Sigh.

Decided to do a separate review of this stay due to the fact that I’ll be experiencing a different room type. This will mostly be about the room and experience since the facilities remains unchanged – but little did I know how different my experience will be this time.

(Sorry the pics are a little incomplete as I was thrown off by issues but more pictures of the public areas of the property is available on my previous review of the Urban Suite )

Address – 6 Raffles Boulevard, Marina Square Singapore 039594. Website.

Contact – Tel: +65 6845 1000. Email: enquiry.prsmb@parkroyalhotels.com.

Price – $300 for the Stay&Feast package via Traveloka where you get $400 worth of dining credit and 25h-hours stay in the Signature Marina Bay Room. Yays to more eating!

Pre-arrival – I emailed to be ‘downgraded’ to the Lifestyle Room as I really wanted to try the daybed, plus the Signature Marina Bay Room would be similar to half of the Urban Suite which I got for my last stay. My request was confirmed soon thereafter too.

Check In – I arrived to a short check in line on a weekday 1pm (school holiday period) and I waited in line for 30mins to be attended to. Having booked through an OTA, I was surprised my GHA membership is on file and given a 6pm late check out – but these are all appreciated.

Room – I was assigned Room 1919 ((33-35 SqM) – the room looks very similar to any other rooms on their website except for the presence of the daybed.

The design of the space is the same as the bedroom part of the Urban Suite I experienced except for a placement of the wardrobe. The king bed is still firm and cushy, alongside 2 bedside tables.

This faces the smart TV (but I had issues with getting the chromecast to connect) with a length of console below it, extending into a WFHotel spot + luggage space.

There is also a Nespresso machine with pods as well as two glass bottles of water which is refillable via a filtered tap in the bathroom.

The bathroom is a more renovated one than the Urban Suite and looks really fresh and new! A single sink with limited countertop space, an open concept toilet, and separate toilet and shower. Toiletries are Appelles which was not too bad.

The wardrobe is typical as well, but there is no Dyson hairdryer here (maybe only for Suites?). Sobs.

My welcome amenity was the same tasty cheesecake set up – cute!

Unfortunately, to my horror, I discovered a mega splotch of mystery yellow stains on the daybed soon after. It was really gross and I wondered how housekeeping could have missed it. So off I went to ask for a room change armed with pictures of the stains, and got a new room – 1924 (same layout but different orientation).

Stay & Feast Dining – below is my valiant attempt to finish off $400 worth of eats & bubbles PLUS another $36 to hit Amex offer:

Skyline Bar (menu) – Located at the poolside on level 5, Sykline Bar is a good spot to hide from the sun while still keeping an eye on the pool happenings. We had a bottle of Barons De Rothschild Brut (130++): it was such a delicious treat with family on a hot sunny day for 3 adults, made complete with addictive vegetable chips. Topped off with great service by a lovely Korean staff, the experience was surprisingly chillax even for the sunphobic (yes, I made up that word).

Peach Blossom (menu) – I couldn’t get as many decent pics of the place they were constantly busy but here goes:

I attempted dinner here first, but failed miserably after waiting for one hour for my one dish, which they got wrong (they made sea cucumber instead of abalone). They took it off the bill of course but it was still very much wasted time just sitting there nursing my glass of bubbles. I tried lunch the next day and it was way better. Dim Sum Artistry ($16.80++) – Steamed Scallop Dumpling, Steamed Crystal Dumpling, and Steamed Squid Ink Seafood Dumpling with Tobiko / Braised 10-head Whole Abalone with Shrimp Paste Stuffed in Beancurd Pouch ($28++) and Peach Blossoms Sweet Delights ($38++): Ondeh-ondeh Macarons, Chilled Piggy Jelly, Chilled Red Bean and Sesame Cake, and Deep-fried ‘Lava’ Sweet Purple Potato. All were super nice and the deserts were just adorable!

Portman’s Bar (menu) – Located at lobby level, this space is constantly packed with staycay crowds waiting for their rooms and at night, with friends and couples on their date night. It is indeed a pretty spot and oh so lomantic. I had the Singapore Laksa ($36++) and Pinot Grigio ($18++) – this was my attempt at getting some food after my abalone went missing. The laksa was surprisingly good and very lemak, while the white on the next day was very decent.

Service – I think I have been jinxed recently with hotel cleanliness issues, because this happened here too despite a great last stay. So with my new room 1924, I only had time to try the daybed on the next day but when I did, I started getting red bumps on both my leg.

(I decided not to burn your eyes with the pics)

I went down to the front desk to ask to speak to someone in charge and a gentleman whom I assume was the Duty Manager came over. When I showed him the bumps, the first thing he did was to go on the defensive and claimed that it’s definitely not bed bugs based on his visual observation and went on to want to explain how bed bug bites look like.

In the first place, I’m not saying that it is? But it is definitely caused by an unclean daybed because the bumps only appeared on the areas of my body that had come into direct skin contact with it (I was wearing shorts).

Then he went on to say he will get housekeeping to do a check and provide some updates and asked if I’m heading out as they would not want to do it while I’m inside. I was, and I asked if I should head back to my room thereafter or look for him. He said either is fine.

So I went out and after 1 hour, I returned to my room and I can see that the daybed has been sort of made up which is a sign of someone having been in there, but no note or whatsoever. As I was heading out to lunch, I stopped by the front desk to look for him to ask for updates. He didn’t have it ready and I waited while he asked housekeeping for the info.

When he came back, he told me that there is no findings but housekeeping has already done a proper cleaning of the daybed and for me to let them know if I have any further feedback. No warmth, no concern, just….clinical.

Check Out – I did an express check out after calculating that my total spend did not exceed the $400 credits.

In Summary,

As much as I think the property is such a pretty place, the place apparently suffers the same as Dusit Thani – very pretty public areas but the rooms are a draw of luck. I mean, I know that fabric is tough to maintain but it is not unreasonable to expect a clean room for a 5-star hotel. And sometimes, its all about how the Duty Manager responds to feedback like this. He did not make me feel he is treating my feedback seriously, nor at any time did he offer any service recovery which comes across as being flippant / nonchalant, and showed a glaring lack of proactiveness.

The property being crowded or school holiday period is certainly no excuse for the hotel to offer such lack of service and recovery. Hugely disappointed at how this incident has panned out, especially when no one bothered to ask how I was after the incident and sorely lacking some apologies.

Th only advice I would give is if you can’t avoid the hotel at all, then please avoid the Lifestyle Room at ALL COSTS. My red bumps are all still here as I write this one day after! UGH.