picture below, on the left are the room windows ; on the right it is the heritage wing corridor windows).

Room

Of course they tried to have the maximum number of rooms in this relatively small place and this is why the rooms have this narrow style. The room surface is good but I would say that too much space is taken by bathroom and toilets, as opposed to the bed/desk area. Because you lack some space in the bed area for your luggage. I was just by myself so it was "OK" in term of storage space, but if you stay at 2, there is definitely not enough storage space in the corridor cabinet and no space at all for bags, which is very annoying for an hotel of this category. I liked the room style and amenities. A lot of technology, as usual in the So brand (mini mac, i-pad mini to control lights, curtains, etc, i-phone which you can carry with you in the hotel.). Im linking here additional pictures to complement Gilbertaues pics.



















Welcome gift bring in the room shortly after arrival (salted and sweet biscuits, Evian water).



I laughed when I saw this painting of Napolon on the wall. I dont think he imagined that one day, he would be displayed as a tropical emperor in hotel rooms in Singapore !



I had a few technical issues during the stay (shaver plug not working, disconnection of the Apple Air Play system) but this was fixed rapidly. The wifi was globally slow and was very variable in term of speed, so sometimes very slow. Definitely something to improve +++

Dining

There is a small rooftop pool and bar, appreciable in the heat of Singapore. Unfortunately this bar is closing quite early (7 pm I think).







I had dinner once at the restaurant and the food was excellent (and a very creative menu). They have a very good French chef.

Service

Regarding the confusing information I received before my stay about reduction on F&B for platinum members (see my posts in this thread #76 and 82), I had to ask for it at check-out, because it was not done when I checked the bill before paying. But they did it promptly without problem and question.

Overall

Overall, I had a very good stay there. Nice hotel and very good staff. Platinum recognition OK. You have the advantages of a small hotel but on the minus side, clearly the lack of storage and luggage space in rooms is a big minus, especially if you stay at 2 persons in the room. I didnt see how were the rooms in the Hip wing but I dont think Id like to have a room on the service street or the inner courtyard. So, better to book in the heritge wing or to be sure to be upgraded there. Would I return ? Yes, if price OK, otherwise I will definitely prefer the Novotel at Clark Quay or another hotel.

Overall

Here is my photos review of the property of my stay 2 months back

Overall, felt that the stay could be better. Given a 2 cat upgrade from normal room to So Urban room. However platinum treatment was lacking, service quality and level was not befitting of an 5 star hotel. I was told this is a 5 star boutique hotel, appreciate the nice gestures of the afternoon tea n the books in the room. The rooms were beautiful then again, service was lacking. Not a good start for me, considering this is my 1st luxury boutique hotel stay.

For full review & photos, feel free to read it herehttp://www.jltravellounge.com/Travel...l-SO-Singapore

Photos

Hotel Lobby



Hotel Corridor



Hotel Exterior (Night)



Hotel Entrance



Rooftop Pool & Bar

Room

So Urban Room



Bathroom



Complimentary Mini-Bar Snacks



Afternoon Tea (Marshmallow, Cookies, Drinks, Chocolates)

Gym

Hotel Gym

Dining

Breakfast @ XPERIENCE Restaurant