A couple of weekends ago, I stayed a night at one of Singapore’s most expensive and luxurious hotels – the Capella Singapore. The main purpose of this stay was burn up some GHA Discovery D$ that were expiring in a couple of months, and also get across the line to GHA Titanium status.
Since it was just a one night stay, and I didn’t really use any of the hotel’s facilities, I’ll focus this review on the room and the activities we partook in that were organised by the hotel.
To summarise the stay, the Capella Singapore met my very high expectations (give the price tag), but the Garden Villa was a little underwhelming. Read on to find out what stood out from my stay, and why I don’t rate the Garden Villa.
Capella Singapore: Booking and pre-arrival
Since the main aim of the stay was to burn some expiring D$, I booked this stay through the GHA app. The GHA member’s rate was SGD735++ per night for the entry-level Premier Garden room, which was about the lowest I could find for any period. Since GHA D$ work on a rebate/offset mechanism, the only way to not pay cash on GHA bookings is to have sufficient D$ to offset the entire bill.
As the rate I booked was technically a prepaid rate, I received an email from Capella the next day to make payment. This is despite having already provided my credit card details when booking. However, by prepaying through their link, I would not be able to use the D$ to offset the cost. A quick call to Capella sorted this out, as they were more than happy to settle the payment at the point of stay instead. Though I would still be on the hook for the full cost if I were to no-show, to be charged to the card I had provided when booking. This is great flexibility on the part of the hotel, and showed they already had policies in place to manage D$ redemptions.
A couple of days prior to the stay, a Capella Culturist called me to introduce the various complimentary activities the hotel had to offer. Given it was a lot of information to digest, I requested she send an email instead. I found it odd they would choose to communicate via phone. I’m guessing they realised I am resident in Singapore (based on my phone number) and wanted to show a more personal touch in their communication. The resort programme for our stay can be found here.
We opted for the BYOB – Build Your Own Boba, and a Rum Appreciation session. These were quickly confirmed by the Capella Culturist team for the day of our check-in.
Capella Singapore: Arrival
Capella Singapore is located on Sentosa, which is hardly a convenient location if attempting to go by public transport. For those unfamiliar with Singapore, Sentosa is a small island just off the southern tip of Singapore. It’s connected to the mainland by a short bridge, which is for vehicular and pedestrian access. A monorail also runs above the bridge. In my case, I drove to Capella, which is quite near the entrance to Sentosa.
Coming up from the carpark, it was a little challenging to find the lobby. Even when I found the lobby, it didn’t feel like a lobby. It’s set in a colonial building, and because of the small space, the lobby is just a couple of desks and a sitting area.
We were offered a seat, and a welcome drink and cold towels were brought out.
While I was entitled to a one-category upgrade as a GHA Platinum subject to availability, the initial paperwork didn’t reflect any upgrade. It was only after the formalities had been taken care of that the front desk staff informed that we had been upgraded to a one-bedroom Garden Villa. Based on pricing and how rooms are displayed when searching, this appears to be a generous two-category upgrade. This was an unexpected surprise, and I was pleased to be have an opportunity to compare Capella’s Garden Villa with other villas I have stayed at recently.
Since we were a little early, the villa wasn’t ready. The front desk also mentioned they would call me once the room was ready. As we had the BYOB session to attend, we left our bags with the front desk and went off for our afternoon activities.
Capella Singapore: Garden Villa
After we were done with the afternoon activities, which I’ll cover in the next section, we headed back to the front desk so we could finally get to the villa. We were quickly ushered to a buggy and after a short drive, arrived at villa number 2. Villa no.2 is located at a cul-de-sac, so offers a little more seclusion in one respect.
To be honest, the villas are unremarkable from the outside, and when I first spotted the villas when exploring the grounds, I thought they were equipment sheds.
At the villa, the staff who had driven us, took us through the various amenities. He mentioned the digital room service menu, complimentary (non-alcoholic beverages only) mini bar , shuttle service and beach access, amongst other items. He also handed over a complimentary parking ticket, which was useful to get in advance.
Once the staff member left, it was time to explore the villa, starting with the living room. Unlike other villas I have stayed in such as Conrad Koh Samui and W Bali, the Capella Singapore Garden Villa has a proper, separate living room.
Beside the doorway was a sideboard. A small fruit plate was placed.
Next to the sideboard was the minibar. Disguised in a cupboard, it reminded me of the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok which has a similar-looking setup. All non-alcoholic beverages were complimentary, and could be restocked on daily basis. On our second day, even though we were due to check out, a staff member came by to enquire if we needed any restocking.
A long table runs almost the entire length of one side of the living room. The TV is mounted above one end of this table, while several storage cabinets are also located at this end. The kettle is stored in one of these, rather than with the minibar.
In the middle of the living room was the large coffee table. This was actually two roundish tables of different heights placed together. Two welcome platters of sorts had been placed here – one was a selection of pralines, the other was consisted of egg sandwiches, cookies and various kueh (local snack).
Moving into the bedroom, another TV, small cabinet with the safe, a single chair and the bed fill the space. The mattress here is a Sealy Posturepedic with Frette linen. It was extremely comfortable to sleep in, though a little soft for my liking.
On one of the bedside tables was the tablet that can be used to control the lighting, air-conditioning and curtains. Also on this bedside table was a small bag containing some wipes and masks. As the world moves towards a form of normality, and hotels and airlines cut back on their Covid measures, it’s nice to see the Capella still offering these hygiene items.
The massive bathroom takes up the last 1/3 or so of interior space in the villa. Separate his-and-hers vanity tops are at opposite sides, while the toilet and shower take up the other two corners of the bathroom. A corridor between the toilet and shower lead into the large walk-in wardrobe.
Capella Singapore provides Aesop toiletries. I was surprised to find these were small single-use bottles. Other hotels I’ve been to that stock Aseop typically use full-size pump bottles.
The bathroom of the one-bedroom villa also extends to the outside space: the bathtub and a rain shower are located outside.
While I enjoyed using the outdoor rain shower, and in fact exclusively used that to shower during my stay, I was less a fan of the bathtub. To start, it’s not particularly big. Although it’s covered, we found that leaves could still end up in the tub, when strong rain and wind occur, as happened during our stay.
No villa is complete without it’s outdoor space, and the Capella’s Garden Villa comprises an open terrace and plunge pool. The terrace stretches the full width (length?) of the villa, and is accessible from all three interior sections of the villa.
In terms of lounging, there is a large 2-seater sunbed, and a couple of chairs for seating.
The plunge pool is 3m by 3m. It’s certainly not suitable any sort of swimming, or even floating around on large pool floats.
Unfortunately during our stay, the weather was cool with intermittent thunderstorms, so we couldn’t make full use of the outdoor space.
Thoughts
Unlike other villas in resorts I’ve stayed at, the Capella’s One-Bedroom Garden Villa stands out for the amount of living space. Akin to a proper hotel suite, it has a separate living room and bedroom.
However, this living space comes at the expense of outdoor space. On this front, in all honesty the Capella’s villa doesn’t deliver on my expectations. In the limited time I spent in the pool and on the terrace, it never quite felt relaxing. One of the issues was that the villa isn’t really that private, due to the lack of surrounding walls. I could hear and see the buggies driving by on the path just below the villa. Another factor is that despite being open and not walled up, the rather narrow terrace and small pool felt a little constraining.
For me, the most important aspect of a villa is the outdoor space. Capella has chosen to devote most of the 133sqm footprint to the interior space, and as a result the outdoor space felt more like an afterthought. The interior space is luxurious, well-thought out and superbly comfortable no doubt, but the villa doesn’t suit what I like in a villa. Personally, I would probably prefer a suite or seaview room in the main building if I were to return to Capella Singapore.
Capella Singapore: Activities & Amenities
The Capella Singapore organises several workshops and activities, most of which are complimentary. As mentioned earlier, during our stay we managed to attend two of these: BYOB – Build your Own Boba, and a rum appreciation session. Both of these were complimentary. We also took time to visit the various resort facilities, though we didn’t use any of them.
Activities
Both sessions were held on Saturday afternoon at Bob’s Bar. The Culturist who made the arrangements was thoughtful to arrange the bookings with time for us to enjoy afternoon tea in between.
The first session we attended was the BYOB. This was a fun session where we were guided in making a brown sugar bubble milk tea. All ingredients were provided, and the host was very engaging as she guided us through the process of assembling the drink. She also came round to help caramelise the cream cheese topping with a blowtorch. I’m a big bubble tea drinker, though brown sugar isn’t one of my favourites, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable activity.
The other session we attended was a rum appreciation workshop. I’m more of a whisky drinker personally, but I’m not one to turn down free alcohol. This was another interesting session, as the host described to us the rum manufacturing process, and the differences between the English, French and Spanish rum. Of course, the highlight was getting to sample the varieties of rum, including one that is produced exclusively for Capella Singapore.
The Living Room
Capella Singapore offers light refreshments and complimentary afternoon tea for all guests in The Living Room, located above the lobby. We managed to stop by for afternoon tea between our workshops. The selection isn’t particularly wide, just a handful of savoury and sweet items, plus light snacks which should be available all day. The quality of food was also rather underwhelming for a hotel of this standard, but I guess there’s not much grounds for complaint when it’s complimentary. A selection of non-alcoholic drinks were also available, the usual coffee and teas, soft drinks, and juices.
The Living Room has a small selection of books for guests to leaf through while enjoying their refreshments.
Facilities
Capella Singapore has a few pools for guests to lounge around. Closer to the main building is a couple of roundish pools which are designed for more relaxation. These were allegedly inspired by the rice terraces of Bali. Somewhat ironic, given Capella opened a resort in Ubud, Bali in 2018.
For those who want to engage in more serious swimming, a lap pool is located on a lower level from the main pools. This isn’t very wide, and can probably accommodate a couple of swimmers at one time.
A gym and spa are also located in the main building.
We didn’t dine at any of the F&B outlets on this stay, so can’t comment on them. In terms of offerings, the recently-opened Fiamma serves Italian and breakfast in the mornings. Cassia is a contemporary Cantonese restaurant, while Bob’s Bar seemed like a great place for a drink while looking out to sea.
Capella Singapore: Service
From the earliest interaction via phone and email with the staff, it was clear that the Capella prides itself on providing a very high level of service. The staff were all extremely polite, and we were almost always addressed by name. Even the buggy driver who picked us up from the villa during the rainstorm, was apologetic about the wait for a space in the driveway to drop us off. When we walked by the pools, the pool staff always greeted us as well (though not by name, that would be expecting too much). The experience of interacting with the staff generally made us feel valued and welcomed.
That’s not to say there weren’t a couple of misses. There was a slight mix-up with our BYOB booking, with the email reply to me stating Saturday, but the host didn’t have our records, and on Sunday a Culturist called me up to enquire if we were attending the session that day. It would also have been great if the staff at the front entrance had been more careful opening my car door, but end of the day no harmed done. These were extremely trivial matters, and ultimately the service delivery was thoroughly excellent.
Conclusion
The stay at Capella Singapore was pretty much superb. I would have liked to have had more time to use the facilities and check out the F&B options, but there were just other things we wanted to see and do while on Sentosa. While I appreciated the upgrade, the Garden Villa while well-appointed and comfortable, fell short of what I expected from a villa. The real star for me were the staff, which I felt were the best of any Singapore hotel I’ve stayed at.
For the right price or for a special occasion, I would gladly return to the Capella Singapore for a longer stay. However, I’d probably prefer a sea-facing room in the main building, rather than a Garden Villa.