Orchard Hotel lobby

The reason why we chose Orchard Hotel for our staycation is that the price is reasonable. We paid for the junior suite at $320++ ($370 with gst), which is at a similar price to the smallest room at Marriott, their neighbour.

Orchard Hotel – Room Corridor: Chinese-themed decor

We requested for The Green Room but they did not reserve it for us. Instead they gave us the Blue Room. The receptionist is very professional by the check-in process took way too long.

Junior Suite – Blue Room

The suite’s design goes in a circle: kitchenette => living room => bedroom => toilet => walk-in closet => kitchenette.

You enter the room and there is a small kitchenette with hotplate and a microwave. If you have leftovers the night before, you could heat them up here.

Entrance of the room

Small Kitchenette

After the kitchenette, you enter the living room with a two-seater and an armchair. The bar fridge is strangely placed below the tv, and not at the kitchenette. The soft drinks in the fridge are free, but not the beer or nuts. You’d think for a suite, they could have offered complimentary beer and nuts.

Living room

How ugly are the curtains. Why don’t they change them?

View from the living room

Bedroom

After the living room, you come to the bedroom where the ugly curtains make another appearance. There is another tv in the bedroom, but it is so dangerous to put vases at the head of the bed.

I sleep easily but I couldn’t sleep on the bed. It’s too hard. My home’s bed is more comfortable than this hotel bed—that isn’t right.

Toilet

After the living room, the toilet. Dual basins on the left, bathtub on the right, and at the end, a shower with two types of showers, and a dressing table with a hairdryer. They use an unrecognisable brand for shower gel and shampoo.

Walk-in closet

Finally, we come to the walk-in closet with a safe and an ironing board. And then we come a full circle back to the kitchenette.

There is a lot of wasted space in the design of the suite, space that could be used more efficiently. Also it seems strange that the toilet is bigger than the living room or bedroom.

Club Room

Club Room

One of benefits of getting a suite is the access to the club room. There are free tea (3pm-5pm), cocktails (6pm-8pm), and breakfast (6.30am-10am weekdays, and till 10.30am weekends). We were there for tea.

Chicken pies

Salmon mousse

Cakes

Sandwiches and other finger food

The club room is nice and quiet. But it’s very bothersome and inconvenient that our room is in the Orchard Wing and the club room is in the Claymore Wing. So to get to the club room, we had to get down from our 17th floor to the ground floor, walk across the lobby to the other wing, and then take a lift up to the 17th floor of the Claymore Wing. (The gym and pool are in the Claymore Wing too.)

Amenities

Huge chessboard

After tea, we played a game of huge chess by the pool on the 4th floor.

And we swam. The pool is very pleasant. The water tastes clean and it’s empty. Mostly angmohs suntanning. No noisy kids. But what is irritating, like the nuts and beer in the suite, is how stingy the hotel is. You have to sign out for towels, and they don’t provide water at the pool. You have to buy at the counter.

The gym is also nice. New and clean.

Breakfast at The Orchard Cafe

Breakfast

I have to say, I really admire the people working at The Orchard Cafe. It must be exhausting working continuously from breakfast to dinner.

Back to breakfast. It is a great spread: Chinese dim sum, Indian daal, bacon and eggs, cheese and cold cuts, cereals and fruits.

The breakfast is also very fun. We saw a machine that makes omelette:

Which omelette is cooked by a human or by a machine?

To sum up:

Positive:
-better value than most hotels in city area
-good location
-nice club room
-good breakfast spread with a fun factor

Negative:
-uncomfortable bed
-suite and club room in different wings of the hotel
-suite and gym/swimming in different wings
-stingy with amenities

You may be interested in…
–Staycation at Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre: Nobody Does Comfort and Style Better than Oldies
–Staycation at Hotel NuVe Heritage, Singapore’s Secret Boutique Hotel Behind a Cafe
–Capella Singapore Staycation: “Everything Is Complimentary But You Have To Pay”
–Staycation: The Westin Singapore

Written by Dr. A. Nathanael Ho.