[Accommodation Review] – Conrad Centennial (Centennial Suite), Singapore (18 – 19 May 14)

Location

Conrad is located next to the Millennia Walk Shopping Mall as well as the Suntec City Shopping Mall and a stone’s throw from the Marina Shopping Centre. The hotel is a great place to stay for those who prefer a convenient location with links to the subway stations and lots of shopping around. The subway station is accessible via Suntec City Shopping Mall.

The Suite

Living Room

I checked into the One bedroom Executive Premier Room, also known as the Centennial Suite. Once entering the suite, a small corridor decorated with sculptures by the walls leads guests into the living room. The first thing that caught my eyes is the study desk. Here is where one can find a couple of powerpoint outlets to charge their electronic gadgets. Making a turn to the right, one would find the living area of the suite. The chich living room is the home of a 2-seater couch decked in maroon colour, coupled with 2 single seater olive coloured armchairs. Behind the 2-seater couch is where one can find the floor to ceiling windows that peeks into Suntec City Shopping Mall. Right between the 2 armchairs is a coffee table and a side table, decked with welcome tropical fruits. There is also a small wall side table behind the armchair that is closer to the door to the bedroom.

Study desk by the main door

The living room of the suite

The living room of the suite

Welcome fruits and chocolate with their signature Conrad Bear, one for each guest staying in the suite

In front of the 2-seater couch is a large cabinet housing the entertainment system., The minibar and glasses are hidden on the right side of this cabinet. On top of the cabinet is a large 46″ LCD TV. The TV is controlled by an all-in-one remote controller that also controls the radio, the DVD player as well as PC connections. One can also find a Nespresso Coffee machine on the cabinet. The living area is a great place to hang out and laze around. There are extra blanket and pillows inside the wardrobe in the living room. This part of the suite feels rather cluttered as the living room is a tad too small to fit the amount of furniture. Having said that, one can still find space to move around the living room.

The entertainment system in the living room

Bedroom

Between the wall side table and the TV cabinet is a door leading into the bedroom of the suite. Here is where one would be ushered into slightly more space. Upon entering the bedroom, a 3-drawer dressing table greets guests. Next to the dresser is a single-seater armchair, placed in front of the floor to ceiling windows in the bedroom. The centrepiece of the bedroom is a king-sized bed. The firm mattress provided me with a great night’s sleep. The hotel also provides a menu of pillows for guests to choose from for a night of excellent night sleep.

Comfortable king bed in the bedroom

Bedroom

There is a TV cabinet in the bedroom, which is placed in an awkward position. The placement of this cabinet does not allow guests to watch the TV properly. Next to the TV cabinet is the wardrobe. The wardrobe is rather modest in size, however, the presence of the dresser ensured ample space for guests to unpack their clothing into.

TV in the bedroom

TV and wardrobe in the bedroom

Bathroom

Between the bed and the wardrobe is a door that opens up into a large marble decked bathroom. Most of the amenities can be found in the sink area. There is ample space for one to place their toiletries and cosmetics onto. The hotel provided 3 brands of bathing amenities for guests to choose from. I prefer Shanghai Tang, which is available only upon request. Opposite the door to the bathroom is a large bathtub. Conrad Hotel also provides bath salt, which is topped up daily by the housekeeping staff. There is also a rubber ducky provided for guests to play with while soaking in the luxurious feel bathtub. Next to the bathtub is a walk-in shower, which is very spacious and comes with a massaging showerhead. The toilet bowl is found in a separate room within the bathroom, next to the walk-in shower.

Bathtub and walk-in shower in the bathroom

Sink area

Bathing amenities

Bathing amenities

Bathing amenities

Bathtub

Sink area

Toilet

The suite is very comfortable and is the right size for a party of 2. However, the suite is not without its flaws. The PowerPoint, other than the one on the study desks, are positioned in rather odd places in the suite. Heavy users of electronic gadgets have to plan a charging schedule to be able to continue using them. There are no powerpoints in the bedroom, other than that used for to power lamps and TV.  There are also no external HDMI connections other than that found on the back of the TVs. The only outdated VGA port is found on the TV cabinet in the living room.

Executive Lounge

Guests staying in the Centennial Suite are entitled to access to the Executive Lounge located on the 31st floor of the hotel. The lounge has a strict dress code of smart casual for guests to abide by. There are limit seats in the lounge, however, Conrad Hotel opens up the library and the meeting room to cope with the guest volume when needed. The lounge serves afternoon tea and evening cocktails daily. The lounge is open for guests to pop by and enjoy complimentary beverages and snacks outside the afternoon tea and evening cocktail timings.

View from the Executive lounge

Executive Lounge

Food area in the lounge

Afternoon tea

View of the Executive Lounge

View from the lounge

Service

The service standard seems to vary during my stay at Conrad Centennial Singapore. Guests staying in the Executive Premier Suite can opt to check-in at the Executive Lounge. Check-in was a breeze and I was promptly served by the professional staff during check-in. The hotel website stated late check out is available to 6 pm. When I checked with the staff, I was told that late check-out can only be extended to 2 pm. Upon checking with the staff, on the 6 pm as stated in the hotel’s website, she reluctantly mentioned that she will get back to me. However, a good 8 hours passed and my late check-out request seem to turn to deaf ears. I resorted to checking with the reception on the ground floor and was promptly granted late check-out at 6 pm.

As I was celebrating my birthday during my stay at Conrad Singapore, the treatment for my birthday seemed underwhelmed, a stark contrast to what I had read on TripAdvisor. There weren’t special greetings during check-in, despite my friend highlighted the purpose of our stay weeks before arrival at the hotel. The hotel provided a very small birthday cake, which is only good for one person.

Very small cake

The staff at the Terrace Cafe does not seem too interested in building a relationship with guests. I have been to the cafe 3 times, none of the staffs bothered to greet me despite appearing doing nothing. They also appear to be disinterested in assisting my choices for food. I am sure that the staffs saw me when I was in the cafe, and all the times I was met with cold shoulders.

My initial impression of the staffs at the Executive Lounge was negative. During my first few visits to the lounge, none of the staffs offered to help me and my friend in getting a seat. These staffs did not even approached us to take orders for our drinks. We had to help ourselves and figure out where the drinks are located in the lounge. All these while, the lounge was not crowded at all. During afternoon tea and evening cocktails, our table was overflow with plates and none of the staffs bothered to clear our table. We had to signal to the staffs to make space for us on our table. Staffs at the lounge are seen standing around like statues or chatting among themselves.

There are some staffs that made a difference during my stay at Conrad Centennial Singapore. We met a housekeeping staff, Mdm Goh who was friendly and ensured the supplies in our suite is sufficiently topped up. We were pleasantly surprised that she offered to make up our suite on the day of our check out, which most hotels do not even offer. Mdm Goh never failed to greet us with a smile and checked if our supplies are sufficient in the suite for our usage. She also never fails to check if we are sufficiently comfortable during our stay whenever we bumped into Mdm Goh. There are also a few staffs in the Executive Lounge that also make a difference. Stacia, with her bubbly personality, jumped into action and quickly offered us drinks during one of our visits to the lounge. She constantly popped by our table to see if there are empty plates on our tables and promptly clears them. At the sight of our drinks are finishing, Stacia would appear to offer us more drinks. Another staff from the lounge, Christine, was fun to chat with. She was knowledgeable on the hotel and shared with us the numerous art pieces in the hotel. During our check out, Christine even sent us off from the 31st floor to the ground floor.

Overall

Conrad Centennial Singapore is well appointed in terms of its location. The suite was comfortable and I had excellent sleep quality. The suite despite being chic, seem outdated in the gadgets. The service I have experienced is mixed and seem to be dependent on which staff we met in the hotel.