Cynicor

Not sure I communicated the best. Personally I think the quality of food is stable but the cost cutting has been in range- sushi gone, frozen yoghurt gone from buffet, champagne gone from lounge.
the attempt at cutting/changing lounge access (that was undone, thankfully).

i think you won’t/shouldn’t find anything changed much from 2019 but if you last went in 2017-2018 there are significant changes.
Rooms are nicer but the soft product has suffered.

EGW1

All rooms and suites are renovated, minus I think the presidential suite. Upgrades to suites few and far between, but not impossible (mostly I get an executive king and the specific corner series I like). I’ve asked for a suite a few times if my partner is joining and usually been given (full disclosure that I do stay here a lot).

Sofitel is an excellent hotel, but it’s in a so so location. Without status, you’ll probably get exactly what you booked. IC is a good hotel in a good location, but not sure I’d pay more for it, and definitely not if I didn’t have any status. Like the Conrad, the IC is often booked out. Shangri-La to me feels more of a resort hotel, is very nice, but the location doesn’t work for me at all.

Ultimately depends what you are looking for - Conrad works for me as the room has what I need: comfy bed, bath tub and separate shower, good lighting, a desk/table of sorts, somewhere to sit if needed (albeit the bench style is not the comfiest), good selection of meals from room service, and excellent sound insulation from rooms giving a good nights rest. The location is perfect to walk to work within 10 mins. Pools, breakfast, lounges don’t concern me as much, but the lounge is in my view still good enough for an evening tipple.

abcx

Thanks. I booked an Exec room and then got 30% off thanks to a BRG. What corner series should I ask for / do you prefer? Will also email and ask for an upgrade in advance.

planes&trains

What is this?

Cynicor

Best rate guarantee. I assume they found a decent rate somewhere.

evergrn

I've only stayed here a couple times.
But I can attest to the queue at Oscar. There was already a queue forming outside at 8am.
I think the view is fine as long as your room is even number, -20 or lower, and higher than 20th floor (the higher the better).
This time I got to stay on the 30th floor, and the view of the city's skyline was amazing.
Maybe it's just me, but I just can't get used to the location. I like being able to go for a walk, but the hotel feels trapped by big hard-to-cross streets in all directions and the only places I've been able to figure out how to get to have been the two nearby shopping centres. Twice I tried to follow Google to get to Marina Bay and couldn't.

jerry a. laska

Just walk out the Suntec side of the hotel (the main entrance) and turn right, walk past the MRT station and follow Temasek Ave. to the Bayfront Bridge or the Helix Bridge to Marina Bay. Or walk out the back entrance and turn left walk straight through Millenia Walk thru the office plaza to Temasek and turn right to the bridges. You can also go thru Citylink to Raffles Blvd. and again up to Temasek.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

I also went into the MRT station entrance, walked the underground passageway to the Singapore Flyer then down Temasek Avenue to the Youth olympic park then the Helix bridge ( I also detoured via the Singapore Flyer -neat to walk through garden paths underneath the flyer) then across the road ( used for the F 1 so preparations were underway and it was neat to walk on one of the Corners with the sinapore airlines logo) then along the waterfront parkwayto the Helix bridge). Getting to the Merlion via the esplanade and the shopping malls was a bit harder at first.

Regards

TBS

Cynicor

Google won’t help because of the malls. But if you look at the maps, it’s ridiculously easy to get around from this hotel using any of them. I prefer the millennia walk, through to the end, turn left, cross the road and you are at the helix bridge. 5-10 min max and 1/3 is aircon.

jerry a. laska

There is a small escalator hidden directly across from the back entrance to the Conrad that you can use to head up and gain access to the PanPacific and Citylink Mall which then allows you to make your way over to Raffles Blvd. and Raffles Ave. The underground crossing and MRT station at Raffles Ave. and Nicoll Hwy then provides easy access to the Esplanade Theaters area (and eventually the Merlion) or the other side of Nicoll and the The park, gallery, and historic and visitor sites there.

There was a bit of exploring (usually when I was running in the morning) before I finally figured it all out and realized how accessible everything was from the Conrad. Pretty much daily when I am here I discover new routes and passages.

Richey66

Yep, I use the escalator every time when in Conrad, easiest is just to go straight through Marina Square mall, you will end up on Raffles Avenue. After crossing it you walk through Esplanade Mall and voila, you are on Marina Bay. Fast and perfect.
Cant wait to be back in Conrad end of February. Love Oscars breakfast 8am in the morning, sitting outside in shade, next to palm trees, with view of elegant Singaporeans passing by, while the weather is still perfect at 26C degrees. So cozy. Do they still have ice-cream for breakfast?

jerry a. laska

Yes.

EGW1

I use the escalator too (there’s even an elevator), with the lanterns hanging overhead, up into Marina Square Mall then 10 mins to work via the coffee shop. You can also get to the Mandarin Oriental Bar (perfect gin martini and burger) using the same route, and it’s easy to connect all the way to city hall with only 30 seconds overground by going to 1 Raffles Link from Marina Square Mall (head in direction of M&S) then exiting, crossing the (quiet) road and connecting to City Link Mall. Marina Bay takes a bit more overground, but Promenade MRT is 1 stop from MBS, 2 stops from MBFC.

For a nice walk, I’d go out the main door, over into Suntec mall, out to Beach Road, into the War Memorial park, and from there you can walk by the cricket club and into Clarke Quay etc. You can then do a full loop back down into the Collyer Quay / MBFC area, past MBS, over the bridge, into Marina Square.

In the drawer in the room there’s also a lanyard with two jogging / walking routes and map, and there’s a jogging station outside the main entrance of the hotel (cold water and cold towels).

evergrn

Okay, I didn't know about the escalator and this underground passageway to Singapore Flyer, etc.
Problem is, the hotel is surrounded by large streets on all sides that are not cross-able. So it's difficult to get to places unless you know where these secret escalators and subterranean walkways and shortcuts are.
For example, I was trying to get to the Suntec food court, but there's Temasek Blvd in the way and there's no crosswalk anywhere and I don't see anyone crossing it (jaywalk) either. So then you wonder around and then figure out the only way across Temasek to Suntec is to go up to the 2nd floor of Marina Square and through Mujirushi store and then there's a skybridge you take to cross Temasek that gets you into the southern end of Suntec. Then coming out of the food court, you're met by this giantic traffic circle with nowhere to cross. I asked someone how to cross and was suggested to go to that same Suntec-Marina Sqr skywalk. So we headed back to that skywalk after all, eventually getting back to the hotel after a huge detour.
As for getting to Marina Bay, I was aiming for the Helix Bridge, but could not figure out how to cross Raffles Blvd. So went back to the hotel, asked the bellman for direction. He basically told me to enter Millenium Walk and come out the other side, then turn right and you're right there. So I followed his instruction, which took me into Millenium Walk's atrium area, then I came out the other side which was a concrete plaza with Millenium Tower sitting on it. I walked around Millenium Tower and to the back of it where there was a street/highway that didn't seem walkable. So I just gave up.
Anyways I should be back there in a year or two, so third time should be a charm.

jerry a. laska

The large streets are crossable but you need to go up (through the malls) or down via the underground crossings (Nicoll and Raffles Ave.) or take Temasek.

The malls can be a little confusing but if you want to avoid the malls on your next visit just walk out the main entrance to Temasek and follow it to the right around the bend. There are signaled crosswalks for the 2 blocks (for Raffles Blvd. and Raffles Ave.) to the Helix Bridge and It is a straight shot to MBS.