When Hilton announced they were planning to open a second Conrad in Singapore, I knew I would want to stay there early. Living in Singapore, this of course wouldn’t be a difficult task, assuming rates were acceptable. With Hilton being my main hotel loyalty programme these days, a new Hilton-brand property opening here is big news to me. I was also keen to compare the Conrad Singapore Orchard with its sister property, the Conrad Centennial Singapore, which I’ve stayed at many times. The Centennial is a property I somewhat like, but find the service extremely inconsistent and frustrating at times. If the Conrad Singapore Orchard did well, it could become my new preferred Hilton property in Singapore. Therefore, I made a booking for check-in on Day 2 of the Conrad Singapore Orchard’s operations.
Just how did the Conrad Singapore Orchard fare? Honestly, it felt like a hotel that’s not quite ready for operations. The staff were generally good, but the hard product is the problem. With only four floors of rooms operational, room inventory is so limited that upgrades and late checkout are major challenges. Some amenities are also not ready yet. This is compounded by a half-hearted refurbishment and some odd design choices in the rooms. On the bright side, the Executive Lounge is open and has high-quality offerings. I believe the hotel has potential, but for now it’s best to stay away for now.
Let’s dive into the review of the Conrad Singapore Orchard!
Conrad Singapore Orchard Background
The Conrad Singapore Orchard is a rebranding of the former Regent Singapore. The hotel first opened as the Pavillion InterContinental Singapore in 1982, before becoming a Regent in 1988. The Regent closed in end-2022 in preparation for the reflag to Conrad. Since then, the hotel has undergone significant renovation to the guest rooms and some public spaces. The food and beverage venues reopened earlier in 2023. In fact, I’ve visited Manhattan bar on several occasions, taking advantage of Hilton Dine Like A Member discount, which was recently extended to 30 June 2024. I’ve also been to Dolcetto and Tea Lounge in 2023.
The Conrad Singapore Orchard has 445 rooms, including 46 suites. These range from the entry-level 35sqm Deluxe Room, to the massive 210sqm Conrad Suite.
Conrad Singapore Orchard Location
The Conrad Singapore Orchard is located at the Tanglin end of Orchard, which is the start of Orchard Road. It’s surrounded by luxury hotels, such as the St. Regis, Four Seasons, the newly opened Singapore Edition and Artyzen Singapore. In terms of amenities, Tanglin Mall is next door, while the main Orchard Road shopping belt is around a 10min walk away. The Dempsey Hill enclave is also nearby, but I don’t recommend attempting to walk there. The Singapore Botanic Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is also a short walk away.
The hotel is relatively well-connected by public transport. The relatively new Orchard Boulevard station is a couple of minutes walk, which can take guests to the main Orchard shopping area, or the downtown CBD area. Bus 36 stops right in front of the hotel, which gives a direct public transport link to Changi Airport. Of course, the easiest form of transport to and from the airport would be a taxi or Grab. The ride should take around 35-45min. For those driving, complimentary parking is available for staying guests.
The Conrad Singapore Orchard is arguably not as well-located as the sister Conrad Centennial or the Hilton Singapore Orchard, but it’s certainly not obscure either. Public transport links are good and the Orchard Road amenities are just a few minutes away.
Booking
I booked this stay in end-October, not long after the opening date got shifted up from 1 January 2024 to 28 December 2023, no doubt to try and grab the New Year crowd. I booked the entry-level King Deluxe Room initially for SGD508++ per night on the flexible Honors Discount rate. However, monitoring the rates allowed me to get it down to SGD475++ per night, still on the Honors Discount rate which allows cancellations up to 2 days before check-in. I could have saved a bit more if I had gone for the cheaper advance purchase rate, but I preferred the flexibility.
Arrival and check-in
I’ve visited the Conrad Singapore Orchard several times during 2023 to dine and drink, so I was familiar with the hotel’s public spaces. In fact my last visit to Manhattan for drinks was in mid-December, by which time the hotel had confirm its 28 December reopening for staying guests. Hence, I knew the hotel had not and was not making any major renovations to the main public spaces. The lobby therefore retained its dark marble flooring and wood wall paneling from its days as the Regent. Honestly, I think this was a huge mistake by Hilton and the hotel’s owners. The public spaces felt outdated, and hardly what is expected of a “new” hotel. The aged feel isn’t helped by the predominantly orange lighting throughout the hotel.
For this stay, I got to the hotel around 3.45pm. I was warmly welcomed by the doorman who opened the door. I actually find the doormen at the hotel some of friendliest staff around, and much better than their counterparts at the Conrad Centennial.
The reception desk was located to the left just after entering the hotel (the left side of the space in the picture above). This wasn’t a very big space, and the moodiness of the area made it feel even more cramped. On the right of the lobby was what I assumed to be a concierge desk, though I never saw it manned.
The hotel’s website advertises check-in and out services at the Executive Lounge, however this was not available yet. Thankfully, there was only one guest ahead of me in the queue, and I was attended to only after a few minutes wait by a front desk agent named Norman.
Norman was great, though he slip with a Hokkien exclamation when a technical glitch occurred. Some technical issue held up check-in, which was not unexpected with a “new” hotel. I enquired about an upgrade, however Norman explained apologetically that only four levels of rooms were open, and there was no availability in higher categories. So I was stuck with the entry-level Deluxe that I had booked. I wasn’t too happy about this (and still am not), but there was no use arguing about this at the front desk.
Norman insisted on escorting me up to the room and helping with my duffel bags, so we made our way to the lifts. The glass lifts were clustered in the middle of the hotel, forming a vertical ‘spine’ in the otherwise open atrium that runs the height of the hotel. Open atriums are a signature of John Portman designs.
On the ground level, the lifts were surrounded by a water feature. On upper levels, the lifts form a square platform with bridges on two sides connecting the open corridors outside the rooms.
Conrad Singapore Orchard King Deluxe Room
Norman escorted up to my room, 733. My room wasn’t located facing the atrium, but instead was down one of the ‘arms’ that surround the ‘stepped terrace’ formed by the rooms with balconies (refer to the picture at the top of my review to see what I mean about the terrace. The 7th floor was the second highest of the four levels currently open.
When we got to the room, Norman insisted on showing me the various features of the room, which was nice of him. The decor of the room was quite modern, with lots of light coloured wood and white marble. The louver features added a tropical, heritage touch to the room.
The Room
The deluxe room was laid out like a standard hotel room, measuring 35sqm. This is smaller than the 40sqm of the Conrad Centennial. The entryway had the wardrobe on one side and the bathroom on the other. Beside the door was a master light switch, the do-not-disturb and make-up-room switches.
The wardrobe was where I encountered the first three issues with the room. Firstly but least of an issue was that the room safe was locked when we got to the room. I only noticed this after Norman had left, so I had to call down to Conrad Service, who sent security up to open the safe.
The second issue was more problematic. As seen in the picture above, the wardrobe door consists of 3 sliding panels. Two of the panels run on the same track. This means that it’s only possible to have 1/3 of the wardrobe accessible at any one time. This can be extremely annoying at times.
The third issue with the wardrobe was the sensor light. There was no switch to turn off the wardrobe light permanently as far as I could see. The sensor was so sensitive that whenever someone walks between the minibar counter and the wardrobe, the light goes on. Or if someone comes out from the bathroom. This wouldn’t be an issue if the wardrobe doors weren’t louvered. However, the end result of these two factors is that at night, a trip to the toilet would trigger streams of light coming through the louvers. Annoying and unwelcome to say the least.
Inside the wardrobe, besides the safe, were slippers, bathrobes, an iron and ironing board, hair dryer and luggage rack.
The control panel for the air-conditioning was beside the wardrobe. The lowest the temperature setting could go was 18 degrees Celsius.
The minibar counter located was located just before the main area of the room. There was a Nespresso machine, kettle, some coasters and 3M filtered water tap on the countertop. Above it was a shelf for glasses. There was no bottled water in the room. While some elites may complain the lack of bottled water goes against elite benefits, I actually prefer the unlimited filtered water than a limited supply of bottled water.
The drawer beneath contained TWG tea and Nespresso capsules. There was also chocolates, which Norman confirmed are not complimentary.
Below that was the minibar fridge, ice bucket and mugs for tea and coffee. The minibar fridge was stocked.
At the top of the minibar shelf was a light feature. This light remained on as a night light, albeit dimmed from its full strength. However, I personally found it too bright as a night light.
The main area of the room had the king-sized bed, 55in Samsung TV, and a sitting area.
The bed rested on a low platform, which obviously extended slightly beyond the mattress dimensions. Norman did warn me to watch out for the platform corners, and I am actually quite surprised I didn’t whack my leg on it during the stay.
The mattress itself was extremely hard. I like a firm mattress, but even this was a bit too hard for me. The sheets were from a company called Primex, and although the room description claims 400 thread count, it felt a step down from the Frette linen used by the Conrad Centennial.
The bedside table had uncluttered surface, just the phone on one side. Charging ports were located on a drawer inside the bedside table. There was a universal power socket, both USB-A and USB-C ports, and a wireless charging pad.
Mounted on the wall on both bed sides were the controls for the lights and curtains. The curtains were electrically-controlled, with both a sheer and night curtains. The curtains weren’t floor length, so in the morning there’s a sliver of light that comes in under the sofa.
Partially recessed into the wall beside the bed were reading lamps. When pulled out, the reading lights turned on automatically.
The 55in TV was directly opposite the bed. It was attached to the wall via an adjustable wall mount, so it could be pulled out and turned towards the sofa. Below it was a cushioned bench which we used to place our bags.
The TV itself had various information, such as in-room dining, hotel directory and pillow menu. However when I requested additional special pillows, the Conrad Service agent said they’ll inform housekeeping, only to call back 5min later to say the pillows had not yet been delivered to the hotel. Unbelievable. Don’t offer it if it’s not available.
The selection of TV channels was good, plenty of international channels to choose from.
There was dining/living/work area with a large coffee table, sofa by the window, dining chair and cushioned stool. Our room faced the apartment complexes across Cuscaden Road. The room configuration we received did not have a proper work desk.
On the table was welcome amenity of cookies. There three flavours: oolong tea by Summer Palace, pistachio by Basilico, and chocolate and cherries by Manhattan. I don’t know if the cookies was a Diamond gift or for all guests.
At each end of the sofa was large side cabinets. There was quite a bit of storage within this cabinets. One of the side cabinets had a universal power socket, USB-A and USB-C ports, and Ethernet port.
I mentioned that the night light was above the minibar counter. Unlike many hotels where the night mode featured floor level lighting, there was no such lighting in this room.
Bathroom
The bathroom in the Conrad Singapore Orchard’s King Deluxe Room was to put it mildly, problematic. While the fixtures were all new, the floor tiles were clearly leftover. How do I know? Because the pattern was the same as the public areas. These jarred with the overall aesthetics of the room, and looked outdated and out of place. It actually reminded me of the aged Hilton Milan we stayed at last month. The bathroom floor was also raised above the level of the room, which comes with the risk of stubbing one’s toe on the step. The hotel offers accessible rooms, so I assume the step isn’t a problem in those rooms…
At the start of this section, I mentioned that the room is 5sqm smaller than the Conrad Centennial. A lot of that difference is down to the bathroom. The bathroom here at the Conrad Singapore Orchard was small, very small.
The WC and sink were from American Standard, while the shower was Grohe. Toiletries were the usual Conrad brand standard Byredo Mojave Ghost range. There were bathroom amenities and face towels in a drawer.
The was a walk-in shower with rain shower and handheld shower. Pleasingly, the shower was activated by pressing a button. There were separate buttons for the rain shower and handheld shower. This was something I’d only seen once before, at the Conrad Los Angeles. A knob around each button adjusted the pressure, while a larger dial below the buttons was for the water temperature. There was a good-sized shelf cutout in the shower for the Byredo toiletries with plenty of space left for guests’ own toiletries, an oft-overlooked consideration.
Overall thoughts on the room
I would say there wasn’t really any dealbreakers in the room, just a bunch of odd design choices and annoyances. I don’t understand why Hilton and the hotel owners decided not to replace the bathroom flooring and level it out to match the room. Nor do I understand the excessively bright night light, lack of floor level lighting, and the overly sensitive wardrobe light sensor. The wardrobe doors are a whole problem in themselves, the three-panels-but-two-tracks approach limiting the accessible space of the wardrobe, while the louvers allow the sensitive sensor light seep into the room. The bathroom is small, but admittedly also not the most cramped I’ve seen. (That honour probably currently belongs to the Parkroyal on Beach Road.) The firm bed might be a problem for some, but it was just about tolerable for me.
Those negatives aside, I thought the room was aesthetically pleasing and modern. The addition of USB-C ports is great, considering many newer phones only comes with USB-C to USB-C cables. The room was fairly spacious, outside of the bathroom. Choosing between this and the Conrad Centennial is tough. I’m tempted to give it to the Centennial on the basis of the much larger bathroom, but I prefer the Conrad’ Orchard’s overall decor and modernity. Both hotels have rooms that I would be content staying in, let’s put that way. At least I will be when Orchard finally gets its stock of special pillows.
Executive Lounge
The Executive Lounge is located on level 11 of the Conrad Singapore Orchard. It’s open from 6.30pm to 10pm, with the following meal presentations:
- Breakfast 6.30am to 10.30am
- Afternoon tea 2.30pm to 4.30pm
- Evening cocktail 6pm to 8pm
Outside of those timings, soft drinks, coffee and tea were available, as well as some cookies and sweets. During our stay, we had breakfast and afternoon once each, and made it for evening cocktails twice. This was all stated in the Executive Lounge welcome letter. While a dress code was prescribed, notably banning shorts, I didn’t have a problem wearing bermudas in, so no drama unlike what happened at the Pan Pacific Singapore. I did see a guests get told not to wear his bedroom slippers to the lounge again though.
The Executive Lounge is broken up into three rooms: two rooms with seating, and the last room where the buffet is. The buffet room also had one big round table with four seats. The lounge wasn’t very big, I estimate there was seating for around 50 guests. Some tables were quite close to each other though.
Executive Lounge Breakfast
The breakfast selection in the Executive Lounge is quite limited, with the benefit of relative peace and quiet. I also preferred the Nespresso in the lounge compared to the overly sour terrible Boncafe at Basilico. The food offerings consisted of some cured meats, three cereals, yoghurt, muesli, bread and muffins, and a half dozen or so hot dishes. There was a chef on hand to cook eggs to order as well.
While the food was the same stuff that was served at Basilico, just less variety, there was one thing the lounge particularly lacked compared to Basilico. The orange juice in Basilico was claimed to be freshly squeezed, while the lounge one tasted more like orange syrup. If you’re particular about orange juice, stick to Basilico. Otherwise, the lounge is perfectly fine for a light breakfast, and as mentioned I much prefer the coffee in the lounge.
Executive Lounge Afternoon Tea
We had afternoon tea in the lounge just once, immediately after checking-in. The selection was very limited, just a couple of finger sandwiches and desserts, plus two types of scones, a quiche and a tea cake. The desserts were also seen in Tea Lounge the next day, as was the quiche.
The quality of the food was decent. However, the blue pea scones were rather visually ghastly in my opinion. Also, the clotted cream had a lot of the whey in the bowl, which was a bit unappetizing to me.
Executive Lounge Evening Cocktail
The evening cocktail was definitely the standout meal presentation for me. Again, it wasn’t a huge selection, just 5 hot items including a pizza, plus the usual cheese, cold cuts and couple of desserts. The hot dishes also were all Asian on the two evenings we were there. It appeared to me that some of the items were probably lifted off the (temporarily closed) Summer Palace’s menu, the hotel’s 1-Michelin Star Chinese restaurant.
The food was generally quite good quality, and to be honest they won me over on the first evening with a double boiled fish maw and fish cartilage soup with bamboo pith. Fish cartilage soup is a luxury usually only enjoyed in finer Cantonese restaurants, so seeing it in an Executive Lounge was delightful. Like the cheap Singaporean I can be, I had two full bowls of this, though it would have been better with some white pepper.
With noodles and soup on offer, all together the offerings could easily form a light dinner.
On the second evening, again there was a noodle, a Chinese soup and a couple of other hot dishes, plus the other stuff. Maybe it was due to being stuffed from afternoon tea at Tea Lounge, but food looked less appealing compared to the first evening.
In terms of beverages, the alcohol selection seemed limited. There were beers, prosecco, one red and white wine each, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Johnnie Walker Black Label whisky, Jose Cuervo Especial tequila, and Aperol. Having returned from the land of Aperol spritz recently, I couldn’t help but order an Aperol Spritz.
The prosecco was Astoria Cuvee Lounge (3.5 on Vivino), while both red and white wines were from Santa Helena. A varietal chardonnay (3.2 on Vivino) and a varietal cabernet sauvignon (also 3.2 on Vivino). Not exactly great stuff, the Conrad Centennial does better on the alcohol front.
Overall, I was pretty happy with the offerings at the Executive Lounge, at least in terms of quality. That said, the drinks on offer were a little weak. I consider the Lounge to be one to be the highlight of the experience at the Conrad Singapore Orchard. While it may not offer as much variety as the Conrad Centennial, the Executive Lounge here at the Conrad Orchard is clear winner in terms of quality.
Executive Lounge service
Most of the Executive Lounge staff were great. Friendly, warm and professional. I did witness one guest loudly have a go at the poor Executive Floor Manager, allegedly for ignoring him when serving the rest of his table. I didn’t see what caused the original dispute, but I thought the guest was being extremely rude to the manager, who handled the situation professionally. I admit I’m in no position to judge, given I’ve had the occasional run-in with hotel staff before, but the rudeness on this occasion seemed uncalled for based on what I did witness. Asking the manager if he knew what he was apologising for, then accusing him of not knowing what he did wrong was absolutely out of line. My interactions with the Executive Floor Manager were great, and he seemed thoroughly warm and professional.
Food & beverage
The Conrad Singapore Orchard has a number of F&B venues, some of which are quite highly regarded. There’s a total of 10 venues located within the hotel. However, only 5 of these are operated by the hotel and therefore participate in the Dine Like A Member offer which was recently extended. These are:
- Basilico
- Dolcetto
- Manhattan
- Tea Lounge
- Summer Palace (closed at time of writing, expected to reopen sometime in January 2024)
Other dining venues are Park90 wine bar (which uses the space of Tea Lounge), Shoukouwa Shinjidai, The House Bar, Tenshin and Seoul. To me, the variety and quality of restaurants (by reputation) here at the Conrad Orchard is far superior to the Conrad Centennial.
For more info the dining venues, refer to this page on the hotel’s website.
Breakfast at Basilico
Breakfast is served at Basilico from 6.30am to 10.30am daily. Hilton Honors Diamonds and Golds get the full breakfast buffet complimentary. We had breakfast at Basilico on our first morning, which was Saturday. We went down around 9.40am and had a short wait for a table.
The centre buffet section featured cold items, such as cereals, salads, cured meats including a smoked marlin, breads with spreads, fruits and juices. As mentioned earlier, the orange juice was supposedly freshly squeezed. It certainly tasted better than the other juices. I didn’t like that they added blue pea to the coconut water. The fruits were also not sweet.
On the right of the buffet area (when looking from the entrance), there was some packaged yoghurt, and a wide selection pastries. I had a pain au chocolat, which is one of the items I use to compare hotel breakfast qualities. This was not that great, being dense and not flakey.
The hot food was broken into two sections. The smaller circular area had Asian dishes. This included miso soup, Japanese rice, idli, wok fried noodles,
Most of the hot dishes were located on outer ring of the buffet area. This was also where the egg station and noodle station could be found. There was dim sum, a ham carving station, plus the usual breakfast staples such as two types of sausages, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, scrambled and boiled eggs, oatmeal porridge, hashbrowns and roasted tomatoes. Later on, a teriyaki sea bass also appeared.
The noodle station had a choice of chicken or beef broth, but no choice of noodle. My girlfriend ordered a bowl of beef noodle and it seemed the default noodle was mee tai bak (silver needle noodles). It was an odd pairing, but the beef broth itself was not bad, and actually had bits of braised beef (brisket I think). The broth tasted like a hybrid of Taiwanese beef noodles and local beef noodles. Weird but tasted fine.
A waiter took coffee and tea orders. I ordered a latte while my girlfriend had a cappuccino. The coffee was way too sour for my liking.
Overall, the breakfast offering at Basilico was fine. The selection is definitely smaller than Oscar’s at the Conrad Centennial. However, I think the quality is a tad better at Basilico. I thought the noodles here were superior, and the ham and bacon carving was a standout too. Therefore for breakfast, Conrad Orchard just very slightly edges ahead of the Conrad Centennial for me.
Tea Lounge
During our stay, we decided to have afternoon tea at Tea Lounge, as the special New Year’s long weekend special menu looked interesting. This was our second time having tea here, the first being almost 6 months ago. Sadly being a special menu, the “Like A Member” dining discount was not applicable, though I knew that prior to booking. Tea Lounge also wanted prepayment, but I called them up and had it waived so I could charge it to my room and earn the full base and bonus points on the charges.
In general, the food was rather disappointing. The caviar advertised in the menu wasn’t really that, though that was to be expected for SGD88++. The Asian food generally fared better than the Western food. Standouts were the Caramelised Kurobuta Pork Char Siew, chicken satay and the King Prawn Congee with pork meat ball.
Manhattan
Manhattan is widely considered one of Singapore’s best bars, and is currently No.63 on the World’s 50 Best Bars list. Ever since the hotel rebranded to Conrad, I’ve visited Manhattan on quite a few occasions. The drinks are great, with fantastic cocktails. They recently introduced a new menu, changing the theme of the cocktails. With the Like A Member discount offer especially for Hilton Honors Diamonds and Golds, the prices are more palatable too. In fact, I consider Manhattan one of the best places to utilise the Like A Member dining offer.
Facilities and Amenities
The hotel has a swimming pool and fitness centre, both located on Level 2, near Basilico. I was told the swimming pool was not yet open when I checked in, however there didn’t seem to any work going on. I didn’t notice any guests using the pool during my stay though. The pool is supposed to be open from 7am to 9pm. Bear in mind that diners in Basilico have a good view of the pool area.
The gym is filled with brand-new Technogym equipment and is open 24h. There’s a good mix of equipment. from cardio, to resistance machines, free weights and a space for yoga activities. We were told by the gym attendant that starting from January 2nd, there will be morning wellness activities by the poolside. Towels and packaged water were provided.
Conrad Singapore Service
One of my biggest complaints about the Conrad Centennial is the extremely inconsistent service. It aggravates me no end that a hotel I otherwise enjoy frequenting just can’t get service right. In the service aspect, the Conrad Singapore Orchard wins hands down. It’s not a contest at all. Even the doormen here at Orchard are some of the friendliest and chirpiest doormen I’ve ever met. This applied even before the hotel opened for staying guests, when I came to dine and drink this year.
Norman, the front desk staff who checked me in was excellent, as were Executive Lounge staff, as mentioned previously. Compared to the Centennial, where I’ve encountered indifferent lounge staff that made us wonder if we’re transparent. The staff were one of the brighter spots of the stay, and it’s not something to get right, especially when the hotel is still so new. So a great job done there.
The only negative aspect of service, which was not really a staff problem, was trying to wrangle a late checkout. At first, the front desk would only grant 1pm due to the room situation. Now, I know Hilton Honors is regarded as the weakest of the major hotel loyalty programmes when it comes to late checkout benefit for elites. That aside, the Conrad Singapore Orchard and Hilton Singapore Orchard have always given me minimally 2pm. That the Conrad Orchard couldn’t even do that was poor. It took a further call to Conrad Service and making vague threats of pulling my business (I have another stay booked for first weekend of January) that they finally granted me 2pm “as a special one time exception”.
I questioned them when they expect the rest of the rooms to be completed and available, and no one could give me a straight answer. That’s not the sign of a hotel that’s ready for operations.
When I checked out, I requested for and got the GM’s name card, so I’ll be shooting him an email soon. That’s something I never do. It’s not because the hotel was so disastrously bad, not at all, but more because so many of the problems were caused by half-ass decisions. That’s a more complex problem to solve, and the GM should know.
Update: I wrote to the GM after completing this review (technically he's the Cluster Operations GM for both Conrad properties in Singapore). The reply was quick and was...fine, I guess. He didn't quite address all the concerns I raised, but did mention they are working on certain controllable areas. He also advised that they expect to get "most rooms ready in the next few weeks". Naturally, he also offered some service recovery, which I'm still debating whether to take him up on this weekend or a later date. Either way, I'll be reporting on the next experience too, whenever it is.
Conclusion
Staying on the opening weekend of a hotel was always a risk. I knew that going in. Thankfully, this wasn’t an unmitigated disaster unlike the nearby Pan Pacific Orchard. My overall opinion is that this is a hotel with potential, but it’s held back now, most seriously by the lack of rooms. I absolutely cannot recommend anyone, especially Hilton Diamonds, stay there at the moment. It’s too much of a lottery with room upgrades and late checkout. It’s a hotel I do want to return to, but not yet, not until I can feel assured of an upgrade and reasonable checkout extension. I like the staff, the overall food quality in the lounge and at breakfast, and I definitely enjoy visiting Manhattan. I can also live with the room annoyances, even if the Centennial offers a better sleep experience.
Speaking of the Conrad Centennial Singapore, I’ve made many comparisons throughout this review. Because that’s what many travellers will be thinking, which is the better Conrad? The truth is it probably comes down to price and location, and what you value in a hotel experience. The Centennial has the better location in my opinion. The Centennial also definitely offers the better sleep experience. That’s what’s most important in a hotel right? How good it is at being a place for rest and relaxation. In my opinion, it’s the Centennial, by a small but clear margin. Diamond recognition is definitely better at the Centennial too. I always get a nice welcome back card, plus a bottle of Perrier and Acqua Panna each every stay. Small touches, but makes me feel like I am indeed “a valued Diamond member”. For everything else besides that and location, I believe the Conrad Singapore Orchard may actually be superior.
Conrad Singapore Orchard for the food and service, Conrad Centennial for location, sleep, and Diamond recognition. Tough call, but probably stick with the Conrad Centennial for now. Certainly at least till the room situation at Conrad Orchard is sorted out.