Having stayed at Fairmont Hotel twice already, I was taken by surprise when my husband asked me to wield my coupon queen powers to get us a reasonable deal for a room here. It was the first time he initiated a stay in a local hotel, something he isn’t usually too thrilled about. Upon further investigation, I found out that Fairmont was the official hotel for the Dota 2 The International (TI) 11 tournament and players from all around the world were staying here. So that’s why (:
Situated in the city centre and just a stone’s throw away from the TI11 quarter- and semi-finals venue at Suntec City Convention Centre, this hotel was a good base from which to do some celebrity spotting. After stacking a total of five promo codes on Traveloka (back in the day when this was still possible), I managed to shave a fair bit off the hefty room-only price tag.
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in Deluxe Harbour View Room
- Spent: SGD$273.71
Check-in
Alfie was the staff who attended to us and checked us in when we arrived. I appreciated his welcoming demeanour, coming across as very ready to assist. We got our key cards in a jiffy and headed to the lift lobby in the South Tower where our room was located.
Room
The initial room we were assigned to was on the 17th floor (out of 26 floors). Its interiors entailed soothing earthy tones with accents of burnt orange, pretty classy. In this layout, we had an island bed that was in the middle of the room. My husband really liked the combination of a sofa and a table with the height of a proper work desk (as opposed to a low-lying coffee table). Drinking water comes from a filtered tap system instead of plastic water bottles.
The bathroom was equipped with a tub and a separate standing shower within the same “wet” area This is my favourite type of configuration so I can avoid leaving puddles of water on the floor when walking from one to the other.
Before leaving for dinner, we requested for turndown service and this time, the housekeeping staff left intricately cut-out Merlion bookmarks on our bed in addition to the trash-clearing, towel-replacing and the laying out of bedside slippers and floor mats (though still no replenishment of items). The bed and the hard pillow I asked for was super firm just the way I like it.
Returning to the room late at night, I was in the midst of running a bath when I spotted and killed two drain flies (one on the lampshade and another on the pillow, eew). Earlier in the day, I’d already eliminated one thinking that it was just a random appearance but seeing that there were more, it probably meant there was a colony of them somewhere. It reminded me of our pesky situation at PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering Hotel. I wasn’t about to spend the night with these icky insects, so a room change was due.
I was very thankful to the team who responded almost immediately, sending up a staff to help shift our belongings to the room just next door. Li Yang from the front office team helped inspect the new room prior to our move and ensured that we were comfortable with this arrangement. Claudia, the assistant manager, called to apologize and offered us a later check-out at 3pm. I appreciated how she actively asked about and took into account our needs before problem-solving to find the best solution instead of just giving cookie-cutter responses.
The configuration of this room was different in that the bed was now up against the wall, making it feel a lot more spacious than our initial room. Also, it was quite astonishing that just moving one room down could make such a huge difference in the view outside. We now had a more direct panorama of the Marina Bay area.
Facilities
If you’d like more information on the hotel’s restaurants, fitness and spa facilities, I’ve covered them in detail in an earlier post so do check that out!
For the welcome drinks privilege we had as part of the Accor membership benefits, we wanted to redeem them at The Stamford Brasserie but unfortunately when we went there, the entrance was barricaded with queue poles and there was no one manning the counter. As we were rushing off to our next stay at Hilton Singapore Orchard Hotel, we ended up heading to Prego to take away a hot chocolate (for my husband) and a mix of apple and orange chilled juices (for me). The staff there said that they’d changed the welcome drinks menu and no longer served the Bellatanta mocktail that I enjoyed during our previous stay.
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. This hotel is the only one in Singapore I’ve heard of so far that has hosted a major e-sports tournament and their committment to the gaming community was pretty commendable. They not only cleared out some guest rooms to make way for elaborate tournament equipment, they also collaborated with Razer to convert certain suites into luxury gaming rooms. The regular rooms we stayed in were contemporarily furnished and generally comfortable, but this wasn’t the first time we encountered cleanliness issues here (I spotted crumbs and stains during our previous stay and now, drain flies). With that said, I felt that the team managed the situation really well with prompt, helpful responses in the wee hours of the night no less. For that, I was very grateful (: My husband also enjoyed his time here, getting to be in the midst of all the action. A priceless memory indeed ❤
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 