We booked the basic entry room (Urban Room) at Park Royal Pickering staycation on a Tuesday at about S$230 and since hotels are usually empty on weekdays, we asked for an upgrade and they kindly upgraded us one level up to the Lifestyle Room. The main difference between the two rooms is Lifestyle room has a bathtub.

I once spoke to a hotelier, asking him how the star system is rated. He replied that it depends on the facilities. A 3-star hotel doesn’t have a gym and pool. A 4-star may have gym and pool. But a 5-star should have gym, pool, a restaurant, and bathtubs in every room. I’m not sure why some rooms in 5-star hotels don’t have bathtub. But the hotelier also said that the system is arbitrary, some hotels can call themselves 6 or 7 stars.

On an empty Tuesday afternoon, we were the only ones at the check-in and so it was swift. Their lobby is swanky. Their design is gorgeous, it made me feel like I was in the mountains minus the hiking, heaving, sweating, mosquitoes.

We took a lift to the 12th storey and were pleasantly surprised that we had to exit the aircon lift lobby to enter an outdoor corridor. Cool design.

LIFESTYLE ROOM

This is a virtual tour of the lifestyle room:

Pros

-it’s a gorgeous design, almost Japanese style, especially at night when the curtains are drawn. The window panels look like Japanese paper sliding door.

-the bed is among one of the most comfortable hotel beds. The bed is so big it can fit 4 Santas on it.

-bathtub is awesome with antislip elements.

-Nice view with full-length windows.

Cons

-No handphone USB ports beside the bed. For a newish hotel, they should have it.

-ALL the lights have to be on or off all at once; you cannot turn on or off one individual light.

-Still on the lights, they are dim. Too dim that it is hard to see clearly. There are dead spots that lights don’t reach and we had to use our handphone torch to shine. We also wondered how people on business could bring their clients to their rooms when it is this dim.

-they put only 2 bottles of water in the room. Wouldn’t it save manpower to put more bottles so we don’t have to call for room service?

-Aircon is cranky. I usually switch on 24C at home but here, 22C was too hot, 21C was too cold. But we chose 21C, which was fine for a while, then the aircon got hot, so we lowered to 20C which was fine for a while, then it became hot, so it was 19C which was fine, then it was hot, so we ended up with 18C. It was too cold and we had to adjust it back to 21C. Cycle repeated. We kept waking up because we had to keep adjusting the temperature. We were either sweating or too cold.

-We didn’t like the shower gel which smelled like po chai pills.

-The placement of the full-length mirror faces the bed, a bit disconcerting when you are trying to sleep and keep seeing the mirror.

-Not really a con and besides they can’t do anything about it now but the bathroom is similar in size with the bedroom. Not sure if people need such a big bathroom?

Here’s a video of the room, gym, and pool:

FACILITIES

1. Pool

It’s an infinity pool but rather small. When I swam underwater with googles, the water was cloudy. They have birdcages–their website called them “cabanas”–which have many instagrammers going gaga.

2. Gym

It is a good gym, fully equipped. But some weights are rusty and require oiling. If they could add a squat rack, it would be better.

3. Breakfast at Lime

We had been to Lime for their dinner buffet, but the breakfast wasn’t included in our package. This was weird because during this COVID period, all the staycations we have offer breakfast. This was the first hotel that didn’t offer breakfast. It was so quiet and the food would go to waste, why didn’t they just offer breakfast? But anyway, Hong Lim hawker centre is just a minute’s walk away.

Conclusion

Pros:
-beautiful design
-they use AI to book gym and pool facilities. Pretty cool.
-the gym and pool are good.
-super convenient location, probably the best location in Singapore. We walked to Tanjong Pagar for dinner.
-Explore Hong Lim Hawker Centre.
-nice view

Cons:
-Stingy. 2 water bottles in the room, no breakfast.
-Rooms can be more thoughtful regarding the lights, aircon, mirror, and USB ports. Change the shower gel.

Park Royal Pickering
3 Upper Pickering Street, Singapore 058289
t: +65 6809 8888

You may be interested in…
–Goodwood Park Hotel Staycation: Almost Feels Like Bali
–Staycation: Andaz Singapore – Studio Suite King Review
–The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Review: One of the Best Staycations ever
–Staycation at Marina Bay Sands Hotel Singapore Review: No, You Can’t Steal the Toiletries Home!

Written by Dr. A. Nathanael Ho.