Location
Located in the Marina Centre shopping area, the hotel is a great place to stay for those who prefer a convenient location with lots of shopping and eateries around. The hotel is also centrally located in Singapore, making travelling around Singapore a breeze. However, the subway station is a tad far from the Hotel. One would have to go through the shopping mall to reach the subway station.
The Room
Bathroom
The room felt rather small and aged. Bathroom greeted patrons on the left upon entering the room. The bathroom is small but functional. The design, the colouring of the bathroom seem to yell of a need to refurbish. The brownish tiled bathroom looked like a page from the 1980s. The bathtub is rather small, even for me (I am around 1.65m tall)! There is a walk-in shower cubicle and a toilet cubicle. The walk-in shower was small, and the shower did not even feature a rain shower, but 2 showerheads. I do not see any purpose it served as there is also another single shower head just next to it. The toilet cubicle is just functional. The sink area is rather large I would say. Given all these, the bath amenities provided are of high quality. The hotel even provide Face mist for their Pacific Club room guests, which is a gesture worth welcoming!
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| Bathtub in room |
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| Walk-in shower |
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| Great quality bath amenities |
Sleeping Area
The room features a king-sized bed, a work desk and a concealed counter for the minibar. The bed was rather comfortable, I had no problem getting a good night sleep, partially crediting to the pillow I had chosen from the pillow menu for Pacific Club room guests. the concealed counter looks neat and tidy, both when opened and closed. This is an interesting way of putting away the clutter of the glasses and mugs. The mini bar fridge is rather interesting. In it, there is a notice informing guests that drinks removed for more than 30 sec will be charged to their bill. I guess this is how the hotel makes use of technology to cut short check out timing. The large work desk, which is facing the main entrance to the room, has several powerpoints for guests to plug in their gadgets. This is a feature that is evident throughout the room, which little hotels provide. Right next to the desk, facing the bed is the LCD TV, with a panel for guests to plug directly into the TV, using ports like HDMI, USB, etc. In front of this panel is the Nespresso machine, which comes along with 3 capsules for guests to enjoy great coffee. The wardrobe is a tad small when compared to most 5 star hotels. Overall the smallish room is still functional, with a lot of storage space, other than the wardrobe.
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| King Size bed |
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| A work desk and TV |
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| Couch in room |
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| View from the room |
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| Storage space in room and minibar |
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| View of the pool from the elevator |
Service
The experience was horrendous even before my checking in. I called on the day of my checking in to check if early check-in was possible. However, to my dismay, the staff over the phone was rather patronising. Without even asking for my name, she seemed to automatically assume that I had booked a “normal” room. I had to resort to getting her to check and was put on hold, 5 secs later she still came back with the same answer. All these while she seemed disinterested in providing good service, she did not even ask for my family name to check the type of room I had reserved. I gave up on her and got her to transfer my call to the front desk, only at this point she insisted in getting my family name, which I saw no purpose in giving since the front desk staff will be asking for the same information. Irritated, I insisted on her to transfer my call. After transferring my call, to my delight, early check-in was possible. To think I had wasted 30 mins on the phone with a useless staff who did not even bother to check. I had thought the bad service would end there, but more to come.
Upon arrival at the hotel lobby, I approached a staff asking about the dedicated counter for Pacific Club rooms (I read this from Tripadvisor). However, I was told to queue up at the counter for all other guests. When I told the staff about the dedicated counter, we were “transferred” to another staff and was told once again to queue up at the normal counter. Once again, I told her that I booked a Pacific Club room and made known to her that I know of this dedicated counter, then we were ushered to the Pacific Club counter. The check-in was a breeze, but we were given the wrong information about the facing of our room. During checked in, I asked the staff which view were we assigned, she claimed that it was the side that faced Orchard Road and we would even get a glimpse of the bay area. However, upon entering the room, we found that our room was facing the Conrad hotel. Which I specifically told the staff at check-in that this is not what I preferred!!
Throughout my stay, I have observed numerous discriminatory behaviour displayed by the frontline staffs, and some of them occurred on me. The first thing after checking in was to head to the pool for tanning and a dip. When I reached the pool, the staff handed over the towels and even offered me cold water. After I found a place to settle down, as I was observing around, I noticed the Caucasian guests were treated better than their Asian counterparts! Several occasions, I observed that the Caucasian guests were escorted to the chairs and even had their towels laid out by the pool staffs. However, I did not notice that happening on the Asian guests! All of the Asian guests were made to find a chair themselves and had their towels laid out themselves, unlike the Caucasian guests, where service standard is much better! I can’t help but wonder why is the hotel condoning such difference in service standards!
As I thought this is a one-off event and only specific to the pool area. After suntanning, I headed to the highly acclaimed Pacific Club lounge. The hotel has removed a couple of restaurants previously occupied on the top floor and replaced with the Pacific Club lounge. I was rather excited about visiting this lounge even before my stay. However, such excitement is short-lived. Upon arriving at the club lounge, the staffs did not even make the effort to initiate eye contact. Most of the time, I was left wondering what drinks were available and most of the occasions, I had to help myself to the drinks that were displayed. There is only one time we were offered drinks upon arrival. Most of the time, the staffs were seen talking to each other, rather than going around asking arriving guests what drinks they want or even offer a simple “welcome”. However, during my stay at the club lounge, I also observed discriminatory behaviour by the staffs. All the Caucasian guests were greeted by a warm welcome and were approached for drinks orders as compared to the Asian guests. At one point, one of the staff even warmly checking on the Caucasian guests, while a few occasions when we were there, we were treated as though we were transparent or even given dirty looks by the staff there. Is this the way they treat Pacific Club room guests who paid a premium over the other type of rooms?? I was at the club lounge for an evening cocktail and managed to wave at one of the staff for drinks. Across the table, I observed the other Caucasian guests were given an iPad menu and had the privilege of selecting the club offerings at their leisure. However, I was not given such a chance but had to rely on the memory of the staff who ordered our drinks. Why is there such a difference in service, even at the club lounge?? Does that signifies the hotel only are interested in serving Caucasian patrons over their Asian guests??
The afternoon tea and evening cocktail selection of food was pathetic! I have been to several club lounges by other hotels, this gotta be the most pathetic of all. Granted the area of the Club lounge is huge, but the club lounge lacked the software that will keep patrons coming back for more. The worst gotta be the breakfast. As I preferred the tranquillity at breakfast over the wide variety offered at the Edge Restaurant at level 3. To my dismay, despite being at the club lounge at 9.30 am, ALL the food offered for breakfast was GONE!! The staffs at the club lounge did not even bother to replenish the food!! What a joke when the hotel promises champagne breakfast and here I am to find there are only champagne (which I was not even offered throughout my visits to the club lounge) and NO BREAKFAST!! Disappointed and disgusted, I had to queue up at the edge for breakfast. Fortunately, the staff at the edge displayed more passion for providing good service than those at the Pacific Club lounge!
Overall
Having paid a premium for a Pacific Club room and yet was discriminated upon, makes one feels the money was NOT well spent! One would probably get better service for a normal room at some other hotels nearby (such as Ritz Carlton), then this hotel.