Hotel Michael is located in Resorts World Sentosa, next to the train system that plies between Singapore and Sentosa Island. It is located at a precinct where eateries and entertainment, such as Universal Studios Singapore, the S.E.A Aquarium, Trick Eye Museum are located. The location of this hotel, as with other hotels managed by Resorts World Sentosa, makes it a great place to explore and have fun in Sentosa and Singapore mainland.

The room I originally booked was a Deluxe room. The room is rather small, measuring 37m². Upon entering the room, I was shocked at the state the room was in. The bed sheets are dirty, covered with stains that do not seem to be washed properly. Out of the four pillows, all four pillows had stains on them. There is a large crack on one of the bedside tables, which seemed to be capable of rendering its users cuts. The couch at the end of the room had a terrible crack on it, the crack is so bad that the sponge in the couch is ready to pop out any time. The curtains in the room are filled with stain marks, which seem to suggest that the last time they were changed was a long time ago. I wonder how one can live in such a filthy environment and if the staffs themselves would want to stay in such a room. There were no in-room slippers and all I found was an empty plastic bag, which seemed to contain slippers if there is one. For a $400 a night room, this hotel leaves me to wonder if it is of five-star standard. I had to call and ask for the duty manager to address these issues. The duty manager – Cecilia popped by my room and was shocked at the state it was in. She asked for some time to look for another room for me.

I was transferred to the hotel’s Deluxe Suite. The 1 bedroom suite measures a good 80m², providing guests ample space to relax in either in the living room or the bedroom itself. The hotel prides itself for being “a luxurious treat for art lovers”. There are art pieces, in the form of paintings, found throughout the suite that I was staying. More art pieces can be found in common areas such as the lobby. One can also find mosaic-tiled motifs in the toilet. The entire suite is decked out in contemporary wooden architecture, combined with the orange lighting used in the entire suite, the suite eludes a warmth and cosy feel to its occupants. The suite has three main sections.

As guests enter the suite, one is ushered into a sizeable living room. The living is decorated with a three-seater sofa, facing the LED TV. On the sides of the sofa is a three-seater couch on its right, situated right in front of the floor to ceiling window panel, which also is the fire access. It seemed ironical for the hotel to place a couch in front of the fire access, with a sign next to it that reads “Do not obstruct at all times”. To the left of the sofa is a single-seater couch. There is also a coffee table, which is essentially a glass panel placed on top of a wooden base. As one enters the main door, there is another door to the right of it, which opens up to a toilet where one can find a toilet bowl and a sink. The wall of this toilet is decorated with mosaic tiles, which not only brightens the toilet, it also removes the boredom of a white wall which is common in most toilets in a hotel room or suite. Behind the single-seater couch is where one can find the minibar area. The minibar is well concealed in a huge sized cabinet, where one can find a fridge in the lower deck of the cabinet and the standard glasses, snacks and a Nespresso machine on the upper deck. Despite being a suite, other than the coffee and tea as well as the bottled mineral waters being complementary, the rest of the items in the minibar is chargeable. The hotel does not even provide free wifi, which most other hotels are now providing with compliments. The fridge is defective at the time when I checked in, which is one of the many signs that maintenance is not in the hotel’s list of things to do. Beside the cabinet where one can find the minibar, one can find a sink, which is a nice touch for one to wash their cups in.

A door beside the three-seater sofa leads into the bedroom itself. The bedroom of this suite is large by any standards. As one enters the bedroom, a large king bed greats guests. The bed occupies about a fraction of the room, facing another LED TV, which is placed at an angle that makes watching it a chore. There is no swivel to tilt the TV to provide guests with an optimal angle to watch the TV. In the bedroom, one can also find a small dining table, with two chairs tucked in a corner which does not obstruct the space in the bedroom. The bed is large and comfortable to sleep in and can provide one with good night sleep. However, the pillows are a tad too soft for my liking, which gave me neckache when I sleep on one. The hotel does not seem to provide a pillow menu for its guests. There is also a dressing cabinet beside the dining table, next to the door to the bedroom. This cabinet, with a mirror, hang on the wall, provides more storage space as well as makeup space for female guests. There are also a couple of bedside tables on each side of the bed, which provides more storage space.

Next to the bed is the entrance to the bathroom. Decked out in white marble, the expansive bathroom is rather large. As one enters the bathroom from the bedroom, a small make-up area can be found to the left. To the right of the entrance is where one can find another toilet cubicle fully furnished with a toilet bowl and a sink. Directly facing the door to the bathroom is where one can find a sizeable closet, large enough to stowaway five days of clothing. The iron and ironing board as well as the in-room safe can also be found tucked nicely into the closet. Passing the closet to the left is where the bathroom opens up to a dual sink of the left and a walk-in shower, featuring regular shower head and rain shower to the right. Passing the narrow corridor, one can spot a bathtub situated at the end of the bathroom. The tub is huge enough for two to soak into, with a small TV facing the bathtub. The bathroom, despite decked in white marble giving guests a feel of prestige and a sense of classiness, is rather dim in its lighting.

There are a total of three small balconies in the entire suite where one can stand onto and watch the happenings around the hotel below. Two of these balconies can be accessed from the bedroom and the other can be accessed from the bathroom (pass the bathtub). The air-conditioning throughout the suite is very good. There is separate temperature control for the living room and the bedroom, which is powerful enough to cool the suite to 16°C.

The hotel has a small free form swimming pool located on the 3rd level, which allows guests to swim laps in it. There is also a jacuzzi located next to the pool. There is a counter before the entrance to the pool, which unfortunately is never manned. There is also no towel provided at the pool, guests would have to bring the towels from the room to use at the pool. There is however a phone, which called, the hotel will arrange for someone to stock up on the bathrobes. There is also a bathroom cum toilet next to the pool. There are limited toilet cubicle (only one in the men’s room) and one shower cubicle in the toilet.

Located next to the pool, one can find a small gym. The gym is very small and only provides a couple of treadmills and some stationary bikes. There is very limited weights equipment in this gym.

Breakfast is served in Palio Restaurant. The quality of the food is so-so and there are very minor changes to the menu each day. The food does not seem tasty and the variety is rather limited for a five-star establishment. There are only mass brewed coffee, latte or cappuccino is not being offered. The fruit juice tasted blended and seemed to be made from cordial syrups. The quality of the food is rather bad and often left cold. There are also no top-ups for food.

The service that I received from the hotel is a far fetch from the five-star it is being accorded. From check-in to the restaurant the staffs does not seem to be interested in providing five-star service to its guests. When I was checking in, the lady at the counter does not seem to be interested in providing information such as where the room is located, where to have breakfast. She is slow in processing my check-in and gives me a feeling that she just wanted to get rid of me at the check-in. Her attitude is bad and seemed to be impatient with my enquiries. Information received from her is scatty. Such an attitude seemed to be echoed by the other staffs at the reception. There was an instance I left my room key in my suite and wanted to get one. There is a separate queue at the reception that states “collection of key only” when approached I was told to join the queue for check-in. I asked the staff what’s the purpose of having a queue for key collection, only at this point, I was directed to the lounge which entertains VIP check-in. When at the lounge, the staff there was puzzled why I was directed to her. Despite that, she gladly processed my key.

Service at the restaurant is almost non-existence. The staffs are not interested in providing any form of service, other than showing guests to their table and clearing the table. At the egg station, the staff seem to be reluctant to take any orders for eggs, only when asked then was my orders taken. There are no smiles from the staffs throughout the restaurant, which seemed consistent with the service I have received from the reception.

The only ones that provided any form of service are those running operations from behind the scene. My room was being made up by Ken, whom by far provided the best service in the entire hotel. He not only made up my room conscientiously, when bumped into Ken along the corridor while heading out for breakfast, I also request Ken to put extra towels, he gladly does that with a smile. My room was well made-up my Ken. Another staff whom I received good service is the duty manager Cecilia. I contacted Cecilia regarding the state of the room that was  initially assigned to me, she immediately attended to me and listened without being defensive. She took note of all the areas and had those remedied immediately.  Cecilia also changed a room for me within an hour, where she ensured the standards of the room is up to mark before arranging for me to move to my new room. Cecilia followed up on a call a few hours later to check if I was comfortable in the new room and if there are any other requests that I need. Cecilia ensured closure to the areas I have brought up and closed the loop with me.

Hotel Michael, despite being accorded five-star, does not scream of five-star from the deluxe room and other facilities such as the pool and the gym, and certainly not the service. While the location of the hotel is great, the suite that I checked into is good. However the same cannot be said of the deluxe room I initially checked into. The service standard is a far cry from being five-star. Service is almost non-existence in the hotel, especially the reception, where the first contact with guests is being made. Staffs seemed to be impatient with guests and did not seem to realise what five-star hotel means. They seem to be more interested in gossiping loudly amongst themselves than attending to guests. Despite the queue at the reception being light, they are seen taking their time punching into their computers most of the time, rather than lifting their heads to see if any guest is waiting in line waiting to be served. Restaurant staffs are always frowning and gave me the impression that guests ordering food are bothersome to them. Given the price the hotel charges for a night in a room or its suite, one can find better service, bigger rooms elsewhere. I would not recommend anyone staying here unless one does not mind paying more for bad service and wanted to be close to the actions in Resorts World Sentosa.