One of my favorite hotel brands has to be the Mandarin Oriental. Based out of Hong Kong, this hotel chain was one of the first luxury hotels that I've ever heard about. I was so in awe of the decor, design, and architecture. Or maybe I was more in awe because of the sticker shock I suffered by reading how much it would cost to stay just one night at one of their hotels. Either way, from that day on, it was my goal to stay at one and it finally came true this trip. So here is my review of the Mandarin Oriental Singapore!
If you read my other review of the JW Marriott Singapore South Beach, you would know that we decided to do a little hotel hopping during our trip to Singapore. We first started at the JW Marriott and then moved on to the Mandarin Oriental. We only stayed here one night as well.
LOCATION
The location was pretty close to the South Beach development where the JW Marriott was. If you look at the picture below, the farthest left building is the JW. I feel like we could have walked over from there, but we had a bunch of luggage so we decided to Uber instead. The Mandarin Oriental is definitely close to the marina and can be accessed by a short 5-minute walk from the hotel. It was also close enough to walk to the Helix Bridge, Marina Bay Sands Hotel, and Gardens by the Bay. The hotel is also connected to the Marina Square Shopping Mall. We only went into the mall to find a currency exchange.
PREMISES
When we first arrived to the Mandarin Oriental, I was a little surprised on how outdated it kind of looked. I'm used to seeing more modern buildings like the M.O. Las Vegas or M.O. Macau. So if you are looking to book a room here, just remember to adjust your expectations.
The lower floors of the hotel were primarily made up of your typical conference rooms, restaurants, and amenities. The real wow factor is the interior architecture of the hotel itself. The building was built to look like a shape of a fan like the hotel's logo.
We didn't have time to try any of the restaurants located in the hotel, but if I had the chance to, I would have wanted to go to Morton's Steakhouse. Look how cool their bar is!
There also was a luxury spa that looked amazing, but again, ran out of time. It's sometimes so hard to enjoy the hotel when you have such an amazing city to explore. Anyone else have that problem?
ROOM
We initially booked the Club City Room, but then got upgraded to the Club Marina Bay Room. Our room was located on the 19th floor. The same floor as the Oriental Club (their version of a club lounge). This made it super convenient to always visit the lounge on our way in or out of the hotel.
In my opinion, the room itself looked pretty basic and old-fashioned for a five star luxury hotel (even going through renovations years back). The colors are pretty neutral and have no pop to them.
But to be fair, you kind of forget the room once you see how amazing the view is. I literally wanted to sit by the window all day. The picture below was taken from our room.
POOL
The pool is located on the 5th floor and has an amazing view of downtown and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Unfortunately, the day we went was overcast so there was no sunshine to keep us warm. The pool is unheated so it was definitely a bit of a shock getting into the pool. Also, there is no jacuzzi on the premise which I was a little sad about. Maybe it's a Singapore thing since it's supposedly always hot and humid.
The service at the pool was definitely amazing. The attendants helped us locate lounge chairs (since no cabanas were available) and even brought us some complimentary juice. Also one cool thing was they had a rack of sunscreen/aloe vera for guests to use. I wish I would have known that sooner in the day because we went out sightseeing with no sun block. Well, you can guess what happened.
ORIENTAL CLUB
The Oriental Club lounge was probably one of my favorite amenities of the hotel. It did come with the room rate that we booked and I think it was well worth it. Beside the lounge access, it comes with a private check-in/check-out area, champagne breakfast, afternoon tea, evening cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, all day beer and wine, pressing of two garments/day, and late check-out at 4:00pm. The late check-out was great because it gave us time to relax at the hotel until we could check-in at our next hotel.
Sadly, I didn't get to take any pictures of the food they had, but they had an island where some hot dishes, small appetizers, bread, fruit, cheese, desserts were all laid out buffet-style. Most beverages had to be ordered with a server (coffee, wines, etc.). Waters were self-serve from a refrigerator.
My favorite part about this lounge is that they had wine available all day. Most hotel club lounges usually charge for alcohol or if it's free, it's limited to the evening hours.
Be aware that there is a dress code. Smart and casual is what they say. In our experience, it was mostly towards men having to wear long pants (no shorts).
TIPS
Regular Room vs. Club Room: You might be wondering if it's worth it to upgrade to a Club Room. The difference is around 200 SGD ($150 USD) and that is quite a price increase for just a club lounge. In my opinion, I think it was actually worth it. First, if you're already paying that much money for the room, I say just go all the way. You are on vacation after all. Second, you aren't getting just the club lounge. My boyfriend and I had one garment each pressed each day and we got late check-out at 4:00pm! Also, we like to drink so we definitely got our fill of champagne and wine during our stay. Lastly, all club rooms are located on floors 19, 20, and 21. So you are guaranteed to have one of the best views if this is something you are looking for.
Pool Cabanas: All the cabanas are first come first serve so if you want to have one of these beauties, make sure you get up early enough to grab one. The hotel will not reserve it for you. As much as we wanted to get one, our priority was exploring the city more than laying by the pool for that day.
Ask for an Upgrade: Like mentioned above, we booked a different room than the one we got. Since we knew we were only spending one night, we thought we had a pretty good chance to upgrade to a better view and we got it!
Well, that's it for my review of the Mandarin Oriental Singapore! I hope you enjoyed reading and it was helpful in someway if you were considering staying here. Also would love to get your thoughts on what you would like to see more or less of. Thank you everyone.
For more details on my travels or if you just want to know more about my blog, please come visit me at The Moderness.
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