Hotel NuVe Heritage is a boutique hotel that is part of a larger collection of hotels in Singapore curated by NuVe Group. Conveniently located a few minutes’ walk from the Bugis and City Hall train stations, it’s easy to miss this hotel’s inconspicuous entrance as it blends in with the adjacent shophouses. Rather small in size, it houses only 19 rooms in total within the 6-storey building.
I wasn’t aware this hotel existed until it was introduced during one of Trip.com’s livestreams. In fact, it was only because I was fortunate enough to win a free night’s stay during that livestream that I got to try out this place (thank you, Trip.com!). It was a bit of a hassle to reserve a date as I had to go through one of their liaisons instead of dealing with the hotel directly, but we finally managed to arrange the stay (:
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in Deluxe King Room
- Spent: SGD$0
Check-in
Getting to the reception counter involved a mildly awkward walk down the centre aisle of Yummo Chow restaurant with glancing customers on both sides. Although my husband and I were the only ones in the queue then, the staff checking us in was a little curt in her interactions with us. At one point, she even sounded exasperated when I asked questions about breakfast options. Not the most pleasant way to kick off our stay here.
Room
I was hoping to do a paid upgrade to one of their suites as the photos on the website look amazing. Regrettably, the reception staff said that they’re usually fully booked on weekends. We made our way to our assigned Deluxe King Room on the fourth floor, which came with a few surprises that I didn’t expect from a hotel of this scale – a Nespresso capsule machine, a concealed cistern in the bathroom and a rainshower. The mini-bar (including two bottles of beer) was complimentary too.
Unfortunately, these positives were easily overshadowed by more glaring issues. Although the cosy room wasn’t as tiny as the room we had at Hotel G, it was still a tad too cramped for comfort. There were also black spots on the bedsheets, yellow stains in some drawers, a wad of used tissue underneath the wardrobe, as well as stray long hairs on the lounge chair and the bed. The floorboards looked tired with dirt and dust accumulating in crevices. I didn’t even think to request for my usual firm pillow as I wasn’t confident they had alternatives.
And it didn’t stop there. In the bathroom, the sink was missing its pop-up stopper so the drainage pipe was completely exposed, which felt quite gross psychologically. A subtle but majorly off-putting pee smell constantly emanated from the bathroom, but this was temporarily resolved by keeping the door closed at all times. I thought I’d seen the dimmest shower space ever at Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel but the one here really takes the gold. The last straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when I saw some drain flies landing on the bedsheets. At this point, I was pretty much done.
Facilities
As for a swimming pool or a gym, I sadly report that there are no such facilities here. You do get bathtubs in the suites so gun for those room categories if you’re looking to enjoy a nice soak.
I’m guessing that one of the draws of this hotel is its price point for such a central location and its proximity to many good places to eat. My husband and I left our disappointment of a room and had ourselves a delectable dinner at Saveur just down the road (:
My overall rating of the experience: 1 out of 5 stars. The blatant cleanliness violations were simply too much to bear, though the caveat is that I do have unnaturally elevated OCD standards. Used tissue under the wardrobe from who knows when, one too many strands of hair on the furniture, the unmistakable smell of pee wafting into the room and co-sleeping with a colony of drain flies? No can do. The staff’s nonchalant demeanour was quite unwelcoming as well. We hit a new low with yet another first: Checking out on the very same day we checked in, right after our dinner at Saveur. Truth be told, I’m really thankful to have won something from Trip.com and in no way does this experience reflect the general quality of hotels in their inventory. This stay was just an unfortunate outlier. I will definitely not be back for their lower category rooms, but on the off chance that the stars align and circumstances pave the way, I might just take a shot at their suites (with much hesitance and apprehension).
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 