Who knew I was going on a staycation spree after all?

I blame my Ritzy Staycay for kicking me off into this money-burning spiral. A monthly almost weekly staycation plan doesn’t seem that indulgent in the world of COVID-19, right?

I must officially begin this post by saying that this staycation experience has been nothing short of amazing: the level of service is unparalleled and the hotel is completely generous with guests. The long post ahead will explain why.

This new kid on the block by Far East Hospitality was scheduled to open some time 2020 but, COVID-19. It is also the group’s first luxury hotel in Singapore – “a modern luxury with a nostalgic story to tell” to be exact. I have also since learnt that the ethos of the property places alot of emphasis on the value of trust and kinship and they endeavour to make guests feel like they are part of the clan (ie family).

I find it interesting that the hotel logo combines the word Clan with their Chinese interpretation of family / inner circle: “自己人”.

For reference, there are some old(er) articles about the property here and here, and their press release back in 2018.

Address – 10 Cross Street, Singapore 048417. Website.

Contact – Tel: +65 62286388. info.tch@fareast.com.sg

Price – $458nett for 2 nights under their Be The First promotion which offers a “first-peek’ sort of experience before the hotel officially opens for bookings from 01 March 2021 onwards. It comes with the below inclusions:

• Breakfast for 2
• 1 Way Limo Transfer
• Customizable In-Room Refreshments
• Local precinct tour experience led by The Clan Keeper
• First 100 bookings in the time-frame of 38 hours (from start sale) will receive $458 voucher for next stay reservation (Valid for redemption from 1 May 2021 to 23 Dec 2021)

Location – The 324-room property is smack in the buzzing area of Chinatown / Telok Ayer / China Square and you should find plenty to entertain yourself (except shopping malls). It is also located within 1-min walking distance away from Telok Ayer Station (DT18) and 6-min walk from Chinatown (NE4/DT19) so pretty much very accessible.

Pre-Arrival – I received my pre-arrival email from The Clan Keeper 4 days prior to my stay which requested for my choice of timing for the limo pick up (via email) as well as my choice of 5 in-room refreshments via an online form. I sent in a request for all 5 to be their The Clan Brew (crisp lager with hints of chrysanthemun? Bring it on!) as that’s unqiue to the property.

Getting There + Going The Extra Mile –

So I wanted to take this chance to highlight the excellent pre-arrival service and the extra mile the team made for an utterly seamless and comfortable experience.

As I was checking in on a working day and my office was not too far away, I had made plans to use the drop off service from hotel to home on my last day (instead of pickup). After a quick email to The Clan Keeper, they surprised me by offering the service BOTH ways! I was stoked and immediately made arrangements to be picked up from home to hotel early morning of my check in (to settle the formalities and dropping my luggage with concierge), then from hotel back home on day of check out (after work). They also very kindly acceded my request for a super late checkout at 6pm due to my work arrangements.

AND THEN they made the awesome effort to offer an in-car check in so I can already settle the paperwork and get my keys during the ride – they will then send me to my office and have the luggage placed in my room ready for me when I return in the evening.

AND THEN AND THEN during the car ride, when they found out that I was heading to the hotel directly after work, they offered to pick me up again to bring me to the hotel.

WOW.

I was floored by the gestures – this is way and beyond what was supposed to be included and it made me super super excited to begin my experience with them.

Check In – I was already checked in properly during my car ride and upon arrival at the hotel driveway, the staff was already prepped to receive me by opening the door for me and as well as sounding a welcome gong.

The hotel lobby is located on level 2 where the front desk is. This is also where every guest who checks in get a Welcome Tea Ceremony: a ritual where Tea Master Alex Choi will hand brew and gently serve you a cup of hot Nanyang Ritual (from local tea brand PRYCE) served with a wet towel and a tau sar piah – all exquisitely laid out in a nice little oriental tray. I was also offered their special cold brew of Ritual (can’t find anything on Pryce’s website about this) – the 24-hr cold brew was heavenly! Additional servings of tea and tau sar piah are available upon request.

While trying to eat my tau sar piah demurely, I was also presented with a welcome gift: a classy collection of Clan branded keepsake including a leather bound notebook and a bookmark. So nice!

Rooms –

There are currently 3 rooms categories: Deluxe (24SqM), Premier (31SqM), and Grand Premier (36SqM), with the latter two belonging to what they call a Master Series Room type. Rooms under the Master Series comes with a whole string of benefits listed on their website here:

• Curated Inner Circle Guide
• Turndown service with a calming brew and goodnight essential oil to help you relax and unwind after a long day
• Customised in-room refreshment for guest’s picking & exclusive brew of The Clan Beer – Orient Brew
• Select from a complimentary collection of fragrance soaps specially handcrafted and curated to uplift your senses for a memorable experience at The Clan
• Welcome Amenity consisting of curated tea blends by Pryce Tea & Bak Kut Teh (Pork Rib Broth) Cookies
• The Clan Keeper’s service which includes Personal stylist/shopper/tailor (chargeable), Personal concierge (chargeable), Personal local precinct tour, Complimentary apparel pressing, and Shoe spa and shine.

Premier Room King Bed (1309) – This was the designated room type for the promotion. The space felt larger than its advertised at 31SqM and was spanking new and spotless! The choice of brass tones and wooden finishing (I have limited vocabulary when it comes to interior design stuff) was clearly working in giving the space touches of luxurious elegance. A plush kind bed, huge swivel TV (yays to in-house chromecast!), day bed(s), work desk, charging points on bedside, open closet area – everything was spotless.

The mini bar was well stocked with a nespresso machine with 4 pods and accompanying cups. For drinking water, the hotel is trying to reduce the use of plastic bottles so there is a hyflux tap in the bathroom for filtered drinking water. The bar also has more Pryce tea in the form of tea bags set in Clan containers fixed to the holder (so you can’t accidentally pack them into your luggage) – you can find Ritual (the cold brew blend) and British Breakfast.

My initial choice of 5 in-room refreshments (before I changed them to all-beer) were presented in a metallic basket and there were 2x hotel’s special beer, The Orient Brew (in partnership with The 1925 Brewing Co.), in the fridge. I was told I can ask for more. Yays!

Bathroom was well stocked with amenities and toiletries were Vuudh‘s Lotus & Osmanthus variant. The toilet is a Japanese style bidet for the fancy ass (literally) peeps, and yes the hotel must-have rain shower is present too.

Turn down service in the evening includes more tea on a tea tray – this time offering the Cocoon Ritual – a blend which is supposed to help you sleep. There is also a pulse point essential oil laid out on the bedside – supposedly to have hints of lavender but it was not lavender-y at all and I didn’t like the scent. There was also more tea in-room (Nanyng Ritual) and bak kut teh cookies presented in a nice Clan box.

I also sent 2 items for complimentary pressing and they were returned within 3 hours.

HARDWARE ISSUES

Unfortunately, I faced some hardware issues in my room – but all of them were resolved quickly. The phone was not working on my check in day – kept ringing without anyone picking up. I also discovered my bedside lights were wonky on my second night – I took videos of the issue and sent them off to the staff who was following up with me on my stay experience.

MEALS @ Qin Restaurant –

Going to Qin for dinner was not in my plans but when I checked in, I was very kindly offered to have my meal there, with compliments from the hotel. I was told that the restaurant, operated by Tung Lok group, was keen to seek comments on their offerings as they are new. Yays to early bird! I walked away impressed with the food and so arranged for lunch the next day.

The restaurant is located on level 4/5 of the hotel and is gorgeous with floor to ceiling windows allowing plenty of natural light to come in (and sun at certain times of the day. Ugh.). You’d notice that the lift buttons shows the restaurant on level 5 and level 4 is ‘terrace” – but both floors lead to the restaurant. The difference is that level 4 is the main dining area area, while level 5 is the bar area and if you do enter by this floor, you’ll have to walk down a flight of stairs to the dining area but passing through a grander entrance that was still undergoing finishing touches at the time of my stay (as is the bar area).

The ‘terrace’ mentioned on the lift button for level 4 refers to an alfresco area located opposite the restaurant’s main dining hall which is supposedly an area for guests to chill but I was told they are able to serve the food to those seats upon request too.

The menu at Qin is ‘modern asian’ or modsin and you’ll spot familiar mentions on the menu (beverage menu here), with some given a modern twist in both flavors and presentation. Over the 2 meals, these are what I tried:

• Chicharrones ($10) – nice but too much mala spices for me.
• Curry-Age ($10) – very nice!
• Har Cheong Wing ($10) – not bad~
• Qin’s Slaw ($22) – I like. Abit like Yusheng.
• Chilli Crab Crostini ($25) – I had it kosong. Chilli was too spicy for me.
• Hainan, No Rice Please ($30) – interesting interpretation and I would order this again.
• ‘Sang Mein’ ($38) – flavours on point but prawns were not fresh.
• Pineapple Tart ($15) – deconstructed version
• Rose Love Letters ($12) – I don’t really like bandung that much so I wouldn’t order this again.

A special shout-out to the staff who offered to help send someone to wait for my parents at the Far East Square carpark (the hotel does not have their own carpark) when they visited for lunch one day – it was basically a meet-and-greet and my parents were personally walked to the restaurant. Superb service.

Facilities – these amenities are located on the top floor, 30th, of the property and boosts amazing views of the city skyline which makes the workout just that little bit easier. Both the gym and pool requires a booking via the front desk and 1-hour slots are assigned.

• Sky Gym (7am – 10pm): completely empty on a weekday morning, spanking new, plenty of equipment to burn off those beers.
• Sky Pool & Jacuzzi (7am-10pm): sheltered alfresco, so water was too cold in the pool and I ended up in the jacuzzi more.
• Lounge & Shower Suites: didn’t get a chance to try but looks pretty nice.

Breakfast – Breakfast is also served at Qin restaurant from 6:30am – 10:30am and it was a choice of one main course served with bread and fruits. I was up bright and early at 6:30am for my first day and was the 1st pax! I picked the Qin Breakfast which was passable – but service was lacklustre and patchy unfortunately, with them getting my egg order wrong even though I was the only pax. On my second day, my friend tried the Nori Bagel Burger and according to her, it was nice. We were also given another serving of pancakes as service recovery for my in-room issues.

LOCAL PRECINCT TOUR – Currently held daily at 4pm, this 1-hour tour is free for in-house guests and can be booked by approaching the front desk. The trip is accompanied by a guide who feeds you interesting info about the Telok Ayer – Maxwell – South Bridge Road – Cross Street journey.

Check Out – I was granted a late checkout of 6pm due to work matters and I reached the hotel back just in time to grab my last Orient Brew. At check-out, I asked for my last serving of that fabulous cold brew which was warmly accommodated. I was also presented with a cupcake from Plain Vanilla as a farewell gift and proactively offered the in-room Clan-branded umbrella (I like it alot but didn’t want to steal it – but turns out, its actually for guests to take home!) Yays.

As I got onto my drop-off limo, it suddenly struck me that I’m ending what could be the best staycation experience of my life. @Sadness.

In summary,

I hereby award this the best staycay experience so far!! There is indeed something very personalized about being recognised and addressed by your last name no matter where you are in the hotel – it made me feel like a valued guest and a 自己人，not “just another guest”.

I can’t wait to be back with the return voucher!

[Disclaimer: I received many perks during my stay as goodwill from the property and there is no guarantee that other guests will receive the same. Please do not be that guy who asks for those things if it is not included in your package]