Having stayed at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay Hotel back in 2020 when it was newly launched, my husband and I were excited to be back to see what has changed since then. This stay was actually supposed to happen much earlier in the year (bought it during Traveloka’s Epic Sale) but it got postponed due to covid lockdown measures. During our previous stay, renovation works were quite far from completion so I’m glad we finally got to experience the finished product this time!
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in COLLECTION Room
- COLLECTION Club Lounge access
- Breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktails (as part of club lounge access)
- Welcome fruit platter
- Spent: SGD$222.90
Check-in
Check-in is typically done at the counters on level 4, but there have been instances where they’ve opened up the level 1 counters when queues were snaking. We were about to check in at the separate GHA Discovery counter but the staff said she had to run an errand for a guest she just attended to. No matter, we were next in line at the regular queue anyway.
This was where things got a little messy. I initially requested for a room with the day bed and the staff assisting us said okay. However, when we went up to the room, there was no day bed in sight. To be fair, it’s likely that my uninformed lay description of “sofa bay window” wasn’t clear to her. She explained that this was part of the Suntec stack, although it would’ve been more helpful if she clarified earlier since I wouldn’t have known their lingo. Anyway, she informed that the room would only be ready around 3pm, which wasn’t too long a wait… or so I thought.
We eventually received the keycards to our reassigned room around 6pm, and that was solely because we took the initiative to check. It seemed to be a case of miscommunication as housekeeping hadn’t even gotten round to cleaning the room until we approached reception staff about this around 4.30pm. Nevertheless, I do give them props for service recovery in the form of a late check-out at 3pm.
Room
Both our COLLECTION Rooms were located on the 21st floor, the hotel’s topmost floor. Apparently, there is only one room on this level with the day bed but we felt this came at the expense of natural lighting, as compared to our first room. Designed in a contemporary minimalist fashion, it echoes the wooden theme of its sister property, PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering Hotel, with some added elements of gold and metal. Part of PARKROYAL COLLECTION’s branding is that its hotels are environmentally friendly, so you won’t find single-use plastic bottles in the rooms. Instead, you’ll get glass bottled water and filtered water taps for refills.
At first glance, the room appeared superficially impressive but living in it for a day soon revealed some of its flaws. For one, there were lapses in cleanliness – unknown stains on the day bed, mildly sticky floors (I ended up wearing bedroom slippers the whole time) and a stray curly hair in the tub. Our first room had conveniently placed USB ports beside the bed but our second room didn’t have any except behind the TV and at the side of the phone, which we discovered after some desperate searching close to midnight. Even then, the rate of charging was terribly slow. When the technician came by, I thought it rather amusing that he seemed genuinely bewildered that there were no bedside USB ports (were we really the first ones to have raised this issue?).
The bathroom was mostly hygienic but aesthetically underwhelming. A reception staff explained that the bathrooms only had minor touch-ups done and remain largely similar to that of its predecessor, Marina Mandarin Hotel. This isn’t hard to believe given the yellowing hairdryer wall unit, leaking shower head and makeshift cement patches on spots where the tiles are broken. We could also clearly hear our neighbours’ kids laughing, splashing and sliding around the tub. I guess the closest redeeming factor for me would be the jet-massage feature in the shower (similar to the one at St. Regis Hotel), though the pressure here all but produced a mere tickle.
Besides the cleanliness concerns, service from housekeeping seemed a little lacklustre. When we entered our first room, we noticed there wasn’t any tea (though this was rectified quite promptly with a call). Turndown service only entailed the clearing of trash. Not sure if they were facing a manpower crunch, hence the oversight.
If you’re a light sleeper, you might encounter the occasional sports car sputtering away at night. Thankfully we’re pretty okay with noise and with the firm pillow provided, we slept well. However, we woke up the next morning to find a neat line of condensation droplets on the luggage platform from the leaking aircon vent above (good thing we didn’t leave our belongings there). Generally, I felt the rooms could do with some improving.
Facilities
The swimming pool, spa, gym and spin bikes are on level 5, along with Peach Blossoms restaurant and the COLLECTION Club lounge. The pool here is truly one-of-a-kind because of how beautifully it sparkles at night, like underwater stars ❤ Other restaurants like Peppermint, Sushi Jiro, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Portman’s Bar are on level 4.
After putting down our bags in the first room, we headed to the club lounge for afternoon tea held between 2.30pm and 4pm. The lounge had a sophisticated vibe with natural light filtering through the glass windows, absolutely inviting. Menus were no longer provided except for breakfast as the staff shared that it was dependent on what the chef makes that day (it is still on a rotating basis so you won’t get the same items if you’re staying for consecutive days).
Presentation wise, they also did away with the 3-tiers and simply served the items on a plate. They consisted of egg mayo and chicken sandwiches, chicken pies, pecan tarts, brownie chocolate cakes and yoghurt, all of which tasted fine. There were no fresh juices available so we opted for hot chocolate. You can order multiple servings of any item you’d like more of.
What stood out for me was the service from all the staff here. They attended to us each time with a smile and were always ready to offer us help where needed. We spent a significant amount of time chilling here given the wonderful, welcoming atmosphere (:
Evening cocktails and hors d’oeuvres were served from 6pm to 8pm. This time, presentation was slightly better with the items served in a wooden partitioned box. We had chicken wings, mystery meatballs, cheese prawn and scallop skewers, black sesame swiss rolls with custard cream, red velvet cakes and chocolate tarts. I actually enjoyed the vegetable stew the meatballs were in more than the meatballs themselves, which had a tough, mock meat-like consistency. Prawns and scallops were a tad overdone and rubbery but I guess almost everything tastes good with baked cheese on top 😛
There was one standout item for me though, and that was the black sesame swiss roll. Fluffy texture, smooth cream and custard, light yet distinct black sesame flavour, yummy (: It wasn’t too sweet as well. For drinks, I ordered a mimosa and a virgin mimosa, just in case the alcohol in the former was too strong. It turned out surprisingly well-balanced (yay, finally found an alcoholic beverage that doesn’t make me wince). As with afternoon tea, unlimited ordering applies.
Ashley, the staff whom we interacted most with during our time here, is such a gem. She actually came over to inform us that she was going off already as her shift had ended, and handed us over to her colleague should we need anything else. Small, thoughtful gestures like this truly add that special touch and made us feel well taken care of ❤
The next day, we had breakfast round 1 a la carte style at the club lounge. Wow, almost all the dishes we ordered were delicious! Definitely the best tasting of all three meal presentations served at the lounge. The sausages were firm and juicy (unlike those run-of-the-mill mushy ones), pumpkin congee was unexpectedly tasty and vegetable curry was fragrant and flavourful. They did an interesting twist on the crispy prata, though I thought it resembled an oiler version of puff pastry than actual prata.
Alas, there was one bad apple of the lot: The rice noodle soup with shrimp dumplings. The soup was bland, the noodles clumpy and the dumpling pasty. I took one bite and immediately wanted to spit it out, but kept it in for decorum’s sake. Other than this dish, the rest were stellar.
For breakfast round 2, we went to Peppermint restaurant where it was served in an assisted buffet style. Prior reservations for a 1-hour slot had to be made, but that didn’t seem to ease the queue at all (we waited for about 15 minutes to get a table).
As we were pretty full from the delectable fare earlier, we only tried the additional items that weren’t available at the lounge, such as the nasi lemak and pancakes. I sadly report that these were nothing to rave about.
We were able to catch one last round of afternoon tea since we were accorded a late check-out. The items were quite different from yesterday’s, great for those who appreciate variety. There were tuna and pesto sandwiches, curry puffs, ondeh swiss rolls and various cakes. As with afternoon tea on the first day, these were quite okay.
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. I must say I really like the look and feel of the finished product post-renovation, which exudes a calming aura with its modern garden-in-a-hotel concept. Having had the chance to experience two differently-configured rooms, we unanimously agreed that the non-day bed room would’ve been a better choice (more natural light and we wouldn’t have to contend with mystery stains on the day bed). Unfortunately, the main letdown was the room with its various cleanliness and functionality concerns. However, the breakfast and service from the lounge staff more than made up for it! One staff took the time to strike up a conversation with us not once, but twice, about the e-gaming livestream we were watching, in addition to checking whether there was anything he could bring us. These personable moments are memorable to me and served to elevate our guest experience. Of course, not forgetting the lovely Ashley, who ensured that we were in good hands (: If you’re considering a stay here, I’d highly recommend going for club lounge access as that would certainly value-add to your experience!
Dania Experiences 