My most recent stay here was in January. Conrad Singapore is located near the Marina Bay district- very close to the convention centre, several shopping malls, public transit, and many other hotels including Ritz Carlton, Pan Pacific, Mandarin... The hotel has very attractive interior design- similar to a newish Four Seasons, and many of the rooms have great views over the bay (you are looking out towards the new Singapore Flyer, Marina Sands or towards the Fullerton/Boat Quay). Obviously- the higher the floor, the better the view. One big plus of this hotel is the Executive lounge- which is one of the best in the Hilton System, and has very high quality food and beverage with great service. Note that if you are a Gold member, they generally don't upgrade to the Executive level- they upgrade to a Business Room, which does not provide Lounge Access. Lounge Access is typically sold at SGD 70 per room per night- but there is some negotiation room here- on a recent two night stay I was able to get two nights for two people for SGD 100 by asking nicely for a discount. As with many Singapore hotels, Laundry is quite expensive- however I did need to get a suit pressed and a shirt cleaned- the suit pressing was free as I was staying on the executive level. My understanding from colleagues is that frequent guests to the hotel are treated very well- they get upgrades to some very nice suites on the top floors of the hotel. One strong point of this hotel is the service- it is really top notch- in fact the only hotel in Singapore I prefer from a service perspective is the Shangri-La Valley Wing. Asking for directions, as an example, the front desk took the time to phone the place I was heading to for verification of their opening hours (this was without my prompting/asking). The pool is outdoor and on the fifth floor- I didn't have time to use it- but I did go to take a look and it was very busy- looks quite nice, although I think the Pan Pacific across the street has a nicer pool if that is important. Overall- great hotel- usually quite good pricing compared to the competition- would recommend for a buisness trip absolutely- for a lesiure trip not quite as much as it really does have the feeling of a business hotel (which is what it was designed for).
I've stayed here more than ten times, most recently in January '11. Twice, I have been upgraded to suites. As mentioned, the Executive Lounge at this property is one of the very best in the Hilton system, with excellent staff, widely varied food options throughout the day and especially during cocktails. Although the breakfast offerings -- warm and cold buffet -- in the lounge are very good, one benefit available to HH Diamonds is the option to take breakfast in Oscar's, which has what has to be the most impressive breakfast buffet I've ever seen. The recent opening of a long segment of the MRT's Circle Line has made the Conrad Centennial, which is probably less than 100 meters from Exit B at Promenade Station, substantially more accessible to the rest of the city and to Changi. Oh, and the complimentary stuffed Conrad bear and rubber duck make interesting souvenirs.
+1 to both posts. gvd, I'm surprised you didn't start this thread, as it is rumored you'd prefer to be at the Conrad than at home.
I was impressed by the level of service at this hotel compared to past experiences with the Grand Hyatt Singapore. Booked an Executive Floor room during the January Sale and on arrival was escorted up to the Executive Lounge for check-in. The room itself was spacious and had a nice view out toward the CBD with a glimpse of the Singapore Flyer. Pictured below is just a portion of the food on offer at the Lounge:
The Hilton, located on Orchard Road, is an older property. In general, it's better located for many of the things you might be interested in seeing and doing, though the partial opening of the Circle Line has made the Conrad less cut-off than before. The Hilton lounge is substantially smaller and the food offerings are a lot less varied. Moreover, they "turn off" the wireless internet during the evening appetizers as a way to try to encourage people to move on. There are substantially fewer lounge attendants than at the Conrad. Like the Conrad, check-in and check-out is available in the lounge. The restaurant at the Hilton does a fantastic afternoon tea. If you have the option of breakfast in the main restaurant here, I'd definitely recommend that. Often, during the week, rates at the Hilton are lower than at the Conrad. I've found the front desk staff at the Hilton to be fantastic. Several years ago when I missed my connection at NRT, I phoned the front desk, explained I would not be arriving until the next day, and they volunteered to apply my non-refundable prepayment to the subsequent night. Definitely a reason for me to return generally once a year, even though the Conrad is my preferred Hilton-family hotel in Singapore.
Having stayed here several times over the past two years (both as a GLD and a DIA), this is one of my favorite Hilton-family properties. I've never had the escort to the executive lounge for check-in, but I'm guessing that's because my arrival is usually very late evening or very early morning (depending on my inbound flight).
This must be in the past 5 years or so that they have offered breakfast at Oscar's, I don't recall ever being offered this in the late 90's/early 2000's. But from back when I used to stay at the Conrad, the dim sum items for breakfast in the Exec lounge were a favorite of mine. Does the breakfast buffet at Oscar's serve dim sum items? good to know, I recall some LONG walks to/from the Conrad.
Happy Happy Joy Joy, that is great news, thanks, looks like I might have to book the Conrad for the next stay in SIN.
I had a points stay this past weekend at the Hilton - looks like I should have picked the Conrad instead. Although I was able to get a really late checkout - 6 pm.
Happy Days! We stayed at this property on an overnight and were escorted to the Exec Floor for check-in, which was around an hour before the Lounge closed. Excellent, personal service was out experience, too, though having drinks served by staff rather than self-serve meant we probably accessed that aspect of the lounge 1/3 of what we could have if we had self-access! Unfortunately, at the time, I did not souvenir Conrad the Duck, since I wrongly assumed that it was something belonging to the room rather than a comp amenity. I fully agree with your review and add that it is a good option for an overnighter!
Oscar's may have the best, most comprehensive and diverse breakfast of any Hilton property, from congee (not my predilection) to a wide variety of Chinese and European plates - you could eat enough at breakfast to fill you up for the rest of the day, of you chose to.
Pretty much, it's not comparable. It's a Hilton, a bit dated, much smaller rooms, on upper Orchard road - much better for shopping and the more usual tourist venues, but all things being equal, well they just aren't, other than they may ask the same price as the Conrad at times.
Stayed for a weekend a couple of weeks ago. One of my favorite hotels at the moment. Definitely pricy but worth the price: Was escorted to the Executive Lounge for check-in as a Gold member. Upgraded to an Executive Room. One of the best Executive Lounges I've been in so far. Good selection of snacks, fruits and cheeses. Open bar that includes beer, wine, champange and liquor for the whole day. Full review and pictures on my blog.
Did you asked for upgrade before arrival or upgraded to Exec room is normal for this property? What type of room do you booked? Trying to figure which the best for me for upcoming trips.
I stayed here as a Gold on a corporate account for a conference, rather than paying my own way, so bear that in mind. They upgraded me to a "Business" room and the to a corner suite. I'm not the most experienced gold, when I asked about my upgrade at check in they told me that I was upgraded from "Normal" to "Business Floor" and that that "I got because you had to book on the Business Floor to be upgraded to the Executive Lounge" followed by calling my room 10 minutes later and upgrading to a suite down on the 11th floor. No breakfast at Oscar's, breakfast at some back corner room off the pool. The buffet was nice, but not worth raving about. A word about the dress code, to be honest I was underdress for SIN, mostly because I had been backpacking around SEA for 2 months, but banning shorts from breakfast (in said cornered off room) and open toed shoes from the Lounge seemed needlessly snooty to me. I felt much more welcome at the Hilton about 2 months prior, where they had given me lounge access despite not having a room on that level to upgrade me to, and had just in general seemed much happier to be dealing with a couple with Backpacks and Gold cards. But that was Cash and Points rather than a Corporate account, so that might have had alot to do with it.
Just finished a one-night stay at this property. As I had recently acquired a Hilton Gold status through the Visa Signature promo, thought I'd try it out at this property after the reading mostly positive reviews. Upon arrival, there was a confusion whether I had booked an Executive Floor room. I actually had, but they told me that it was really a standard room and insisted that they could not find a record anywhere that suggested I had booked an Executive Floor room. Not until I showed them my reservation confirmation that they finally relented. They said that no room was available then and they would upgrade me to an Executive Premier room. One of the staff quite condescendingly said that I had arrived before the official check-in time (it was a few minutes to 1PM) and that my room would only be ready by 2PM. I was then escorted to the Executive Lounge to wait. It was finally more than 2 hours later before my room was ready, and apparently my room had been ready for quite some time, but no one realized until after I followed up with the lounge staff. The room itself was a Junior Suite, the Centennial Suite in the hotel's lingo. It was located in a corner and was overlooking the Convention Center and the Suntec office towers, although given that my room was on the 8th floor, the view wasn't very good. There was a fruit bowl and a box of pralines. A few minutes after I entered the room, a staff delivered another huge bowl of fruits and an extra huge box of pralines, along with a welcome/apology letter. I had tweeted to @hiltononline telling them about the check-in issue and the long wait for the room. The Executive Lounge was superb. The service was impeccable although the offerings during evening happy hours was a bit of a let down after reading so many great reviews about it. I felt that it was no better than the offerings at the Grand Hyatt which I frequent. The breakfast offerings were extensive though, one of the most extensive I've seen in a lounge. Bubbly was available (Chandon?) and it is worth mentioning that alcohol was available all day. I thought the lounge was a bit small for the property of this size and it could get very crowded. I saw a few people cruising for seats in the evening. The lounge had a dress code although it was blatantly broken by a few people and the staff didn't seem to do anything about it. I have no problems with folks wearing shorts or sandals, but then the hotel should not put up rules if it's not going to enforce them. The next morning during breakfast, the Deputy to the GM approached me and offered his apology about the check-in incident and the long wait for the room. He offered a complimentary hotel car to the Grand Hyatt where I am now as a gesture of goodwill and a buffet dinner on the house the next time I stay there. All in all, despite the check-in incident I thought this was a nice stay. Not sure I would come back though given the excellent treatment I always receive at the Hyatt.
Thank you for the great hotel review so that I would not have to write one! I stayed at this property from Dec 28, 2011 to Jan 1, 2012. I had been to SIN five times previously, and every time I had stayed at the Hilton. So, for a change of pace, I decided to try out the Conrad during New Year's Eve festivities, as it is located near Marina Bay, from where the fireworks are usually launched at midnight. It is a well designed property and the service, as you stated, was outstanding. I did not have to ask if I had been upgraded. They just handed me the card key and told me that I would love the executive floor room upgrade that they had selected for me. I do not have much to add over what you've already said, except that on New Year's Eve, the property did something super and threw a party for the guests, which included a live band, countdown to midnight during the last 10 seconds, and a drop of balloons, after which we rushed outside to watch the fireworks that began immediately at nearby Marina Bay. While it was all rather grand and awesome, I think that for leisure trips I would still choose the Hilton every time because of location, location, location. If you are single and are looking for "action" (wink wink), then the Hilton is for you because it is located right across the street from the Orchard Tower (4 floors of nothing but night entertainment).... Below are some smartphone pics that I took at the Conrad on New Year's Eve:
The hotel and staff on the Exec floor continue to be very caring, provide outstanding service and it continues to be a pleasure staying here. I must say though, the lounge is getting busier and busier and staff work hard to serve everyone. The consequent crowding and noise have impacted the ambience IMHO.
Done my 10 nights at Centennial. Full review : http://www.tripadvisor.com.my/ShowU...ial_Singapore-Singapore.html#CHECK_RATES_CONT
I'm thinking about spending five nights at the Conrad in Singapore next May. If anyone can give me opinions on the hotel, it would be greatly appreciated.
