Established on the site of the former Movenpick Heritage Hotel and Le Meridien Hotel, Oasia Resort Sentosa opened its doors in September 2021 as Far East Hospitality’s first wellness-focused hotel. It is also the company’s fourth property on the island of Sentosa, the others being The Barracks Hotel, The Outpost Hotel and Village Hotel Sentosa. Getting here is fairly convenient as it is located across the road from Imbiah Station, one of the stops on the Sentosa Express monorail.
Room rates here can be a little hefty but Far East Hospitality does run promotions from time to time, either on the direct website or through online travel agents. I bought this stay via Trip.com during one of those promotions, so here we are!
- Inclusions
- 1-night stay in Junior Suite (paid upgrade from Premier Room)
- Breakfast
- Spent: SGD$191 + $178.20 = $369.20
Check-in
My husband and I arrived earlier than usual to get registered first before zipping off to a Scentopia Tour experience down at Siloso Beach. Walking through the entrance, we were greeted by a dim and narrow passageway lined with idling guests and rows of stored luggage, giving the impression that the reception area was more crowded than it actually was. Thankfully, we discovered that the counters were situated further in and mostly empty so we managed to check in immediately.
The hotel has two wings – the heritage Imbiah Wing (but it sounds like they’ve switched to calling it the Wellness Sanctuary) with 3 floors and the newer Palawan Wing with 6 floors. Our original booking was for a Premier Room but Jeremy, the staff assisting us, offered an upgrade to a Junior Suite in the Imbiah Wing for $150++. I’m not entirely sure what came over me then but I decided to take up the offer. I asked if we could have a room on the highest floor but he advised that those rooms may feel smaller due to the angled roof and ceiling height. He very kindly brought us to view both options on level 2 and 3 to help us decide.
Room
We eventually went with the room on level 2 as it felt more spacious with the higher ceiling and a slightly wider distance between the bed and the walls. Jeremy explained that the rooms right in front of the lift lobby are slightly larger, but the trade-off is that they don’t have full-length windows like the other rooms.
Truth be told, there really wasn’t much to rave about. In terms of design, it was plain and uninspiring, but at least it didn’t have too much of a dated vibe. Also, I found the living room way too dark so I wasn’t drawn to spend a lot of time there. They could really do with better lighting to make that space feel brighter and more welcoming. The view wasn’t the most ideal as well given that it faces other buildings.
Guests staying in the Junior Suite category and above can enjoy one-time complimentary wellness snacks and drinks. The yummy Asmara Asana drink is a must-try!
Midway through the day, a housekeeping staff came by to pass us a pretty bottle of Recharge cold brew tea bags. This was in addition to the regular in-room coffee and tea. ‘Twas a nice souvenir to bring home (:
Just like the living room, the bathroom felt equally poorly lit. This gave me flashbacks to that dim shower I had during a stay at Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel but that was probably because the light was spoilt. The lights here were working fine and yet…
Furthermore, while I was showering, I noticed a faint musky smell as the water heated up and that the floor was mildly slimy. I shudder to think whether the dimness is intentional to hide any grossness from the naked eye. Apparently, nothing much has changed since its Movenpick Heritage days, a fact that didn’t help to calm my nerves at all.
Moving away from icky-bathroom intrusive thoughts, I thought the bed was comfortable and firm the way I like it. It was a pity that the supposed firm pillow I requested for was soft just like the rest of the regular pillows though.
Turndown service was proactively offered, which was awesome, but sadly, its execution left much to be desired. Our used hand towel was simply taken away and not replaced, the used teacups strangely appeared to have been washed but still had bits of tea leaves in them, and they missed out leaving the body balm amenity in the room.
I called to check with reception regarding the body balm and Jeremy was the one who attended to the situation. Minutes later, it was delivered to our room! What I didn’t expect was for Jeremy to personally come up to check on things and take the time explain where the miscommunication occurred. I was immensely appreciative of his accountability and above-and-beyond efforts.
Facilities
You can find the swimming pool in-between both wings one level below the reception area. As for the 24-hour gym and Oasia Spa, they are both on the same level as the reception area.
Guests staying in the Junior Suite category and above can also access complimentary fitness activities and wellness workshops during their stay (do check with reception staff for the latest schedule). We signed up for two wellness workshops, both of which were held at the Wellness Lounge located near the entrance of Oasia Spa.
On the first day of our stay, we attended the edible cutlery workshop from 3pm to 4pm facilitated by Anna, the co-founder of Crunch Cutlery! The plan was initially for participants to just make a spoon but because we were the only ones who showed up, she had loads of extra ingredients prepared. In the end, we basically had a private session with her where we created a set of bowls, forks and spoons!
The ingredients are fairly simple: Rolled oats, flour, almonds for a crunchy texture, eggs or ground flaxseed with water for bonding the mixture, as well as desiccated coconut, honey and peanut butter for sweetness and added protein.
Next, we formed our moulds with aluminium foil and pressed the mixture into them. We had to avoid making them too thin (might break easily) or too thick (might be too chewy, unless you prefer that). Lastly, we beautified our cutlery with some chocolate sprinkles and after about 20 minutes of baking, voilà!
On the second day of our stay, we attended the body scrub-making workshop after breakfast from 11am to 11.30am. This was helmed by Sabrina Chen, the director of Oasia Spa, who shared with us lots of tips from her experience.
Homemade scrubs can be made from different bases:
– Himalayan or white salt (the former is more suitable for those with sensitive or dry skin)
– Brown or white sugar (safest ingredient of all, can be used on children)
– Used coffee powder/grounds (good for reducing cellulite)
– Raw oats blended into a fine powder (great as a face scrub as the lactic acid removes excess oil and dead skin cells)
Salt and sugar scrubs can be kept for about 3 months, whereas coffee scrubs have a much shorter shelf life. If it is left out to dry completely, it can last for about 7 days. Otherwise, it will need to be used on the day itself. Also, the coarser the base scrub is, the less suitable it is to be used on the face than the body. Regardless, it is recommended to apply lotion to soothe the skin after using any type of scrub.
After we picked our base scrubs from the ingredients provided, we added sweet almond oil as a binding agent to the mixture. Other alternatives include regular shower gel, body lotion, virgin coconut oil and cold-pressed olive oil. Coffee powder tends to be more absorbent so we had to put about 3 to 4 scoops instead of the usual 2.
The next steps are optional, like adding matcha powder (for antioxidants), dried flowers (for purely aesthetic purposes) and concentrated essential oil (for fragrance). I went for a combination of bergamot and eucalyptus while my husband stuck to just the eucalyptus. Put the mixture into a cute container of your choice and it can make for a lovely homemade gift (:
Our stay package came with breakfast and this was served at Bedrock Origin between 7am to 11am (last order at 10.30am). Having experienced dinner here during our stay at The Barracks Hotel, I was curious to find out how it’d be like at breakfast!
We had to reserve a time slot for this at check-in, possibly due to the limited capacity of the restaurant. When we arrived around 9am, it was pleasantly quiet despite being almost fully occupied. I thought the space looked a lot more alluring in the day as well.
Breakfast here was unfortunately limited in that we could only choose one main course per person, bringing us back to the days of covid with restrictions galore. Coffee, tea and juices were the only free-flow items.
Thankfully, the mains were very decently done, a major saving grace. My husband’s barramundi mixed oat congee was flavourful and filling, making for a hearty and comforting meal that rainy morning. My salmon gravlax and smashed avocado looked a tad disappointing due to its plain presentation, but my first impressions couldn’t have been more wrong! It was creamy, savoury and well-seasoned such that the only disappointing part was when I was about to finish it. Even the salad, which didn’t seem very appetizing, had a nice, fresh crunch to it and a zingy dressing that pulled the whole dish together ❤
During our check-out, the staff surprised us with one last parting gift – a wooden luggage tag with the hotel facade engraved on it, pretty unique.
My overall rating of the experience: 3 out of 5 stars. I was rather torn on this one as the good aspects were really quite good while the bad aspects were uncomfortably bad. I truly appreciated the reception staff who were so sincere and helpful – major props to Jeremy for taking such good care of us! The wellness workshops were well-curated and delivered too, we had a lot of fun participating in the hands-on activities and learning new things along the way. Additionally, the serene ambience and delicious food at breakfast certainly made for a memorable experience. Alas, we can’t sing the same tune for the hardware, which is essentially the core product of a hotel. Many of its spaces are overly dim, like the reception entryway and even in the rooms, so they don’t feel particularly inviting. Our bathroom’s cleanliness was also questionable given the musky odour and slimy floor texture. I genuinely hope there are plans for refurbishment so that the hardware can eventually catch up to the better software standards.
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
Dania Experiences 