Another vote for the Shang ri La Valley Wing. The best and largest rooms in Singapore and service a notch down from the FS. I also agree that the FS is nothing special

Also worth noting Valley Wing offers all day drinks including Moet and premium spirits

And terrific evening snacks...

And a wonderful breakfast.

Has anyone tried the Marina Bay Sands? Obviously a huge hotel, but it is very new and trying out the new Club and that infinity pool on the skydeck would be hard to pass up on my next trip to Singapore.

Reviews so far have been quite negative.

i would suggest inquiring re rates for suites (anything above orchid, not online) that include in-suite checkin (and butler service) as well as cost of private airport transfers.

club and neighboring restaurant are not open yet. temporary club is available, but doesnt mention checkin/checkout. also, while final club initially appeared to be open to public at night, it now seems its only open to nonclub hotel guests after 8pm.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/14196418-post17.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/15322374-post33.html

lol how do you get a penthouse suite for less than the standard :)

Thank you so much for all the replies. I will definitely add FS and Mandarin to my list. Definitely want a room with windows so not the Raffles, St. Regis maybe not.

This will be a family trip, so we'd be getting double rooms so I'm thinking standard rooms in the best place possible.

Thanks again for all the recommendations :) Love this forum

Room refurbishment is in progress and scheduled through January 28, according to the hotel's web site.

I just had a 3 night stay in a newly renovated Premier Suite, non-club level. This was my first stay at the RC, and overall I was very pleased; I'll plan on staying here again.

My suite was at the north end of the hotel, facing the Mandarin and Pan Pacific hotels.

Entrance hall: There are no light controls here, so you need ambient light from the hall or outdoors to insert the room key card in master switch. The thermostat is located here and is easy to use. The default room temp, when the key card is removed, seemed to be 23 degrees. I like my room cold at night, and the A/C seemed to kick in pretty quickly.
--http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/


Living room and seating area:
-- View from entrance hall http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/
-- View from sitting area http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/
I especially liked the Nespresso coffee maker. There is a Bose sound system below the TV with a sub-woofer, but I couldn't figure out how to get my iPod to play though the hook-up that is in the desk.

Bedroom:
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/ There is very nice back-lighting of the glass table top, but the yellow edge is a camera artifact. Bedside controls include the window shades, and they flip back into the table during the day. One drawer also includes an electrical outlet, handy for keeping a cellphone nearby while charging it.

Bath:
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/ Very comfortable tub. As the window is see-through, the shade control is at bath-level. From outside the hotel I could not see in during the day, but at night it was quite easy to see someone standing at the window.
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/ There is a very long bathmat in front of both sinks, a very nice feature.
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/ Shower with traditional angled shower head, rain shower, and hand wand: all options covered!

Closet: This is located at the end of the bath and is the main downside of the room as it is quite small. With a bag on the dresser hanging clothes don't have enough room. There is a larger vertical dresser, but two of the larger compartments are occupied by the safe and iron. I was happy though that an iron and board are provided.
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/

Views from the room:
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/
-- http://www.flickr.com/photos/9587509...7625409689587/

MRT access is reasonable. The Circle Line Promenade Station is across the street, but I don't find that line to convenient for a tourist. It's about a 10-15 minute walk to the City Hall station, almost all via air conditioned shopping malls. It's also an easy 10-15 minute walk to Marina Bay Sands via a pedestrian bridge.

thank you Loran for that review. Pics look great. :)

+1

I have quite negative opinion on Capella service, but Capella at Sentosa worth staying if the final choice MBS vs. Capella. Please do not make mistakes and do not stay at MBS.

Thanks for the pics. I don't know why, but I'm not loving the new room renovations (at least the decor).

This is a regular question here. My opinion, until proven otherwise, is that you must choose the option that sucks the least. I been to three hotels in Singapore and done a site inspection of about a dozen others:

4S: Yuk. One of the poorest 4S's in the entire chain. Dark cave like rooms. Below average pool. Just depressing and unfriendly.

Raffles: Nice pool. Dark rooms. Hostile staff. Total touristy circus. I can't image ever going back.

St Regis. I liked this place. Pool is average. My room was very nice. Big, bright. Don't use the wireless. Breakfast was a terrible buffet in one of the big conference rooms. No restaurant or bar worth mentioning.

YMMV. I looked into the same question a couple years ago, was looking into FS, RC, MO, Shangri-la along with various other options (GH, Marriott, Raffles, Fairmont), ended up deciding on the FS and actually liked my stay there and the room (and preferred it to other FS city hotels in the US that I have stayed at).