My first attempt to redeem my Accor Plus Stay Benefit for 2018!

I’ve wondered about staying here ever since this new kid on the block opened in October 2017. The 2nd Novotel and also the 3rd Mercure in Singapore in a joint development and shared premise sounded really exciting.

And of course I picked Novotel as it is a complimentary stay and its more value to pick the more expensive!

BUT due to my constant obsession about Executive Lounges, I decided to enquire about the cost of upgrading to a Premier Room and was quoted $150++, so I took that. So much for being a ‘free’ stay haha.

I also enquired about possibilities of early check in and late check out and was told that

Address – 28 Stevens Road, #01-01 Singapore 257878. Tel: (+65)64916100. Website.

Price – $150++ for 1night’s stay for the said upgrade. Otherwise, the value can be pegged at approx. $200 taking into consideration my Accor Plus Stay Plus Benefit.

Parking – Convenient basement carpark and in-house guests get one complimentary coupon per day. So grabbing a ticket the day you check in and another when you check out will get you 2 tickets. But you have to get the coupon from the Mercure concierge which serves both hotels.

Location – Located just off Singapore’s prime shopping centre, the hotel is located in a joint development with Mercure and shares the same plot of F&B on the ground floor. Excluding the hotel’s F&B, there seemed to be least 6 other options to eat at. But there is no convenience store of any sorts which seemed be to a oversight given that it serves mainly tourists who otherwise have no access to anything especially when it pours. But to alleviate this, they run a 2-way half hourly shuttle to DFS Galleria located at Scotts Road (one tail end of Orchard Road) which is super useful (but I didn’t try).

Check In – I arrived at 1:30pm on a Saturday and was promptly ushered to the Premier Lounge on 10th floor for check in. Yays to correct Premier guests SOP! I was also confirmed the 3pm late check out on the spot, informed about wifi, and also lounge hours.

Room – My room was 1009 (I love getting a room on the same floor as the lounge!). The property still being relatively new, everything was very new-ish. I love the rich colours of the velvety day sofa as well as the crisp bedsheets and comfy queen bed, all adorned with a (very un-Novotel) triangular shape theme. The space of and 23SqM did not feel squeezy at all and all functionalities seemed to pan out in the design of the room. The bathroom comes with a blind which you can draw down as most people are not that erm kinky, even with couples. Toiletries are Novotel’s house brand and fairly decent.

Premier Lounge – Full of natural sunlight due to the glass panels and a decent amount of space and comfy seats. A small selection of hot and cold bites during cocktail hours of 6-8pm kept me full as I ate enough of it. Alcohol was your usual wines, beers, blended whiskeys etc. Service was not too bad and the staff seemed to be trying their best although it felt they could use more training and clearing of plates could be faster. On one afternoon the only staff who was there was super apologetic that he could not help as the actual Lounge staff were elsewhere and he was only a stand-in.  All I needed was a straw! Generally quiet as the most crowded I saw was 50% capacity.

Breakfast – I chose to have my breakfast at Food Exchange as the Lounge was too sunny during office hours. The selection was diverse, taste was okay and staff was very efficient. Very good coffee too. But some spots are abit cold as its directly under the aircon shaft so do bring a cardigan. But this apparently serves both Novotel and Mercure guests so perhaps come early to avoid the crowd. I went at just before 9am and it was fine.

Facilities – Apart from the lush green landscaping and nice chill surroundings, I walked around abit more and saw the 2 swimming pools (infinity and lap) and gym which seemed to be nicely sized. Did not try the lobby bar but it seemed really nice too.

Service – Overall service was good and nothing to complain about.

Check Out – Done swiftly at the lounge and with a smile. I was running late for my 3pm checkout and ran in to tell them i need another hour or so but they kindly offered me to checkout @ 5pm if need be. So nice!

This is quite a good choice for staycations if all you want to do is to eat, chill, drink, swim, sleep. Not a bad thing for weekends 🙂