Clocking my 3rd GHA Discovery Brand this year!
Although I wasn’t impressed with my stay last year, I decided to use this as my 3rd GHA brand for Titanium renewal as Hotelux was offering a decent promo – and stacking this with Double D$ accrual made it better! Some things have not changed since my last stay so I’d just focus on the things that are different this time – the room, evening aperitifs, and buffet breakfast experience.
Price – $450++ = $530nett for a Classic Room booked via Hotelux which had a very decent inclusion, especially the Evening Aperitifs inclusion which is usually only for paying guests in their Stamford Suites.
- Breakfast for 2pax
- Evening Aperitifs
- USD100 dining credit
- Complimentary non-alcoholic beverages from mini bar
- Upgrade at time of booking
- Early check in and late check out subject to availability though this will not matter if you have GHA Titanium which entitles you to11am check in and 4pm check out.
Location – In the middle of City Hall happenings, including sheltered access to City Hall station (NS25/EW13) and 3 major shopping malls. Good for the city peeps!
Pre-arrival – No welcome emails or calls this time which I thought was an odd deviant from their previous protocol especially for a luxury property.
Check In – I arrived to an empty lobby at 11am on a weekday and was quickly attended to. Check in here is a seated affair and the lovely staff brought me through the necessary in 15mins, including explaining that I have been accorded an (3-tier) upgrade to the Grand Deluxe Room (yayyyyyyy), my dining credit converts to SGD130 and the evening aperitif session is now a buffet (yayyyy). I was also served a little cup of welcome drink – would have been better if they’d said what it was though.
Room – I was escorted to my room, 307, and wow I can see why this room type is so sought-after, especially after not being very impressed with my Terrace Room the last time. This 50SqM space is super nice!
I recall some chatter on this room type having different configurations due to the building structure but I had no complaints about mine at all. A grand and spacious walkway greets you as you enter, with the bedroom section straight up ahead and 2 classy panels on both sides separating the two sections of the bathroom space.
Behind the left panel is a classy double sink with plenty of countertop space, generous towels quota, and the same fancy Ferragamo toiletries. Beside this is a decent toilet space.
Behind the right panel is a luxurious bathtub (but no bathsalts!), and a shower space with fancy knobs – and how high is that rainshower head supposed to be??
The main bedroom area is my favorite!
A plush kind bed with generously sized bedside tables (got wireless charging spot!), a sofa slightly more than the length of me (yes, I measured) + a single seater framed by 2 tall cupboard with decorative items which gives off a living room-esque vibe. The little coffee table here contained quite a generous stash of welcome amenity of fruits, pineapple tarts, and a cake.
The other corner of this space is is a long length of glossy wood where you’ll find a mounted big smart TV, a WFHotel spot with plenty of table space, sufficient power points and chair which is not ergonomic enough for long hours on laptop.
This spot also contains your mini bar stash with Nespresso, Mist Valley teas, the usual glassware, and a semi stocked pull-out fridge containing non-alcoholic drinks which are complimentary.
I also missed the cupboards which were designed to look like part the walls – you get 2 such spaces as well: one of them contains the bathrobes, slippers, etc, and the other is a relatively empty relative which contains only an ironing board.
Evening Aperitifs – held from 6-8pm at The Lobby Lounge, which is a little private nook just behind the check in area. I was told by the same lady at check in that the session has a “make your own’ cocktail element and the ‘snacks” is buffet style which can be a meal by themselves. So I was super excited to experience it, especially when this room type typically do not include this benefit (thanks hotelux!).
The space is intimate and has a quiet private vibe due to the dark glossy furnishings in a rather linear layout with 2-4 seaters of proper dining + low tables. Bigger groups have an option of plush sofa corners on one end of the set up.
The F&B is condensed into a cosy central area and very much self service.
For drinks, I saw red, white, prosecco, and spirits for making your own cocktails + accompanying assortment which I didn’t try (stuck with prosecco the whole evening). Then of course there is coffee / tea if you prefer.
Food items saw a selection of canapes + sweets which to my disappointment wasn’t quite enough for a dinner replacement for me. Quality was not too bad and I was happy to see some protein options. I didn’t find the sweets nice unfortunately.
Service during the session was quietly attentive, and expectedly so as there were only 4-5 tables occupied. But I got quite bored after 1 hour in any case.
Breakfast @ 15 Stamford – served from 7:00-10:30am, bookings of your desired time is required. I didn’t remember to book mine and got a call from the front desk later that same evening to offer to book for me. I booked for 7:30am but was ready earlier and they had no issues seating me at slightly past 7:00am.
Breakfast was a buffet format this time round, and I really liked it! Being able to actually see the spread of food was great and I enjoyed the visual enticement heh. There are 2 main sections: the cold stuff + carbs and hot food section.
The cold section was an entire smorgasbord of juices, fruits, cold cuts, cheeses, cereals, nuts, and my fav being different types of honey + an entire honeycomb! The truffle honey was amazing and I can just eat with cheese alone if need to.
In one corner of this section is Prosecco available if you want a bubble breakfast (I did!).
The hot food section is a long long stretch divided into Asian and Western selection, plus of course an egg station. It was great variety and quality was not bad – do try the homemade beancurd which was super fresh and comforting for a warm start to the morning. I thought it was quite rude to lift every lid to take pics so I took random samplings.
Other Dining – The SGD130 dining credits can be used at any of the following outlets at Arcade @ The Capitol Kempinski (website):
- Berthold Delikatessen (German cafeish stuff)
- Broadway American Diner (burgers, milkshakes)
- Frieda German Restaurant (German with Austrian influences)
- La Scala Ristorante (Italian)
Unfortunately, I did not have time to try any of the above during the stay so I burned my credits on some takeaways from the Delikatessen and 2 glasses of Delamotte champagne at the Lobby Lounge before checking out.
Service – I actually felt service was much better and more personal than my last stay for some reason. Having a moderated expectation of Lady In Red service may have helped, but this time the check in was warm and friendly, and I received follow up calls following my handful of housekeeping requests to confirm if I was already attended to which was quite nice.
Check Out – Painlessly done at 3:30pm on a weekday although my double D$ and stay / brand credit has not posted after 48hours as stipulated. Better follow up on that soon!
In summary,
More than a great way to end my GHA Discovery Titanium run for 2022 and I walked away with a completely different impression of a Capitol Kempinki staycation. And that’s a good thing!