Cheryl N.
Yelp
I wrote the review of Amara hotel which was what I had in mind at 1st but changed my mind and booked here, it was a big mistake and I'm still mad at myself. Both properties are near Chinatown and even though I'm against all the climate hoax, I was impressed at all the green things they embraced and I thought I wanted to experience the infinity pool I did not get a chance to use in 2015 when I stayed there.
The only thing I must give them credit for was the excellent customer service, I was greeted at the door as if I was family and there was a dude I forgot his name who always greeted me by my name 3 times a day! LOL! They were all so nice to me, I must have inspired good vibes to them they upgraded me to a nice junior suite! A corner room w panoramic view and electronic drapes, wow, I was dazzled touching a button and the drapes moved up and down so definitely 5 stars for customer service.
The nightmare started when I realized the room was an icebox, wazzup w this nonsense, ICEBOX EVERYWHERE I GO LATELY? They had no heat which I understood Singapore was a tropical country but come on man, there are people on earth who can't handle 45F air condition, that thermostat was useless, the air condition was on all over the hotel. I could not sleep, they did give me a real blanket (not a fake velour blanket or worse yet, comforters like in many hotels) I packed my own wool blanket in my suitcase but that was not enough so I was able to sleep w 2 blankets but hated the cold when I had to use the bathroom or take a shower. All my siblings are eskimos, they love iceboxes, Amara hotel was just perfect as far as temperature was to make you feel comfortable and cozy.
What really made me mad was the cutthroat pricing of the breakfast and dinner, unfortunately they talked me into buying breakfast prepaying it would save a lot of money but still cost $60 pp, I thought why not a beautiful hotel must have had yummy food, well they food was good in 2015. I will pay attention next time if you see the hotel w international guests yet the restaurant only had 1 pale face, my husband that was a RED FLAG RIGH THERE, the Chinese food there was not Chinese as we knew in USA, Cantonese or Schezuan, it was HOKKIEN, FUJIAN, mostly strong fishy fish and I can barely eat fish except Cantonese or thai style, it was horrible, I had to force myself to eat weird things, everybody loved the food around me, they were mostly is not all well to do Singaporean (like in the movie crazy rich Asians) for breakfast they had LAKSA, OY VEY! I cannot eat that stuff, their wonton soup was weird. I wanted refund for the next day breakfast, they told me it was nonrefundable. A walk down the street to a food court a wonton soup would just cost $5, of well, whoever reads this review should take note.
Don't be fooled by the beautiful pictures I took, I'm a food photographer. The dinner was even worse $120 even after discount but w tax was $115 or so pp, not a joke like Brandon said, I thought I heard it incorrectly, I had just left Thailand to come to Singapore, in Kosamui a sumptuous dinner cost us $39 for both of us, again the food was barely edible for us foreigners, at dinner 95% diners were probably Singaporean business people or well to do tourists. I had forgotten they had no bar but a little counter w 3 chairs thus no happy hour, it was strange such a beautiful hotel and no bar? No wonder I did not see too many white folks, my husband was stressed out not having a bar to do some chug a lug, I would have enjoyed a Singapore Sling, one of the 1st drink I had out of college. So food and beverages here deserve a 1 star, yep that bad! 5 stars room, 5 stars customer service just cannot make up for this deficiency so I lost the weight I gained from pigging out in VN and Thailand on the cheap. It was raining for an hour till it got dark so again I was not able to use the infinity pool, btw the rain did make it cool outside and the pool water was cold and it was not illuminated either, major disappointment.
To recap you have been warned if you are an eskimo, climate fan, this place is a paradise, the beautiful decoration like in Disneyland but if you are a tropical wuh myn like myself, go down the road to the party place Amara hotel, I missed shopping across the street of Amara to buy designer Tshirt on the cheap ($23or so Versace, etc..) after an exhausting day at the Cloud forest, Avatar forest and finally Sentosa the 2nd day I had no energy to walk to the marketplace and it was raining off and on in Singapore every time I came here, not sunny like in VN or Thailand.
Take a look at these videos:
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8cTQKPM/
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8cT2Gnq/