Made up of three conjoined warehouses along Robertson Quay that were gazetted for conservation in 2013, this hotel has managed to pay homage to the heritage of this neighbourhood, as well as embrace its own rich and colourful history. Back in the 19th century, this area was rife with opium trade and secret societies, elements of which the hotel designers retained to add to the building’s character while also modernizing its spaces. Prices for a base room here are rather exorbitant on any given day, so when a deal on Trip.com came up, I thought it’d be the perfect time to try out this famed boutique hotel.
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in Warehouse Loft
- Breakfast
- Spent: SGD$319.96
Check-in
Stepping through its doors brought about an immediate contrast from the eye-blinding brightness outside to the largely dim and brooding interior. The decor is clean, slick and pleasing to the eye – I can see why this scene has been a popular backdrop for many photos on social media.
There was no queue when we arrived at the reception counter and the entire check-in process was swift. Once we were checked in, the reception staff passed us two cool-looking tokens in the form of traditional Chinese coins to be exchanged for complimentary drinks at the Lobby Bar.
Room
Given the structural constraints of this heritage building, there were only two storeys in total. The first thing that hit us when we entered our initial room on the second floor was how dark it was, probably because the main source of light was just a tiny skylight in the corner. I had to patiently wait for some sunlight to peek through the clouds and shine into the room so that I could get the more well-lit photos you see below. In line with the rest of the hotel, the interior had an industrial aesthetic, with a lot of grey and metal elements.
In terms of size, it was a tad too compact for comfort, though the high ceiling did help with the illusion of having more space. My husband was a little taken aback that there was no sofa to be found. The size of the bathroom wasn’t compromised though, there was plenty of room inside to manouevre.
From what I remembered of the website photos, our room didn’t resemble any of them. When I asked the reception staff about this, they shared that even within the same room category, there are different configurations. We were given the option to shift to another room with a slightly larger bedroom but with a smaller bathroom.
After some deliberation, we took them up on the offer. This subsequent room was also on the second floor but it felt a lot more spacious. Unfortunately, the shower area smelled damp and musty, with reddish-brown stains along the corners, making for an unpleasant shower experience.
Turndown service wasn’t automatically provided as well. Apparently, the housekeeping team ended their shift at 6pm, so we were instructed to leave our trash and utensils outside the room instead. Another noteworthy aspect was that the thumping music from the lobby (which lasted until about 12am during our stay) was very audible from inside the room. Thankfully, it was fairly bearable for us but if you do need silence to sleep, it is something to consider.
There were some complimentary items such as Hokkaido milk and pineapple tarts in addition to the carefully curated coffee, tea and water from esteemed brands. The rest of the mini-bar items were in a three-tiered display of sorts. The top tier was loaded with snacks, the hidden middle tier had “interesting” toys for spicing up intimate activities, and the bottom tier had tiger balm ointment and mosquito repellent – what a strange mishmash of items. I guess they were attempting to play up the theme of vice from the hotel’s unsavoury past. Consuming any of these would incur additional fees, and judging from the thick layer of dust collected on them, I doubt anyone’s been helping themselves to the stuff here.
The cleanliness of the glass bottles containing Nordaq’s eco-friendly water was highly questionable. There were unidentifiable brown spots and drifting white specks inside two out of the three bottles available. I ended up just filling up my own water bottle with tap water to drink.
Facilities
After lunch at a nearby restaurant, we headed back to the Lobby Bar to redeem our complimentary drinks. My husband was very unwilling to surrender his token as he wanted to keep it as a souvenir. Understandably so because it looks really unique and would definitely make a fine collectible!
As for the drink options, we could choose from the in-house cocktails, wine by the glass, bottled beers or non-alcoholic drinks. I had the honeybush tea while my husband had the spritzerlati, both of which were whipped up by the amiable bartender, Syarif.
There is no gym on the property but there is a small infinity pool perched atop an extension structure that can be accessed via level 2. It is a pretty decent spot to watch the skies change colours at sunset. The hotel also loans out bicycles with supposedly no time limit. There were two cute ones with baskets available during our stay.
The highlight of our stay was indubitably the free-flow a la carte breakfast we had at Po, the hotel’s only restaurant. Despite the limited variety on the menu, every dish had good qualities such that we ended up wiping our plates clean. I especially enjoyed the deep flavours of the herbal pork bone broth and the fluffier-than-average pancakes. Plus points for serving fresh juices too (fresh coconuts included)! It was a pity that we found egg shells in our English breakfast dish though.
My overall rating of the experience: 3 out of 5 stars. I do appreciate spaces that have loads of natural light streaming in, so I was much more incentivized to linger in the brighter common areas of the hotel rather than stay in our dark and drab room. Also, even though the sheets and towels were clean, the damp and stained shower area, as well as the brown spots in the drinking water were certainly of concern. Staff interactions with us were purely functional as well, with most of them minding their own business until approached by guests. With that said, breakfast was splendid in terms of quality and taste, plus the contemporary design of the hotel’s spaces is indeed deserving of its many awards and accolades. I can’t deny that it is truly exquisite and aesthetically pleasing to admire, but maybe a day visit would suffice as opposed to staying the night.
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 