My husband and I have stayed here twice before and because we’ve always walked away with a good experience, I was very motivated to visit again (: It also helps that it is a heritage hotel with rooms that can be quite different in look and feel, even within the same category. This continues to evoke a sort of curious, wanna-try-’em-all inclination in me, although my wallet bears the brunt of it lol. Thanks to a promotion on Trip.com, I managed to shave off some costs to indulge in our third stay here 😛
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in Grand Deluxe Room (upgraded from Deluxe Room)
- Breakfast
- Spent: SGD$311.67
Check-in
It was nice to see Stella again when we walked through the doors to the reception. She happened to be on duty that day so she helped to check us in, informing us that we’d been upgraded to the Grand Deluxe Room with the 71 series configuration. I was super excited to finally try this room (after the unfortunate mix-up during our previous stay) 😀 We also got to briefly chat with Andras, the General Manager, who was really nice and approachable!
Room
Our assigned room was located right at the end of the corridor on level 3 of the Capitol Wing. To my knowledge, there are only three such rooms in the entire property with this unique, almost junior suite-like layout, where the living area is separated from the bedroom. The previous Grand Deluxe Room we stayed in was pretty regular in shape and looked inwards to the Capitol mall, whereas this one was a corner unit with a street view. Similar to their street-facing Stamford Suites, this room was also sufficiently soundproof that the traffic noise didn’t bother us very much (but if you do need complete silence to sleep, this might not be the ideal environment).
Turndown service was automatically provided, although there wasn’t any replenishment of items this time except for the two extra bottles of water. A firm pillow was sent up fairly promptly after I requested for it. Having stayed here for the third time, I can likely conclude that all their beds are on the softer side (not the best for back support while sleeping). Guests can enjoy a one-time complimentary mini-bar too – the drinks in our fridge were similar to those we got for our last stay.
The bathroom was a comfortable size, accommodating a freestanding tub and double vanities, plus a highly-appreciated heated electronic bidet seat. You can even watch TV via the wall-mounted flatscreen while enjoying a good soak in the tub.
One minor issue I had to contend with was the obstructive centre curtain whenever I wanted to walk over to the other end of the room. There wasn’t much space between the foot of the bed and the wall so it was inevitable that I’d brush against that curtain. Sadly, my OCD brain couldn’t stop imagining how long this curtain hadn’t been washed and how many traces of other people I was coming into contact with. Eventually, it became a running joke as my husband would pretend to get all tangled up and attacked by the curtain each time he walked past. The solution to my very idiosyncratic problem was to take a detour via the bathroom instead!
Facilities
At the time of our stay, covid restrictions had largely eased up already so there was no longer a need to pre-reserve slots for the saltwater relaxation pool and gym located on level 4. For photos of these facilities, you can refer to my previous review here!
Breakfast the next morning was served at 15 Stamford by Alvin Leung. Surprisingly, we saw Andras and a few managers working the ground that day. It was a crazy packed situation such that guests overflowed into the bar area, which was where we were ushered to sit at. This affected the waiting time for our food too. Despite the tense and hectic atmosphere, it was admirable that all the staff buckled down to still do what they needed to for the guests.
Food-wise, it was spectacular as usual! My husband ordered the congee again to confirm that his rating of “best hotel breakfast congee” wasn’t a fluke, and it was affirmative (: I went for the off-menu steak and eggs and it didn’t disappoint as always. In addition, there were new items from the bread tray like green tea muffins, donuts and pineapple pastries. They serve unlimited bubbly at breakfast as well, so I ordered my usual mimosa for a post-meal sip.
Alas, some lapses did surface probably due to the busyness of increased occupancy as compared to the last two times we were here. My avocado toast didn’t get changed out to brioche as requested and we received a mistaken order of chwee kueh instead of chee cheong fun. In general, the service felt a tad more touch-and-go as opposed to the personal touches we were so accustomed to from the staff. I sincerely hope this is just an adjustment phase back to the pre-covid travel bustle, and I’m indeed hopeful as we saw the managers, including Andras, huddled together towards the end of breakfast service (presumably to discuss the situation that day). In spite of their intense discussion, they still took the time to warmly bid farewell to all the guests leaving the restaurant ❤
My overall rating of the experience: 5 out of 5 stars. It was awesome that we finally got to try out the special Grand Deluxe 71 series room that comes with a semi junior-suite layout, totally felt like we caught a rare Pokemon 😀 Although it didn’t feel as roomy as the regular-shaped, inward-facing Grand Deluxe Room, I much preferred the street view and natural lighting here. As this was our third stay, we focused on doing the stuff we really enjoyed (like chilling out in the room and taking our time with breakfast), but the hotel’s facilities and service offerings are much more comprehensive than what was presented in this review, so do check out my previous reviews for those! As always, we came away feeling like valued guests because of how well the staff took care of us. Big shout-out to the two amazing people, Stella and Andras, for their warmth and hospitality, I really appreciated their genuineness in all the interactions we had ❤ Can’t wait for the next opportunity to return for another stay!
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 