I had a great stay last year in this property with Hotelux’s 3rd night free promotion and actually wasn’t thinking of repeating a stay but Bonvoy’s Double Elite Nights promotion + getting (what I think) is not bad a rate for Titanium running STILL beat my senses in the end. This post will also focus on what was different this time so for things like the pool and fitness centre etc, please refer to my previous post.

Address – 30 Beach Road, Singapore 189763. Website.

Contact – Tel: +65 8181888. Email: jw.sinjw.contactus@marriott.com.

Price – $555++ = $654nett for 2-nights in a Deluxe King booked during their 5th Anniversary Flash Sale which I figured was a decent way to clock those double night, especially since prices of all Bonvoy properties in Singapore have gone up in the wake of border re-opening.

Pre-arrival – I received my pre-arrival email 3 days prior and it includes the usual hotel info + stuff to know before your stay only in a different format this time.

A QR code is available for booking of facilities and breakfast upon check in, while no bookings are required for the Executive Lounge. Note that your room number is required for any bookings so don’t need to try to book prior.

For this stay, I decided to be a little proactive in asking for a Suite as a Titanium as I’ve never gotten to experience that despite my past stay, and meanwhile have seen various social media posts showing the generosity of the property in according fellow Titaniums their Suites when available. Via email, the team acknowledged my request and said they will try to give me the “best available room” upon check in.

And so everyday, I stalked the Suite availability for my stay dates. Yup.

Check In – I skipped out to a rather empty lobby on a weekday 12pm, and my formalities were settled in 15mins. I asked about the Suite upgrade – my app was showing a Club Deluxe King but I can still see that a Suite is still available on the Marriott app. I was told that yes they do see a request for a Suite to be accorded if available but no Suites are available. I showed them what I am seeing on the app, and they said that they need to check with the revenue team on why its showing availability when its not.

I kind of knew what it meant at this point.

Sure enough, after making a cursory call, the staff came back to me to say its a “system error” and that all Suites are indeed fully booked. I pointed out that in this case, the revenue team need to rectify the ‘system error’ as it creates undue expectations, no? She said she will get them to do that and to her credit, she was super apologetic and said its not actually their (front desk) call to decide on stuff like this.

My Club Deluxe was not ready as well but she took my luggage to be placed in the room once it was – thereafter I received an sms from the property at 1:30pm informing me that it was ready.

But, meanwhile, I will confess that I think the “system error” did not exist. If it did, it did not get rectified as promised as I kept checking the app and it kept showing me a Suite available throughout the day (refer to timestamp). Makes me wonder what will happen if I actually proceed to complete my booking?

Room – My Club Deluxe King, Room 1507, was okay-ish – no surprises here except that is not a corner room. And design, layout was all similar to the Premier Marina Bay Room. The door opens to a walkway before you see the actual room and contains a plush king bed alongside a super long day bed which oversees Suntec City.

The TV is chromecast this time (yays!) and the accompanying work desk now comes with a proper non-rocking chair – its not Herman Miller but it is still one of the best change made to the room in my opinion, especially for WFHotel peeps. The same care kit of 2x individually wrapped disposable masks + a hand sanitizer was left on the table too.

The wardrobe / mini bar area are right beside the bed, and still erm so mirrorful. And this time, I tried their bathrobe which was super comfy! But I was surprised at the lack of a proper coffee machine for a Club Room – freeze dried coffee just does not cut it for a JW.

The bathroom is also samey samey with has a single sink with plenty of countertop space, a bathtub, and equipped with Aromatherapy Associates toiletries. The separate toilets and shower space was nice too.

My welcome amenity was a welcome note with a platter of sweets was later placed in my room, which was a nice touch.

Executive Lounge – (menu here) is now still only opened from 12pm – 9pm offering afternoon tea evening hors d’ oeuvres. Hazel is the only familiar face I recognize and she is still as warm and efficient as always. The Tue, Wed, and Thur menus are appended here for easy reference:

Afternoon Tea (2:30pm-4:30pm) – Similar to my past visits, the items come to you on a 3-tier and you can order more of any items if you like. The usual suspects of finger sandwiches, scones and tea cakes appeared and this time I saw savory bites like spring rolls and samosas too. I do thank very much the team’s kind accommodation to prepare a takeaway set for self collection on the afternoons I am not able to enjoy it in the lounge itself – please note that this is a special request subject to their approval and also involves signing an indemnity form for taking away food from the premise.

Hors D’oeuvres (530pm – 7:30pm) – Again, more than enough food for dinner and you can order more of selected items. Cold items come to you in a 3-tier while the hot dishes are served in a box – this time, I also saw Japanese Oden and Chinese yong tau foo which were a nice hot soupy option! Desserts unfortunately were still underwhelming.

Breakfast – served at Beach Road Kitchen from 7:30am – 10:30am, with bookings required (via scanning the same booking QR code). it was an assisted buffet format this time with a glorious spread of food (hello live hot soup station!). At 7:30am,the space was actually quite busy with the returning presence of business travelers.

I only tried breakfast once during my stay as I fell sick and missed breakfast the first morning – so here’s the somewhat light(er) stuff I tried – all were quite good! But coffee was a little weak.

Check Out – Did an express check out so super fuss-free.

Service – Other than the stellar service by Hazel which is always so nice, I feel that I have to call out the hotel on their selective treatment of elite upgrades. I should also say these are my personal opinions and thoughts based off this stay so it could be YMMV for all I know.

I mean, I do know upgrades especially to a Suite is subject to availability and this was also explicitly communicated to me in email BUT the Suite WAS available? The “system error” is a line which I (sadly) get from properties all the time just to deny an elite upgrade and I think hotels should really get called out on this terrible practice. If it was indeed a real system fault, then it shouldn’t be too difficult to correct it – but I was still seeing the same availability throughout the day.

If every hotel does this, then what is the point of being an elite? And especially for Bonvoy, the point of getting Titanium and staying that 25 nights more than a Platinum is to be able to have a better chance at getting upgraded to a Suites, isn’t it?

On Bonvoy’s official site, the wordings on Titanium Enhanced Room Upgrades are:

“We’ll do our best to upgrade your room (including Select Suites), based on availability upon arrival. Upgrades are subject to availability identified by each hotel and limited to your personal guest room“

Well, I guess they just decided to ‘identify’ the available Suite as not available then.

If the revenue team had wanted to keep the Suite open for bookings because, you know, revenue, then just let me know that sorry the revenue team has blocked those Suite(s) for sale and not available for upgrade. That honesty would have made it easier to digest the situation.

And those social media posts I saw about the property upgrading fellow Titaniums to Suites? I can only conclude that I didn’t know not being an influencer makes my Titanium less worthy.

Why you have to do this JW Marriott?

[Okay, rant over]

In summary,

I mean, I still have another stay coming up in 2 weeks because I’m a sucker for double elite nights and good price points (other Bonvoy properties are charging more per night at last check). But SIGH.

And since elite status is a rather grey area at this property, OTAs like Klook may sometimes offer great deals too – check it out below! [Please note that the below is an affiliated link]

Klook.com