Introduction
I first stayed at the then recently-opened Hilton Singapore Orchard in April 2022. A reflag of the Mandarin Orchard, the the Hilton Singapore Orchard opened in late February 2022 after an extensive renovation. This property is the largest Hilton hotel in Asia with 1,080 rooms, and replaced the dump that was the original Hilton Singapore (now voco Orchard Singapore).
When I stayed at the Hilton Singapore Orchard last year, I found a hotel with great service, surpassing many Hiltons and some Conrads, an expansive and nicely- appointed lounge, and a fantastic breakfast buffet. Those positives however, were tempered by lacklustre and inconsistent Diamond recognition, and some problems with the rooms.
I had wondered then if the good service was the last vestiges of the old Mandarin Orchard. After all, Mandarin is undoubtedly a brand with stronger service reputation than Hilton in general, though I had never personally stayed at the Mandarin Orchard. Now, just over a year since the Hilton’s opening, I wanted to see if the property had managed to maintain those positives, while ironing out the teething issues.
To my great surprise and pleasure, the Hilton Singapore Orchard appears to have managed to achieve both of those things. The staff – at least in the lounge and at breakfast – were good. Very friendly, efficient, and proactive. The Diamond recognition was better this time. Breakfast at Estate is still great, a really wide spread and decent quality.
Overall, the Hilton Singapore Orchard has improved since the teething issues in the early days, while maintaining high standards elsewhere. With the teething issues sorted, this might now be my preferred Hilton property in Singapore over the Conrad Centennial.
Booking
I’ve actually been itching to revisit the Hilton Singapore Orchard since my stay last year, but I’d been put off by the exorbitant rates. Rates appear to finally be coming done a little, and finding myself with a free weekend, I managed to book a last minute (about four days in advance) one-night stay at SGD330 plus 10% service charge and 8% GST, for a total of SGD392. That’s the lowest I’ve seen the rate since my stay in 2022. This booked into the base level King Deluxe Room.
Looking at the rate calendar, SGD330 seems to be the lowest possible at the moment. I could have used 60,000 Honors points, which seems to be the going rate for a Standard Room Reward here, but it’s not worth it. I value Honors points at USD0.005 (0.5 cents), so 60,000 points works out to around SGD403. Small differences, but I can definitely can better value out of my Honors points, so paying cash was preferred here.
Location
The Hilton Singapore Orchard has a great location for visitors to Singapore. It’s located smack in the middle of Orchard Road, between Orchard and Somerset MRT stations, but slightly closer to the latter. Though unfortunately there’s no fully sheltered route to get to either MRT station. The drive from the airport by taxi or rideshare should take around half to 45min or so.
There’s complimentary parking for guests, which I took advantage of. The Mandarin Gallery mall, which the Hilton is attached to, has two carparks. There’s a basement carpark, and a multi-storey. The complimentary parking is applicable to both carparks.
Being in the middle of Orchard Road, shopping, dining and almost every conceivable amenity are located nearby. Pretty much everything is a short walk away. The Mandarin Gallery has plenty of shops and dining itself too. The location may not be as suited for business travellers, being further from the CBD than say the Conrad. But for leisure travellers, the Hilton probably has one of the best locations.
Pre-arrival and Check-in
Around three days prior to arrival, I received an email from the hotel’s Executive Lounge staff outlining the Executive Lounge benefits. My Hilton Honors app also reflected an upgrade to a King Executive Room. I also kept an eye on suite availability to push for one at check-in at necessary. I didn’t receive any pre-arrival email last year, nor was I invited to check-in at the lounge, so this was an improvement.
We got to the hotel around 2.40pm. One of the Executive Lounge benefits was check-in and out at the lounge, so we headed straight there. The staff member on duty at the front desk, Aurelius, invited us to take a seat while he processed the paperwork. The lounge was mostly empty, so we had no issues finding a place to sit. Another staff member then came by offering to bring us a drink.
The check-in formalities unfortunately took awhile, as Aurelius alone had to handle every guest that came into the lounge. This was fine for us, since we wanted to stay for afternoon tea at 3pm anyway. He eventually managed to get back to us, apologising for the delay. I enquired if we were still in an Executive room, which Aurelius affirmed. I then enquired on the possibility of a suite. He went away to check, and came back after a couple of minutes to inform us a corner suite was available, but unfortunately we would only be able to keep the room till 1pm the next day. This was a little earlier than we’d have liked, but we took it up anyway.
Aurelius finally returned with the new keycards for the suite, 2709. In all, check-in took around 20min. This was too long in all honesty, but it was no fault of Aurelius’. The Hilton Singapore Orchard uses wooden keycards, part of its push to present a sustainable image. These were placed in a Diamond-specific card jacket. I was also given a letter outlining my Diamond benefits.
I’ll run through the details of the Executive Lounge itself further down in this review.
King Corner Suite
Our King Corner Suite was located on the 27th floor of the Mandarin Wing. This is the same wing that the Executive Lounge is located on. Slightly confusingly, the Mandarin Wing is located closest to Orchard Road, running parallel to the road and with rooms on one side facing Orchard Road. The Orchard Wing on the other hand, is set farther away, perpendicular to Orchard Road, facing Orchard Link instead. The Mandarin Wing is so-named because it’s above the Mandarin Gallery, so I can see why it’s named as such, but I can’t help finding the naming of the two wings a little misleading.
The room
The King Corner Suite measures 49sqm. It’s the lowest suite category available, and isn’t a true suite in the sense that the bedroom and living area are separate. The room décor is perhaps a little dull, with a lot of white, cream and very light grey. There’s enough patterns and colours to keep it from being too sterile, but it’s clear a minimalist approach was opted for here.
The room does away with traditional wardrobes, instead opting for open racks and shelves. The only enclosed cupboard is where the ironing board is stored. There drawers for storing things out of sight of course, though one drawer is taken up by the hair dryer.
The open wardrobes doesn’t necessarily means clothes are left in full view. Instead, there’s additional clothes racks hidden on both sides behind the TV.
The TV in the suite is a massive 55inch LG unit. It’s actually one of the largest TVs I’ve had in a hotel room.
On my last stay (in a standard Premium Room), I had remarked to the front desk on check-out that I couldn’t find a safe in the room. The front desk agent had commented that it’s there, but other guests also had trouble finding it. The hotel seems to have taken the feedback onboard, with the safe now clearly labelled.
Near the room entry, there’s a shelf for luggage. I found this luggage rack nicer than the average luggage rack, being topped with the same marble-pattern surface as the other tables in the room.
As mentioned, this isn’t quite a proper suite. There is a living area, but it’s integrated into the room rather than separate from the bedroom like a real suite. There’s a chaise lounge with a round coffee table in front of the bed, and another lounging area with a couple of swivel chairs and yet another round table.
There’s no traditional work desk as tends to be the case in many hotels nowadays. Instead, the above sitting area serves as a work area if needed. There’s power outlets built into the base of the lamp. Interestingly, these seemed to be the only one universal plug in the room, found here. If you’re planning to plug in wall chargers at the bedside, those are type-G only.
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, this room faces away from Orchard Road. The view actually isn’t great, with the Orchard View dominating the foreground. There is some greenery at least. The Orchard Road-facing side of the Mandarin Wing is good for getting the sights and sounds of Orchard Road, but noise may be an issue especially on lower floors. While I don’t like seeing the drab grey of the Orchard Wing, I think I do prefer this slightly quieter side of the Mandarin Wing.
At the corner of the room is the minibar. It’s fully stocked, with typically inflated prices. There’s complimentary Nespresso capsules, TWG tea, and a couple bottles of Nordaq filtered water.
The bedside tables are rather bare, just a phone on the longer console between bed and window. There’s lights switches and power outlets on both sides, though as mentioned these are type-G only. There are USB-A ports, but only 5V-2.1A, so not particularly fast charging by today’s standards.
The bed was a decent firmness, as were the pillows. Although the pillows did have the “one is too low, two is too high” problem. The bedding however, was not the greatest. It’s only 250 thread count apparently, so not that luxurious. I did find it a bit scratchy. Understandably, it’s nowhere as good as the Frette found at the Conrad Centennial Singapore, which it still one of my favourite hotel beds.
The guest directory, in-room dining and other such information could be accessed digitally, at this link.
Las year, the biggest problem we had with the room was the air-conditioning. The air-conditioning has a motion sensor, and it reverts to a low-power mode when the room isn’t occupied. One of the problems we, and many other guests, had is that it tended to shut off during the night. That made for a rather uncomfortable and annoying sleep, occasionally having to get up to check on that aircon. Fortunately, we didn’t have any such problems during this stay, the temperature overnight was much better.
The “low-power mode” when the room isn’t occupied is still bothersome though. In a hot climate like Singapore, I want to return to a nice cold room. That just doesn’t happen here. It’s unfortunate, and I get that the hotel is doing this for energy saving and sustainability. The air-conditioning did do a good job of cooling the room down quickly to be fair, but in my view it’s still not ideal. It also doesn’t really help that the air-conditioning only goes down to 20 degrees Celsius. That’s the same limit I encountered at the InterContinental Singapore Robertson Quay too.
It’s good the hotel has listened to guests’ complaints and adjusted the air-conditioning settings. I fully understand the need for reducing energy consumption and being more sustainable, but I feel it’s coming at the unfortunate cost of guest comfort.
Bathroom
In contrast the room’s slightly sterile colour palette, the bathroom is a contrast of gloss black wall tiles and marble.
Unfortunately despite being a suite, there was only a single vanity. Another sign it isn’t a real suite, though some standard rooms of similar size in other hotels do fit in double vanities.
The toilet has its own smaller room and door within the bathroom. While the additional door is welcome, the door couldn’t be kept open, nor was ventilation good in the toilet. This meant the smell of a no.2 may linger…
The toilet has a very basic bidet. It’s nowhere near the fancy ones found in Japanese toilets, with adjustable settings and what-not. Just a choice of bidet or rear wash with this one.
The shower area reminded me of the ones from my recent stays at the Conrad Tokyo, with the tub and shower co-located in the same enclosed area but having separate spaces. The tub looked a good size, though we didn’t use it.
The toiletries were from the revamped Crabtree & Evelyn product range. On my previous stay, these had been Acca Kappa instead. The toiletries were in large reusable pump bottles of course, though unlike in some other hotels they were not fixed in place. There were other bathroom amenities, dental kit, shaving kit, makeup removal kit and shower cap.
Overall thoughts on the room
The King Corner Suite was noticeable upgrade on the standard rooms. The extra living space is welcome, as is the more spacious bathroom. I’m still not fully sold on the décor, as it’s a bit too grey for me. It gives the impression of lacking a luxe feel. It’s definitely pleasing to see the air-conditioning situation has improved a little, but I can imagine some guests, especially those less used to tropical climates, may not appreciate the energy-saving feature. The bedding could also be a little better.
That said, I don’t really have any major issues with the room. It’s nice and new. It just doesn’t really feel like a room I’d like to spend a lot of time lounging in.
Executive Lounge
The Executive Lounge is located on the 6th floor of the Mandarin Wing. The entrance to the lounge has glass sliding doors which are activated by keycard, however not once did I have to tap my card. The front desk staff were always quick to activate the doors whenever they saw someone at the entrance.
This is a big hotel, so the lounge is massive. There were so many sections of seating, it’s hard to keep track of. Seating ranged from standard dining tables with chairs, to tables with sofa seats on one side, and long high tables. This is one lounge where lack of seating should never be a problem.
The main issue is see is that despite the lounge’s size, there’s only one food & beverage serving area. This means all guests crowd around the same space. The crowd levels in the lounge probably don’t required an additional buffet area, but a full lounge with only one buffet area would be a problem.
The lounge is open from 6.30am to 10.30pm, with the following meal presentations:
- Breakfast: 6.30am to 10.30am
- Afternoon tea: 3pm to 4.30pm
- Evening drinks: 5.30pm to 7.30pm
Outside of these, coffee, tea and soft drinks are available.
Afternoon tea
Afternoon tea was fairly simple affair. Just a couple of sandwiches and cakes each, and only one type of scones – raisin scones. My girlfriend prefers plain scones, so the lack of plain scones was unfortunate. That said, I’ve been on a roll with good hotel scones lately. The ones at Conrad Hong Kong last month were pretty good, but there were even better. The cream and jam were better than Conrad HK too. The scones were crumbly, not too dry and just buttery enough, though slightly on the hard side.
The banana cake (middle foreground of picture below) was exactly the same as what I saw during my stay last year, so looks like some things don’t change.
A staff member took our orders for drinks. We both had tea, Earl Grey for me and Moroccan Mint for my girlfriend. The tea is TWG, which is always appreciated. I was given an option of hot or cold milk on the side, or no milk.
Evening drinks
The food offering for evening drinks consisted of around8 hot items, salad, cold cuts, cheese, breads and some cakes. The hot food were clearly of the frozen variety, and included some carb-heavy dim sum plus fried foods. Nothing terribly exciting, and even the fried items were rather disappointing, except for the chicken wings.
The lounge staff tried their best to take drink orders, but due to the crowd it was sometimes more efficient to order from them at the beverage area. There was sparkling wine and a couple of red and white wines each. There was also a small selection of spirits. The sparkling wine was the typical hotel lounge Chandon Australia Brut, which I don’t have any fondness for. The red and white wines selection was actually pretty decent, particularly the Australian ones. The following wines were on offer:
- CHANDON Australia Brut Methode Traditionnelle (3.6 on Vivino)
- Berton Vineyard Outback Jack 2021 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc (3.8 on Vivino)
- Indomita Sustainable Chardonnay (3.5 on Vivino)
- Berton Vineyard Outback Jack 2021 Cabernet Merlot (3.9 on Vivino)
- Indomita Sustainable Cabernet Sauvignon (3.4 on Vivino)
Overall the food offerings passable, if a little low quality and unimaginative. Ok for a Hilton, but definitely not comparable to Conrad or even the Hilton Osaka I stayed at not too long ago. The wine offerings were definitely better than the norm, which was nice.
Service
The staff were generally fine. They tried their best to manage the drinks, but with such a large lounge and big crowd it was clearly a challenge. They cleared tables as efficiently as they could, offering to bring more drinks whenever they happened to pass us and saw our glasses nearly drained.
We checked out at the lounge, and enquired if we could stay in the lounge for a bit. The lady at the desk warmly replied we were more than welcome to, and didn’t even mention a time limit. That was quite accommodating of them, and would be good for overseas guests with flights later in the day. In our case, our next appointment was at 4.30pm across the road, so we wanted somewhere to relax for a bit before grabbing a late lunch.
When I requested for a complimentary parking ticket during checkout, the lounge staff immediately knew what I wanted before I finished my question, and also reminded me to remove my card from the in-vehicle unit before exiting the carpark. It was good not having to go down to the main reception to get this.
Food & Beverage
The Hilton Singapore Orchard has several F&B outlets located within the hotel’s premises (as opposed to being in Mandarin Gallery). However, it should be noted that only Estate and Ginger.Lily are run by the hotel itself, and hence it’s only at those venues that Honors members can take advantage of the “Like A Member” dining discount.
Besides those two venues, there’s the famous Chatterbox, home of the famous Chatterbox chicken rice; Osteria Mozza, an outpost of the original Los Angeles outlet helmed by Nancy Silverton; and Shisen Hanten, a two Michelin-starred Szechuan restaurant of Japanese origin.
I’ve been to Chatterbox a couple of timesand while the chicken rice may not be the absolute best around, it’s quite good albeit very expensive for what is essentially a hawker dish. The rest of the food is not bad too, but again it’s mostly expensive, upscale zi char and hawker food, in a refined setting.
On this stay, we only dined at Estate for breakfast. This is the hotel’s all-day buffet restaurant. We had breakfast here for our stay last year and quite enjoyed it.
One of the best things about the breakfast buffet is the juice bar. There’s a few freshly prepared mixes to choose from, or you can request the staff prepare a juice from the available fruits and vegetables. It’s a little hidden away, tucked all the way at the back of the restaurant, but well worth visiting.
The breakfast buffet is extensive. Starting with the cold foods, there’s several types of breads and pastries, countless jars of cereals, many varieties of cut and whole fruits, salad, cheese and charcuterie.
If the breads and pastries aren’t enough doughy stuff for breakfast, there’s waffles, pancakes, French toast and fried mantou too.
The hot food included a noodle station with three choices, Western breakfast items, Asian selection, Indian curry and prata, DIY nasi lemak and a handful of dim sum. There was no live egg station, rather there was a section with several types of eggs already prepared: fried, scrambled, mushroom and cheese omelette, eggs benedict with or without ham, and hard boiled.
To be honest, the food quality was a little hit and miss. The Eggs benedict was good, with the yolk still runny. The prata and curry were nice, though it’s hard to get those wrong. We had the prawn noodles, which while tasty tasted more like a generic noodle soup than prawn noodles. The waffles were also way too sweet and frankly best to be avoided. The fruits were mostly sweet and fresh, not always a given with breakfast buffets.
The quantity of food should keep most guests happy, even if the quality does miss the mark occasionally. Comparing to the Conrad Centennial, I would say the quality at the Conrad is slightly better. The Conrad does have one thing the Hilton doesn’t – ice cream. I did find the service here at the Hilton better. The staff were friendlier, more attentive in clearing plates and taking coffee/tea orders. Because of that, and the greater variety, I rate this breakfast better than the Conrad overall.
Facilities
For a hotel of its size, the Hilton Singapore Orchard is a little short on facilities. There’s a swimming pool on level 5, which is way too small for a hotel with 1,080 rooms. The pool was actually rather crowded when I stopped by after breakfast. Towels are provided poolside.
The hotel is supposed to have two gyms, however it appears the one in the Orchard Wing isn’t ready yet. There’s no signs for it even though it’s listed in the hotel directory. I tried to check it out, but the only way to the 37th floor is through what looks like emergency stairwells. That leaves just the gym on 6th floor of the Mandarin Wing, adjacent to the Executive lounge.
The gym was fairly spacious, and the Technogym equipment all new of course. The equipment looked really extensive too. I hardly saw anyone using the gym, so if that was any indicator of gym patronage then it’s no wonder the hotel isn’t in a hurry to complete the other gym.
Comparing the Hilton Singapore Orchard vs the Conrad Centennial Singapore
For many Hilton loyalists, the decision of hotel choice for now will probably be between the Hilton Singapore Orchard or the Conrad Centennial Singapore. At least until the Conrad Singapore Orchard opens for staying guests in 2024.
Can a Hilton be as a good as a Conrad? The Hilton Singapore Orchard is certainly trying to be. The Conrad Centennial has for a long time been my preferred Hilton property in Singapore, largely by default. After my stay last year, the Hilton Singapore Orchard threatened to dethrone the Conrad, but ultimately our overall preference for the Conrad’s rooms secured its position.
However even back then, I was fond of the breakfast at Estate, and felt overall service levels, especially in the lounge, were superior here at the Hilton. I had put it down to many of the staff having worked at the Mandarin before the reflagging, and maintaining that level of service (I’m assuming Mandarin Orchard service was good). I’ve never been impressed by the service at the Conrad Centennial, and I find service levels at this Hilton better. It’s clear though that one year on, that’s the level the Hilton is trying to achieve and succeeding at it.
The main problem I see is that Hilton’s rates are too close to the Conrad. From my observations, the price difference is typically around 10% or less. Sometimes the Hilton is even higher than the Conrad, it makes it impossible to overlook the Conrad. If the Hilton were around 20% less, the Hilton becomes the better choice, because in my opinion you definitely don’t lose 20% of quality. As an Honors Diamond, I would say it’s probably easier to score a suite upgrade here than at the Conrad too.
That last factor is important. Suite upgrades at the Conrad are really hard to come by, given there’s only 20-ish suites in the upgrade pool. I did get one on my most recent stay, but that was a one-night stay, and I did end up with a rather undesirable low floor suite. I do still prefer the Conrad’s rooms over the Hilton, but the Hilton is superior in almost every other aspect in my opinion, or most only insignificantly worse. If the Hilton can deliver suite upgrades with regularity, and the rates are at least 10% cheaper than the Conrad, it is a no-brainer.
Conclusion
The Hilton Singapore Orchard has been open a year, and it’s pleasing to see service levels have been maintained, while improvements made in other areas. My main peeve with this hotel is still the room air-conditioning. The situation has improved, but it’s still not ideal in my opinion.
That issue aside, this is a Hilton that’s as good, or maybe even better than some Conrads. True, a hotel with over 1,000 rooms will never feel truly luxurious. But this hotel and its staff try really hard. This is a really, really good Hilton and worthy of being the flagship Hilton in Asia.
Have you stayed at the Hilton Singapore Orchard? How was your experience there?