This was a rather random decision to burn off expiring D$. Not super exciting but always nice to check out a new spot!

Address – 323 Alexandra Road, Singapore 159972. Website.

Contact – Tel: +65 6828 8888. Email: askme.mhas@momentushotels.com.

Location – the property is located in the Alexandra vicinity, connected to a small mall named Alexandra Central, beside IKEA Queensway and a few smaller malls, alongside Bukit Merah neighborhood with plenty of local eats choices too. The nearest MRT is Queenstown Station (EW19) but a 20-min walk away so taking a bus is the better bet here if depending on public transport.

Price – $185++ per night but I had ~$160 to burn using my expiring D$ so my cash outlay was only $56. Mad deal if you ask me.

Pre-arrival – Silence from the hotel haha.

Check in – I grabbed to the property but ended up dropping off at the mall’s entrance instead of the hotel’s official drop off point (not that it matters as there were no staff at the hotels ‘entrance either). I rolled into the lobby close to 230pm on a weekend and was attended by a very welcoming Asst Front Desk Manager. While checking me in, he shared nuggets of info about the recent renovations and even affirmed that booking a Deluxe Room as a Titanium is the correct strategy to snag club access due to the 2-tier upgrade – so booking the lead-in Superior Room will not work.

He also passed me a letter containing info about the Momentus Club which was appreciated.

I have to say even the elevator lobby looked new-ish!

Room – Level 19 is the top floor in this property and my room, 1913, was adequately spacious at 24SqM.

The cosy space feels new-ish which was great and rather spotless – yay. I say this as so many properties with non-carpeted floors can feel ‘sticky’ if you walk bare-footed but no such thing here!

As expected for such a space, the room contains the cushy kind bed with generously spaced bedside tables, and charging ports on both sides. I thought the phone could have been upgraded with the reno though.

In this space too is a single seater + table, as well as the mini bar. No coffee machine here but at least the mini bar is free this time.

The bathroom is as expected, but the Appelles toiletries were a pleasant surprise.

Drinking water is available in this space via a filtered tap – sustainability points!

I noticed that there was strangely no body lotion provided and called to request for one and got this – feels like the hotel was not expecting anyone to request for it and basically fished it from…..somewhere? It was great though haha so I wished i had taken it back (:P).

A staff from the Momentus Club delivered the below Titanium welcome amenity + welcome note and took the effort to introduce himself as well as to inform he is available at the Club should I need anything else.

Momentus Club – located on the highest floor of the property, this club lounge is not a huge space but has a muted classy ambience offering sweeping views of the surroundings thanks to its floor-to-window glass panels. It has just re-opened one month prior and I am glad to be able to experience it post-reno!

There is a somewhat business corner tucked away in one corner of the lounge – looks like a great spot for families and intimate meetings.

There is also this alfresco area (look at IKEA from the top anyone?) which I feel will only appeal to guests on days where the weather is more forgiving – it was super hot during my visit and I didn’t want to spend any extra minute here.

Food & Beverage:

All-day snacks and non-alcoholic drinks are available during operational hours which I found very useful for grabbing a sparkling water or some caffeine en-route to my room.

Breakfast (7:00am-10:30am): I opted to have my breakfast at the restaurant (more on that later) but dropped by just to see what is on offer – and as expected a small-ish environment but a lot more peace and quiet in return.

Complimentary Hors d’oeuvre (6:00pm-8:00pm) – Ivan had casually mentioned that its only light bites and not full dinner but it was more than enough for me when I saw the variety – canapes, a hot dish (I love prawns!), cheeses, cold cuts, and some desserts.

Drinks saw a basic selection of spirits, a red, a white, a prosecco (Astoria Lounge – the same as Intercon Robertson Quay / Conrad Singapore Orchard), and beers. Worthy of mention is the rather refreshing Momentus Lager which is a collab between local brewery 1925 and the hotel.

Service at Momentus Club was great given that Ivan was the ONLY person handling everything – check in / check out / concierge / F&B – have to give this man some applause but poor chap for having to man the fort alone on a weekend.

Facilities – all property facilities are located on level 7, same level as the restaurant.

Pool (7:00am-10:00pm) – blazing hot day but it does offer some nice views and Verandah Pool Bar & Grill is kind of built alongside the waterway which was quite interesting.

Fitness Centre (24hrs) – smallish spot and I got stares when I walked in so only pic to show before I scurried out to avoid being beaten up.

Breakfast (6:30am-10:30am) – served at Verandah Rooftop Rotisserie located on level 7, this is the hotel’s main restaurant and crazy bustling on a weekend. The below pics are taken during off-timing the space is actually quite nice, when empty. Nothing luxurious but functional.

The 8am breakfast scene I walked into was pure chaos though – guests and staff everywhere with staff shouting across guests to each other, shouting after guests for room numbers, and non-existent coordination leading to staff giving away tables to other guests after it was offered to an earlier group. Here are some pics which I scrambled to take including the mad queue for egg station. I never felt like I wanted to leave a hotel breakfast that fast.

The chaos also resulted in my table being cleared even before I managed to get my first plate of food onto the table, and a wait for stuff to be replenished adequately. I was also told upon entry that my room number is not on the list for eligible breakfast – this was all sorted out eventually after she kind of asked if I am a Titanium member but it was still a miscomm that could have been avoided.

Service – I would really have liked to say that the service was great but a few blips dented my impression.

• The in-house phone had a ‘guest services’ button which I used several times but all calls went unanswered. Until I noticed that there was a small print saying ‘0’ is also guest services and that worked – but then why would you label the other dial as “guest services” when it clearly is not wired up to the correct team?
• I called prior to my stay to ask if they accept paywave at check out and was told yes. At check out, I was told no. When I said I was informed otherwise, the staff had to call over a more senior colleague which eventually got it settled but this kind of matter shouldn’t be a staff-dependent thingy?
• I approached the front desk the night of my check in to re-code my key cards for my late checkout the next day. And of course it didn’t work – I was stuck when attempting to return to my room at about 1pm and had to approach the Momentus Club staff for help. Was told that (and I already know) key cards have to be coded to specific timings otherwise they stop working at 11am by default – informed the staff that it was what I did the night before and yet that still didn’t work? Then what was all that typing / recoding the night before for?
• This is more of an observation – all 3 staff which I had interacted more with ended up passing me a card with Tripadvisor bar code on it with their names written down. I was asked to write a review mentioning their names if possible. Of course I will write a compliment if it really was the case but I can’t help but wonder if the staff’s performance rating is dependent on positive reviews so they are basically wired to request for positive reviews at any opportunity they have.

Check out – Not so seamless due to the paywave issue.

In Summary,

Still a decent staycation especially when I paid under SGD60 for this experience. But I wouldn’t recommend the hotel for tourists or first-timers due to its location.