December 2020 marked the opening of Dusit Thani Laguna Hotel, Dusit International’s very first property in Singapore. Situated within the Laguna National Golf Resort Club, I imagine it’d be a hotel of choice for avid golfers wanting easy access to the two 18-hole championship courses.
Having said that, the hotel’s appeal does extend to non-golfers too. Many reviews from local guests mention how staying here made them feel like they’re overseas without actually leaving the country, probably due to its serene environment and lack of high-rise buildings in sight.
I’d actually been holding off making a reservation as I was waiting for the club lounge to finally be completed. However, it has remained elusive for the longest time and none of the staff I spoke to over the phone at different time points were able to confirm the completion date. So when a good deal on Trip.com came around, I decided to just take the plunge instead of waiting aimlessly.
- Inclusions:
- 1-night stay in Dusit Executive Club Pool View Room (upgraded from Dusit Executive Club Room)
- Access to D’Royal Privileges
- Breakfast and evening cocktails (as part of D’Royal Privileges)
- Spent: SGD$133.69 + $128.92 in Trip coins
Check-in
If you are driving or taking a private hire vehicle, note that the hotel drop-off point is further in (the first drop-off point leads to the Resort Club lobby instead). Walking inside, the reception area is an elegant space flooded with natural light.
Evan was the staff assisting my husband and I with our check-in procedures. He gladly informed us that we’d been upgraded to a room with a pool view and handed us a card for redeeming our welcome drinks. Shafiq, the duty manager, also took the time to explain our Dusit Gold membership privileges, the hotel’s free-to-join loyalty programme. In addition, we were told that there were board games like UNO, Monopoly and chess available upon request from the concierge at no extra charge.
There is a complimentary shuttle bus service to Changi City Point, Jewel Changi Airport and Marina Bay Sands. During our stay, there were only two timings available to each location (once in the afternoon and once in the evening). Advanced reservation is required due to the limited number of seats.
Room
Our room was located on level 6, the top floor of the hotel. I loved how bright and airy the room felt, thanks to the natural light streaming in through the full-length window. Most of my time in the room was spent sipping on the complimentary mini-bar drinks and admiring the view from the window, which had an attached beam positioned at the perfect height to function as a bar table. However, it can get quite warm in the afternoon and evening so you might want to draw the curtains and blast the air-conditioning if this is an issue for you.
All guests can enjoy a choice of pillows, bolsters and mattress toppers from the Dusit Dream Bed Menu. The firm pillow I requested for was delivered very promptly and together with the firm bed, I had a good night’s sleep. Turndown service is automatically provided for guests staying in club room categories and above.
Given how close the hotel is to Changi Airport (approximately 10 to 15 minutes by car), you can expect to see and hear planes flying overhead rather frequently. I was impressed by how solid the room’s soundproofing was such that at night, all we heard was the low, muffled rumbling of the planes flying past.
The bathroom is sufficiently roomy and comes with a standing shower (if you want a tub, those are only found in the suites). Regrettably, I spotted one too many strands of hair (some straight, some curly) on the unused floor mat and in the water closet. That was quite off-putting.
Facilities
Most of the facilities, like the swimming pools, gym and Devarana Wellness Spa, can be found on level 1 of the property. The pools are massive and have jacuzzi sections near the planters.
Saunas are nestled within the gender-segregated changing rooms both in the hotel (opposite the gym) and at the Resort Club on level 2A.
Guests can also take on a kid-friendly 9-hole putting course for a fee. This fee varies according to a couple of factors such as your membership and whether you’re playing on a weekday or weekend. A ballpark figure per adult for a weekend game ranges from $15++ to $18++. Simply approach the staff at the Lifestyle Counter outside the gym to enquire and make payment.
We had our lunch at Greenhouse, the hotel’s main all-day dining restaurant, located on level 2A. The rustic, nature-infused interior was really mesmerizing, reminding me of the gorgeous Balinese restaurant we visited a few years back. My favourite spot was definitely the area with the curved windows overlooking the pool, what a relaxing and breezy vibe. As a Dusit Gold member, I had a 20% dining discount that I could utilize here.
On to the food! I ordered a simple penne with bolognese ($22++) while my husband had char kway teow without cockles ($18++). There happened to be a 1-for-1 promotion for Thai milk tea ($8++) so we got that as well. The food was yummy and the milk tea was a delectable sweet treat.
Eloise, the staff who attended to us, made an impression with her personable and welcoming demeanour. She always had a smile whenever she interacted with us (:
After lunch, we made our way to The Tee Deck on level 1 to redeem our welcome drinks (part of Dusit Gold privileges). This venue is an alfresco poolside bar and grill where guests can also loan out pool floats and toys from.
Regrettably, the welcome drink was super diluted lime juice that tasted nasty (I left it alone after the first sip). I was a little sour (pun fully intended) as I recalled seeing a number of online reviews where the welcome drinks were pandan lemongrass or fresh coconut juice 
Given that the club lounge was far from ready at the time of our stay, lounge offerings were served at Legends Bar located right next to Greenhouse. Guests with lounge access can enjoy free-flow refreshments between 3pm to 6pm.
We popped by in the afternoon to check it out and asked one of the staff, Kanwal, whether there were snacks available as well. He said they typically don’t serve any during this time slot but that he would get us some cookies and nuts, a gesture we totally appreciated.
For our drinks, my husband got a Thai milk coffee while I had a chilled pineapple juice (no fresh juices on the menu) and a hot chocolate. We both thought the Thai milk coffee tasted a little strange but the other two drinks were fine. Service was a little slow despite the fact that there were only four pairs of guests, not a great sign.
Evening cocktail service took place between 6pm to 8pm at the same venue. Once again, service was draggy and unpolished, involving a 30-minute wait for our food to arrive. All the staff, except for Kanwal, appeared uncertain and confused for the most part. I had to order my Thai milk tea thrice before someone actually saw to it. Thankfully, my mimosa came fairly promptly.
In terms of food options, Kanwal explained that we could choose from the hot plate (fried items), the cold plate (cheeses) and the dessert plate (cakes and muffins). We ordered all three to sample and we really liked the hot plate items the most! They were crispy on the outside, succulent on the inside, plus nicely seasoned and flavourful – I could find no fault with them. We ended up ordering a second serving of this 😀
Alas, it wouldn’t have been wise to stuff ourselves silly with fried food for dinner even though it was free-flow, so we decided to head to The Nest to complete our meal.
En route to our room after dinner at The Nest, we briefly caught the resident live band dishing out some feel-good tunes at the entrance to Legends Bar. According to the schedule displayed at that time, they performed there every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7pm to 9.45pm.
Situated in a stand-alone structure on the other end of the Resort Club, The Nest is actually a restaurant for club members only but they do accept walk-ins if you are hotel guests. Already bustling when we arrived around 7.15pm, we were fortunate to get a seat at one of the few remaining tables. Unlike Greenhouse, we couldn’t apply our 20% dining discount here nor charge the bill to our room as this restaurant is apparently separate from the hotel.
Since we were only semi-hungry after the evening cocktail snacks, we shared an XO fish noodle soup ($16.80++) and a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream ($11.80++). Wow, the fish noodle soup was amazing! Despite us not being that hungry, this dish still whetted our appetite with its hearty double-boiled broth and tender Toman fish fillets. My husband also got himself a teh tarik ($4.20++), which was a tad diluated but still tasty.
Breakfast is served at Greenhouse between 6.30am to 10.30am. The buffet line had a decent variety of items such as pastries, cold cuts and cheeses, congee, noodles, nasi lemak and a live eggs station. I ordered their special Thai spicy omelette (less spicy, of course) and it was the best dish from breakfast! The fluffy French toast with a hint of cinnamon was a close second. Even the dim sum, which I often hesitate to take at hotel breakfasts as they tend to be dry and hardened, turned out quite pleasant as well. Surprisingly, they didn’t have mocha on the coffee menu but the staff suggested that he squeeze chocolate into a latte to create one (thank you for improvising!).
My overall rating of the experience: 4 out of 5 stars. Generally, the rooms and common areas in the hotel are modern and very inviting. I especially appreciated the full-length window in our room for gazing out and the beautiful pool area that looked refreshingly different from the standard hotel pools. Staying here really made us feel like we were in a resort outside Singapore (: Most of the food was pretty good too, plus the Thai milk tea was so addictive that we ordered it repeatedly. Unfortunately, service was a mixed bag where some staff clearly excelled in their roles while others seemed like they didn’t know what they were doing. Room cleanliness was also an issue, with way too many stray strands of hair all over the bathroom floor and the mats. Additionally, club lounge offerings were lacking in terms of menu variety and food quality. For now, I feel it isn’t worth it to fork out a premium for lounge access here. With that said, I do look forward to revisiting this property once the actual club lounge is finally up and running (will I live to see this day?). Hope things will be much improved by then!
If this post helped you in some way and you’d like to buy me a coffee, I’d be incredibly grateful (:
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