Over the weekend, I did a couple of local hotel stays. I needed to get out of the house for the weekend, and last minute overseas travel was out of the question. So a couple of cheap staycations was the solution. For the Friday night, I opted to stay at the PARKROYAL on Beach Road. This choice was more a matter of price, plus I could give my GHA Discovery Titanium status a run out. Ironically I hadn’t stayed at any GHA member properties since attaining Titanium status.
I actually live not too far from the PARKROYAL on Beach Road, and pass by it occasionally. However, it’s been years since I stepped into the hotel prior to this stay. Walking pass the hotel, its exterior has never looked particularly appealing. It’s not that its rundown, it just looks old and unimpressive compared to the multitude of other hotel options in Singapore. What I found on this stay however, was pleasantly surprising. The grey exterior hides a modern, refreshed and comfortable interior. Given the usually keen pricing and convenient location for me, this is a hotel I wouldn’t returning to for a weekend break.
Before going into the details, I’ll add that I pretty much only made use of the room, so this review will be a little shorter than usual. I won’t go into details of the F&B options or facilities, since I didn’t manage to check out any.
Booking
I booked this stay five days in advance, directly through the GHA Discovery app. By going through GHA, I was able to get a Discovery rate of SGD175.50++ (SGD209 nett) for the entry-level Superior King room. GHA Discovery is a rebate and offset programme, so unless you’ve got loads of D$ there’s no way to score free nights at any of the member hotels. Given the way hotel prices in Singapore have trended recently, I thought SGD175++ was a decent rate for a fairly central, 4-star property. As I mentioned in the intro, it’s been a long time since I went to this hotel for any reason, so I wasn’t too sure what I’d be getting for SGD175.
Location
As its name suggests, the PARKROYAL on Beach Road is located….on Beach Road. Specifically, it’s close to the Bugis area. The closest MRT (subway/metro) stations are Bugis, served by the Downtown and East-West lines, and Nicoll Highway (Circle line). It’s around 5-10min from both stations, so not exactly right on top of a station. A 15min walk will get one to the Suntec/ Marina Centre area, so the location isn’t too bad at all.
Arrival and Check-in
The hotel isn’t far from my home, so I actually opted to walk there. The hotel seemed pretty crowded when I got there, but there were also plenty of staff around the entrance and lobby area, offering polite welcomes as I passed through. There were also doormen who were almost always on duty. I never once had to open the glass entrance door myself, something that doesn’t even happen at my preferred staycation choice – the Conrad Centennial Singapore. The lobby was the first surprise, as it had clearly been refurbished pretty recently. In fact, the lobby just completed its makeover in 2022. The refreshed look had a tropical feel, with the various wood furnishings, rattan chairs and various palms and tropical plants filling the lobby. It was quite a contrast to the exterior of the hotel, but it gave the lobby a brighter, vibrant and more welcoming appearance.
There was no queue to check-in the three individual counters, so I was attended to immediately. There’s a sit-down Discovery desk too, but it was unmanned. My GHA Titanium status was recognised, and the staff member mentioned I’d been upgraded to a club room. However, club lounge access was excluded. I know IHG properties, especially Intercontinental, typically exclude lounge access for elites upgraded to club level rooms. It was a little surprising, though not totally unexpected, that the Parkroyal has the same practice. I did enquire the cost of topping up for lounge access, and was told it would be SGD50++, or SGD75++ per person if I wanted breakfast as well. I declined on this occasion. The hotel did automatically grant late checkout till 4pm the next day without me asking, so that’s one positive.
The check-in formalities were completed pretty quickly, and I headed up to my room on the 6th floor. The hotel has three lifts, located between the main entrance and the check-in desks. These are pretty small for a large hotel, so they could get a little squeezy if it’s crowded.
The Room
I passed the club lounge on the way to my room, and frankly it looked rather sad considering it should have been evening cocktails. The lounge itself was part of the recent refurbishment and looked modern and new. I couldn’t get a good view from afar, but it didn’t look like there was much in the way of food offerings. I’m glad I opted not to pay the top-up.
My room 661, was located around five rooms away from the club lounge. It looked pretty much like a standard hotel room. Everything looked new though, no surprise given the club rooms were apparently the last set of rooms to get their makeover. The colours were mostly cream, brown and grey variety. It gave warm, bright, modern feel.
Although the room faced Beach Road, I didn’t have any issues with noise from road level, or light once the curtains were closed.
Rooms at the PARKROYAL on Beach Road are all the same 35sqm, except the Club Premier Room and suites. Club Premier Rooms are 42sqm, but I think a big chunk of the additional 7sqm is taken up by the balcony.
The wardrobe in the room was quite cleverly designed, with a rack at the bottom for storing shoes. That was useful for me, as otherwise I tend to leave my shoes lying in whatever space I can find near the entry that doesn’t obstruct any doors. The safe and hairdryer could be found in the wardrobe.
As tends to be the case nowadays, the minibar was empty. There was only the usual complimentary tea and coffee. Besides the sachets of instant coffee, there was a Nespresso machine and capsules. Oddly, while there were two mugs for hot beverages, but only one water glass. There was definitely space for another glass, and there were two paper covers, so it appeared housekeeping forgot to replace one glass.
There was no complimentary bottled water. Instead the hotel has installed a dispenser at the washbasin in the toilet, which dispenses “premium filtered drinking water”. I’m all for cutting down single-use plastic where possible, and in fact I prefer having a dispenser to bottled water. But even with how clean the bathroom was, I don’t particularly like having to go to the bathroom for drinking water.
Interestingly, the hotel places different artworks in each club room, vases to specific I believe. These are enclosed in a glass case and placed in a corner, where clumsy guests can’t knock over.
The club rooms don’t have a dedicated work desk. Instead, a narrow shelf runs along the wall below the TV. To make up for the lack of desk, there’s a sitting area with a rather large and solid marble-top coffee table. i’m no furniture expert, but considering how heavy the table felt to move, the tabletop seemed like real marble.
When I returned after dinner, there was a small plate of sweets, a welcome card and welcome letter waiting. I thought the sweets were kueh, but turned out to be some sort of cakes. I had a bite of each type of cake, but both were far too sweet for my liking. I also found the card rather weird, given that there was just my surname in huge font inside and nothing else. The welcome letter listed the generic GHA Titanium benefits.
The power outlets on each side of the bed were different. One side had a pair of universal outlets, while the other had Type-G outlets only plus a pair of 5V/2.1A USB charging ports. That amount of USB power output isn’t really useful though.
The bed itself was a little too soft for my liking. It didn’t prevent me getting a decent sleep, but my preference is for a firmer bed. The aircon could theoretically go down to 10 degrees Celsius according the the control, though I only lowered it to 16.5. It was definitely cool enough that I didn’t feel warm during the night, nor did I wake up feeling sweaty.
My only gripe was the bathroom. For a 35sqm room, the bathroom was extremely tight. The space between the vanity and the shower was very narrow. The shower itself was an ok size, though not spacious. Everything was new and modern. I found the position of the overhead shower (not sure it really qualified as a rain shower) rather poor. Even at maximum output, the water stream was too close to the seat/ledge that I had to stand literally next to it and feel the cold water flowing off the cold faux marble surface.
While the hotel’s website advertises the club rooms as having amenities from their St Gregory spa range, I found they were from Appelles. I’m not sure if the website is wrong, or does it mean the spa uses products from Appelles? The hotel also doesn’t provide body lotion.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the room. It’s not the most luxurious or well-equipped, but it was a decent size. Admittedly I’d never seen the rooms before the refurbishment, but the makeover has clearly delivered in bringing the room into a modern era. The bathroom was a little cramped, but unfortunately there’s not much that can be done about that. I’m also not sure the hotel couldn’t have installed a proper desk, but I guess they felt the customer demographic didn’t necessitate one. In any case, guests with lounge access may well prefer to work in the lounge than the room. There’s nothing much to complain about otherwise, the room looked far better than I expected and comfort level matched the appearance.
Conclusion
At the price I paid, I thought the refreshed PARKROYAL on Beach Road was good value. The refurbishment has resulted in a modern, bright hotel interior. The hotel feels totally new on the inside. Besides the hard product, I found the staff were all really friendly, with most offering a greeting when guests walked past. Not to mention having a doorman constantly on duty. Not every 5-star hotel can offer that level of service. I used to think of the PARKROYAL on Beach Road as dingy place with this decent restaurants.. This stay has shown me that it’s not bad a place to stay at as well.
Have you stayed at the PARKROYAL on Beach Road? What was your experience like?