Marina Mandarin Singapore

Better than average hotel but beware of rude staff

I booked a room to rest for a weekend event which had 16 overseas guests flying in and staying there as well, so I thought it'd be convenient.

The location of the hotel was excellent, with a passageway accessible from the 4th floor that leads right to Marina Square the shopping Mall. Marina Square itself have sheltered access to other nearby malls like Suntec City and City Link Mall, so for the shopaholics, you can still get tons of shopping done while staying dry when it pours.

The only gripe is its a fair walk from the nearest MRT station, Cityhall. Takes about 10mins if you walk briskly, and the walk can seem to be abit too long when you need the showers after a long day.

Loved the design of the hotel, high ceilings with a circular design to compliment the shape of the building itself. From every floor of the hotel, you get a full view of the hotel lobby on the 4th floor and hear birds chirping every morning and evening (I heard they bring in the birds especially on these 2 timings each day so guests can feel closer to nature; nice touch!).

The room itself was very clean and spacious enough to warrant the SGD269 per night I paid for. Comfy beds, plasms TV, and bright clean bathroom. My event lasted until 5am and I had to wake up the next day at 7am so I didn't have a chance to try what channels were available for entertainment. The only thing I felt they could have thrown in was the buffet breakfast, which cost an additional SDG40 per person at Aquamarine.

Check-in and check out were efficient, even a last minute request for a 40-seater coach to send my guests to the airport was met promptly.

The only thing I noticed about some of the staff is that they tend to greet tourists with a smile while us the locals, even though we were hotel guests as well, were ignored. I have encountered this many times and it still irritates me that some of them practice such discrimination.

My overseas guests had a ridiculous experience with the hotel staff that ended up with the hotel staff ordering my guests to return to their rooms and demanding them to flash their key cards to prove that they were indeed hotel guests. An experience which led to my overseas guests vowing they would never return and us the local hosts embarrassed that a 5-star luxury hotel could do such a thing.

But then again, I thought I needed to give an objective review of the locations and rooms itself, that explains my entry. I'll leave it to your discretion but if you ask me, better service and cheaper rates for the same convenience and standard of rooms can be found at Pan Pacific Singapore, right across the street.