Opening its doors back in March 2021, The Clan Hotel’s distinct design and practices aim to harness and reflect the rich local heritage of the Telok Ayer area. It pays homage to the myriad Chinese clans that used to occupy this district in a tastefully executed and modernized fashion. I’d been wanting to stay here since its launch but prices were rather exorbitant even for the base rooms. With the help of some promo code stacks on Traveloka, I eventually managed to get a Grand Premier Room at a pretty decent price!
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in Grand Premier Room – Master Series
- Master Series benefits (choice of 5 in-room refreshment items, handmade soap, The Clan Keeper service, The Clan Daily Special)
- Breakfast
- Spent: SGD$244.17
Check-in
Upon arriving at the drop-off point, my husband and I were warmly greeted by the staff with smiles and the sounding of a gong as we stepped through the rather inconspicuous entrance. The first thing I noticed was a unique, calming scent that permeated the lift lobby and carried through to the reception area on level 2. Rachel, one of the front desk staff, shared that this scent (called Kindred Spirit) was specially crafted for the hotel by local brand, Scent by SIX, and can only be purchased here (as with many of their other merchandise).
We were immediately attended to by Sam, who promptly checked us in. He initially offered to show us to our room but as we had to collect our brunch sandwiches from Korio, he arranged for it to be done when we returned.
The reception area is brightly lit by natural sunlight coming in through the magnificient glass windows, making it such an inviting space to linger in. Every guest gets the opportunity to experience the welcome tea ceremony in this space, which symbolizes the traditional clan ritual typically done to welcome and show respect to visiting guests. Master Chua, the tea master, offered us a cold towel to freshen up and served us a cup of Nanyang Ritual tea (specially curated by Pryce Tea) with a red bean pastry.
Once we were ready, Diana, another front desk staff, then walked us to our room and meticulously explained our inclusions as Master Series guests. I was impressed that she noticed we’d taken off our shoes when entering the room and proceeded to do likewise, very considerate of her (:
Room
With only 18 Grand Premier Rooms in the property, it was nice to be assigned one on quite a high floor (level 25). The hotel has a total of 30 floors, with the 29th floor being the highest guest room floor. Sporting a contemporary aesthetic with sharp, clean lines, this corner room has large windows on both sides that open up to a panoramic view of the surrounding buildings, giving the space an open and airy feel.
Settling ourselves in, we then partook of the in-room welcome amenity of Nanyang Ritual tea and two small bak kut teh cookies. These ‘cookies’ had more of a shortbread texture with an extra salty and peppery taste, which interestingly encapsulated the key flavours of bak kut teh, but I doubt I’d buy a whole tin of them to munch on.
All Master Series guests get to pick five mini-bar items via a link in a pre-arrival email, which will then be prepared and placed in your room. We went for the Grate Britain smoke cheese crackers, Domori milk chocolate with sea salt, Tartuflanghe truffle corn, Cartwright & Butler triple chocolate biscuits (this was yummy!) and Luscombe sparkling apple crush. In addition, we could choose our preferred scent of handmade soap (Relaxing Lavender, Refreshing Peppermint or Exfoliating Lemongrass & Eucalyptus) to take home as a souvenir. Lavender was my pick (:
As for The Clan Daily Special, I didn’t find it to be of any particular benefit as it was basically ordering local hawker food at an additional charge (and a ridiculously excessive one at that). The dishes available during our stay were bak kut teh, satay and laksa, costing $36, $28 and $30 respectively. No, thank you.
There is ample space in the bathroom, especially the shower area that comes fitted with a rainshower too. My favourite part was having a heated electronic bidet seat, the best way to do toilet business. A filtered water tap can be found at the sink instead of bottled water (similar to the one at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay Hotel) due to the hotel’s sustainability efforts.
This is the only room category that has bathtubs and one of the perks is that a Clan Keeper can help to draw a bubble bath, much like what the butlers at St. Regis Hotel do as well. However, the Clan Keepers here take it up a notch by bringing along a thermometer to ensure the bath water is the exact temperature needed, such precision! Christopher, the Clan Keeper who ran our bath, offered us the choice of a calming bubble bath or a rejuvenating milk and oil bath. I opted for the latter and it was fantastic 😀 It was also such a sweet gesture that he left us a handwritten card (I’m a huge fan of personal touches like this) ❤
This was the first time I’d seen a U-shaped body pillow available on a hotel’s pillow menu so on top of my usual firm pillow, I requested for that just to try it out 😛 The bed was not as firm as I would’ve liked though. One small detail I did appreciate was how housekeeping left the requested pillows in a plastic carrier instead of simply leaving them on some random, possibly dirty surface (which many hotels, including 5-star luxury ones, have done). It’s just something that bothers me given my OCD nature, which is why this seemingly tiny, insignificant gesture to most other people meant a lot to me ❤
Turndown service was automatically provided and came with a packet of Cocoon Ritual tea (it resembled camomile), as well as a small bottle of roll-on essential oil. Oddly enough, there was no replenishment of used items or clearing of used towels.
Alas, there was a minor hygiene issue with the sofa as I found crumbs (yes, plural) of different sizes and colours on the surface and in the crevices. I can imagine why these might’ve been missed by casual vacuuming as I had to pry these stubborn crumbs out of the fabric with my nails. I shared this feedback with Jonathan, the manager on duty that evening, just before we headed out for dinner.
When we returned, we were pleasantly surprised to find a cake and a handwritten note from Jonathan addressing this issue. But what was impressive was how he took the time to personally apologize for the lapse the next day and to find out if everything else was okay as he didn’t manage to reach us over the phone last night. I was very touched at this extra-mile gesture, as it would’ve been easier to just let it slip, but he chose to make sure we felt well taken care of. I now see that the writing on the lift lobby wall is indeed a creed they genuinely seek to uphold (:
Facilities
I highly recommend heading to the rooftop infinity Sky Pool on level 30 during golden hour to watch the beautiful sunset paint the skies amazing hues before your eyes. There is also a smaller, heated jacuzzi pool surrounded by greenery where I enjoyed a good, long soak – pure bliss!
On the same floor, the sizeable Sky Gym with sweeping city views is probably one of the most comprehensively equipped gyms I’ve seen in the country. Something unique to this gym is the old-school Wing Chun wooden man post that you’ve probably seen in the Ip Man movies, if you ever needed to hone your kung fu moves.
Part of The Clan Keeper service offerings is a local precinct tour (registration required) that usually spans about an hour (although ours took an extra 20 minutes). Christopher was our tour guide, bringing us to the various heritage locations in the vicinity. Much of the tour is unsheltered so do note that it is subject to weather conditions.
At each location, we were given a brief introduction of the place before being left to our own devices to roam around the area. It wasn’t so much of an informational tour as we didn’t come away with a great deal of new knowledge like we did from our Chinatown Walking Tour, but functioned more as a look-see-take-some-photos tour. I thought it would’ve been more value-added to include stories or historical anecdotes, which would’ve likely made for better audience engagement as well. We did get a choice of grass jelly or sugarcane as a complimentary tour drink from Maxwell Food Market though, a great way to cool off from the heat.
The next morning, we headed to QIN restaurant on level 4 for breakfast. It also has a bar area on level 5 that opens later in the day, its interior largely inspired by the traditional Chinese medical hall cabinets that line its walls and ceilings. As there isn’t much seating space within the restaurant itself, some guests were ushered to dine at the Terrace, an open-air area across the hallway. Breakfast service is usually until 10.30am on weekdays but as we were here on a weekend, this was extended to 11am.
At the time of our stay, each guest was limited to one set comprising a main, toast with kaya and butter, a petite fruit bowl (with osmanthus honey, goji berry and chia seeds), as well as free-flow coffee, tea and chilled juices. I’m not particularly fond of the idea of breakfast sets as one of the draws of hotel stays for me is an unlimited buffet spread, but the food they served was really quite good. We ordered the QIN breakfast (akin to American breakfast) and the chef’s daily special, which was seafood laksa. The scrambled eggs were light and fluffy, the sauteed mushrooms were wonderfully seasoned (although I did find a stray plastic strand in the mix) and the hashbrowns were warm and crispy. Despite the laksa being a tad spicy for me, I liked the perfectly cooked prawns and my husband relished the flavourful broth.
At check-out, Rachel handed us a parting gift of an elegantly designed Clan umbrella, the same design as the one we had in our room! It was such a serendipitous moment as my husband was just thinking about how we didn’t get to use this cool umbrella during our stay. What an incredible conclusion to our time here (:
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. I absolutely love our room – bright and naturally lit in the day, gentle and diffused lighting at night. Coupled with the soothing scents throughout the hotel, it is definitely one of the most serene spaces I’ve ever been in. Everything felt so tailored to our preferences, like it was a stay designed just for us. It was really heartwarming too that their cards and scrolls were effortfully handwritten (some with cute drawings too) instead of just a generic printout. Breakfast was delicious too! Unfortunately, there were a few hiccups, like the crumbs on the sofa and a plastic strand in the mushrooms. The local precinct tour fell short of its potential for a more impactful experience too. With that said, I must say that the staff here truly live out their clan motto of kinship and taking care of guests like they’re one of their own. Every staff we interacted with made a positive difference to our day, an experience that I’ll always remember ❤ Can’t wait for our next upcoming stay here already!
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
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