Having experienced the fine hardware and warm, personal touches from the staff here once before, my husband and I were looking forward to this return stay enabled by a Trip.com promotion (: Situated in the Telok Ayer district near chinatown and amongst an array of local heritage sites, many aspects of the hotel, from its interior design to the practices and products, were inspired by the traditions and hallmarks of the clan associations that used to populate this area. Guests who stay in the Master Series rooms can sign up for a complimentary heritage tour of these culturally significant landmarks around the hotel, but since we’d already attended it during our previous stay, we didn’t join this time round.
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in Premier Room – Master Series (upgraded from Deluxe Room)
- Master Series benefits (choice of 5 in-room refreshment items, handmade soap, The Clan Keeper service, The Clan Daily Special)
- Breakfast
- Spent: SGD$217.03
Check-in
The atmosphere of this gorgeous reception area always feels like a breath of fresh air, bathed in natural light and carrying an air of sophistication. Our check-in this time took a tad longer than usual (not sure why) and since our room also wasn’t ready, we left our bags with the concierge first before heading out to explore the vicinity.
Typically, all guests are treated to a welcome tea ceremony upon checking in but because it was fairly crowded and we couldn’t find the time for it, we only had it the next day after breakfast. It was great seeing Master Chua, the hotel’s resident tea master then, again! He gave us some background about this ceremony – that it was a traditional clan ritual usually done to welcome and show respect to visiting guests. We had a very enjoyable candid chat in which he shared that he would be leaving to return to the airport industry where he was originally working at. What a pity, he will be dearly missed!
Room
The interior of our Premier Room on the 29th floor (highest guest room level) had lighter tones than that of the Grand Premier Room we stayed in previously but both were equally pleasing to the eye. The combination of the various hues, textures and materials used in its design was perfectly on-point. In addition, it smelled as wonderful as I remember it to be, thanks to the Kindred Spirit signature scent specially created for the hotel by Scent by Six.
Key differences this time were the smaller shower area and the absence of a tub in the bathroom. Also, the view was vastly disparate from our previous one as we were now staring right into another building close by. At night, the light from the huge Manulife logo illuminated our room so brightly that there was practically no need for us to turn on the lights (it only got switched off at around 12am). If you do foresee this being an issue, consider asking for a Chinatown-facing room instead. The firm pillow I requested for took a while to arrive as well and there was a sizeable apparent stain on it. It seems the beds here are generally on the softer side too.
Turndown service was rather disappointing, to say the least. A male housekeeping staff rang our doorbell and merely handed us a pack of Cocoon Ritual tea. I asked if he could come by later to turn down the room but he responded that he’d just be doing basic things and asked us whether we’d really be needing that, almost as if he was dissuading us.
Nevertheless, we called to request for turndown service before leaving for dinner but returned to find that nothing was done. I was slightly taken aback at the drop in standards since our last stay. Eventually, a jovial housekeeping lady came by after we enquired again to assist with replacing used towels, as well as clearing the trash and used cutlery. However, there was no lavender pillow mist left on the bed like the last time.
Welcome amenities in the room included a pack of their signature Nanyang Ritual tea blend (specially customized for the hotel by Pryce Tea) and some kaya toast flavoured cookies. I thoroughly enjoyed the rich layers of the tea and this cookie flavour was a lot more palatable than the savoury bak kut teh ones from our previous stay.
Part of the Master Series perks is getting to select your choice of handmade soap and five items for your mini-bar prior to your stay. For the soap, we opted for the Exfoliating Lemongrass & Eucalyptus one. For the mini-bar items, we went with Pipers Crisps potato chips, Domori milk chocolate with sea salt, Maglio milk chocolate, as well as two bottles of Luscombe sicilian lemonade and sparkling apple crush.
Out of these five items, two had to be replaced with alternatives on the day itself as the ones we originally selected were not in stock. We ended up with a bottle of Damascene rose bubbly and Venchi Gianduja chocolates in place of the sparkling apple crush and Domori chocolate.
As we had our fill of unlimited Cartwright & Butler triple chocolate cookies at The Barracks Hotel the week before, we thought to pick different items here. However, if you’ve never tried these cookies before, I highly recommend you give it a go!
Facilities
Up on level 30 is where you’ll find the rooftop infinity pool and the huge 24-hour gym (check out my previous post for more details on these facilities!).
Our stay included complimentary breakfast that was served at the hotel’s only restaurant, QIN, an alluring sun-drenched dining space. This time, it was a buffet-style service as opposed to a set breakfast arrangement during the pandemic. There wasn’t really a live station for eggs but as there were only fried and scrambled eggs available in the buffet line, I asked if they could do a special order of a ham and cheese omelette. The chef kindly agreed and had it sent to our table!
Alas, the food quality in general was severely lacking. My omelette was so bland that I had to pair it with chilli, something I rarely do. The laksa was mediocre as well, according to my husband. Only the porridge was an inch above the rest in terms of flavour. I do miss the crispy and fragrant traditional kaya toast that was part of our breakfast set the last time. If having that restriction of one set per person would mean better quality dishes, I’d much prefer that to having a variety of forgettable options.
My overall rating of the experience: 3 out of 5 stars. What remained constant and impressive across both our stays was how beautiful, fragrant and well-kept the rooms and spaces throughout the hotel were. The modern interiors and furnishing, along with the calming signature scents, truly invite guests to relax and unwind in comfort. Unique welcome amenities and a customizeable mini-bar were also a nice touch. However, our overall experience this time was less than stellar. From a stained pillow, lower quality breakfast items, to a housekeeping staff trying to talk us out of requesting for turndown service, we were rather appalled by the marked difference in standards compared to our previous stay. It was quite disheartening as we felt so well taken care of the last time. I’m still very fond of this hotel and sincerely hope they have taken measures to rectify some of these shortfalls.
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 
thank you for this!
I just cancled my October reservation after reading your review.
I had been attracted to the clan by little touches like the tea ceremony and turndown service, but it seems like of the quality first described is no longer present, it would hardly be worth paying the higher prices.
LikeLike
Yes, it was unfortunate that the disparity was quite apparent between both my stays, though I’m truly hoping the latter stay was just an anomalous bad day for them!
LikeLike