My first experience with Far East Hospitality hotels went way back to 2012 when I was visiting Singapore as part of the Singapore Blog Awards 2012.
We had dinner and a tour of the Landmark Village Hotel. I remembered a satisfying buffet lunch at Zaffron, Oasia Novena the next day and the walk to its pool facilities on the 22nd floor. You can view the images HERE. We visited Albert Court Village Hotel too.
Subsequently, my stay was at Changi Village Hotel, Singapore (post HERE).
As I’m writing this I’m cosseted in my cosy room in Rendezvous Hotel, one of Far East Hospitality properties in Singapore. The high bed allows me to look out of the window to the heart of Singapore’s art and heritage district. The hotel is smacked right in the hub of the city’s cultural scene housing design schools like SOTA, Laselle and NAFA as well as the Singapore Art Museum.
My room is one of the limited “Performing Arts” room on the Club Floor. The others themes available are the Peranakan and Retro.
Yes, the non-uniformity in art, decor and themed rooms this hotel could be disconcerting at first, but as guest, I chose to embrace this artistic character of the property.
BELOW: The Peranakan theme room.
Notice the tile artboard behind the bed?
Here’s one without themes – the Junior Suite; minimalist with predominantly white and black interiors. The space is complemented with a living room and the wash area is fitted with a marble sink. The suite comes with a bathtub.
BELOW: The Jr Suite, suitable for families or for those who enjoy larger accommodations.
In short, there are different rooms to suit different moods and purpose so check with the hotel if you are considering a stay here.
My Performing Art room is one of the limited Club Rooms in this 210-room hotel. It was sufficiently fitted with all the amenities today’s contemporary business and leisure travellers would need – WIFI access, handheld and rain shower, a LCD TV, Bluetooth entertainment system, minibar, coffee/tea making items, a safe, bathrobe (it is so fluffy!), slippers and hairdryer.
In addition to that, a working desk as well as numerous charging points are strategically placed around the room.
Plus, for Club Rooms, everything in the mini bar is complimentary so one can enjoy them without worrying about additional cost.
The complimentary “Handy” smartphone was well, handy as it provides access to free calls and mobile internet besides a pre-loaded city guide as well. Yup, you can take it out of the hotel and you could save on getting a SG SIM!
Also worthy of mention is the TOTO washlet, a spray toilet seat with features activated by a panel beside the toilet. I can’t explain how comfortable it is to sit on a nice, warm toilet seat each time I had to use the toilet. This is especially so when the room is cold!
And the convenience of having water sprayed to clean you up after – ahh… simple life pleasures. 🙂
On top of all that privileges (yes, there’s more!), here is another that I appreciate – complimentary two pieces of laundry per day of my stay.
I sent in my jacket (I hate washing jackets) and a dress. The dress came back nicely pressed and just nice for my dinner that evening. 🙂
I’ve been going on and on about my room. But let us move on the Club Lounge.
Club Rendezvous privileges on the 11th floor
As a valued Club Guest (I can’t recommend it enough!), you will check-in at ease and in comfort on the 11th floor.
In fact you can even begin to help yourself to the treats and beverages available while you are being attended to. This sure beats standing at the ground floor lobby counters waiting for your keycard yes? 🙂
Here are the summarized privileges for a valued Club guest:
The following benefits are exclusively at the Club Rendezvous on the 11th floor from 7 am until 11 pm daily.
- Continental “Plus” Breakfast from 7am – 10:30am daily
- Evening cocktails from 6 pm – 8pm daily
- Complimentary refreshments throughout the day
- Complimentary mini bar
- Complimentary local calls throughout the stay
- Complimentary high speed internet with extra bandwidth
- iPad and Windows tablets station
- Complimentary use of wireless printer in Club Rendevous
- Complimentary 2 pcs laundry (non- accumulative)
- Complimentary 2 hour airport lounge access in all 3 Changi airport terminals
- DVD Movie Library
And don’t miss a photo with this futuristic silver curtains that depict a reflection of Singapore’s skyline in monochromatic shades. I thought it was quite cool!
I made full use of the Club Lounge during my stay. On both evenings I enjoyed free-flow alcoholic beverages and snacks from the semi-buffet. The first evening saw an amazing Mac and Cheese that I couldn’t get enough of. That says a lot since I never liked heavy, creamy pasta. On the second evening, I loaded up on dim sum and the kebabs.
Besides the savouries, there were also desserts and fruits.
BELOW: TWG tea, coffee and the drinks in the bar as below are unlimited from 7am to 11pm daily.
And all the cookies and sweets you can eat!
THE LOBBY
As a hotel that is contemporary art-centric and an active participant of the local arts scene, one would expect sculptures and beautiful works of art within its walls.
Well, Rendezvous Hotel certainly did have all that and more.
Within the lobby, guests are greeted by a reception area that is ever-transforming in vibe thanks to its colour-changing pillar. At times it is purple, else blue or warm colours like orange and yellow.
One particular piece to look out for is the half-mannequin assembled together with large shards of porcelain. This would raise some eyebrows, as it did mine, but in a good way.
The hotel is also known to have constant collaborations with art galleries, art schools, art centres, and various national art events like Art Stage Singapore besides offering dedicated spaces to showcase collaborations with local art galleries. Saw a piece that you’re interested in? The artworks are available for sale and are rotated every couple months to offer local artists the exposure they need.
AROUND THE HOTEL
Rendezvous Hotel is housed in an colonial building that consists of two parts, the hotel itself and another commercial block that offers several F&B and entertainment outlets.
Within 15 minutes walking distance are supermarkets, 24-hour convenience stores, shopping malls, several foodcourts, a cinema at Plaza Singapura, many dining outlets, The School of the Arts (SOTA) – Singapore’s first national specialised arts school, SMU, the National Museum and St. Andrew’s Cathedral.
For food, the hotel has 2 bars and a coffee house. But if you would like to eat out, there is Food Republic just opposite the hotel. There are over 20 stalls to choose from.
This Hainanese chicken rice is quite an old name. I won’t recommend it though. SGD4.00 for this and the service was atrocious.
At SMU across the road, this Hong Seng Curry Rice fills up tummies for SGD10 – SGD15.
Just 10 minutes away is Standing Sushi Bar which serves value set lunches. It is within the row of shoplots in Sam at 80 (as pictured below).
I enjoyed my lunch here. The sushi was fresh, the don tasty and the salad was a good portion for the price.
Further up at POMO and other surrounding buildings from the hotel, you find MOS, steamboat restaurants, sushi shops, Subway, Thai noodles and well, just about everything else plus a Fairprice too if you are looking into stocking up on groceries or snacks.
Food at Rendezvous Hotel’s in-house cafe – Straits Cafe
The coffeehouse is named Straits Cafe for a reason. Besides serving a wide variety of dishes with their international buffet spread, Straits Cafe is popular for its Nyonya Laksa and durian desserts.
I only dined here once for breakfast and there were no Nyonya Laksa or durian desserts available for breakfast. Anyhow, this is how the durian mousse and durian cake looked like. Let me know if you like them if you happened to have tried both? 🙂
FACILITIES : Swimming pool and 24 hour gym.
The small outdoor pool with resort vibes complete with fountains, whirlpool, and lush greenery is a pretty spot for idyllic sunbathing or for burning calories. Speaking of burning calories (a recommended activity after the heavy feasting at the Club Lounge), the 24-hour gym is fairly equipped for most range of exercises.
CONCLUSION:
A good hotel which offers all the general facilities and amenities a traveler would need that is located in a fantastic location. It is merely a five-minute walk to Bras Basah and Dohby Ghaut MRT. When the Bencoolen MRT is operational, one would just have to step out from the hotel into the station!
Plenty of buses ply the routes around Singapore and the bus stop is located just outside the hotel.
The hub of the city (Orchard and the likes) is merely 20 minutes away by foot.
ABOUT FAR EAST HOSPITALITY
Rendezvous Hotel Singapore is under Far East Hospitality which has a combined portfolio of more than 13,000 rooms under management across more than 80 hotels and serviced residences in eight countries – Australia, China, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore.
Far East Hospitality’s stable of nine unique and complementary brands – “Quincy”, “Oasia”, “Village”, “Rendezvous”, “Adina”, “Medina”, “Vibe”, “Travelodge” and “Marque” – present excellent opportunities for cross-selling initiatives across the different brands and geographic markets, offering guests with a greater diversity of choices and locations.
For more information, please visit www.stayfareast.com.
Thanks to the fabulous team on the Club Floor for taking care of me during my stay and yes, I loved the yummy brownie with coconut ice cream!
nice clean contemporary look for the rooms … i imagine it’d suit the casual-business traveller quite well! 🙂
Yeap! No frills. It got everything that matters 😀 Well, there are 2 bars here and one of them is supposedly a great whisky bar so if you enjoy a drink, then that’s another reason to stay at Rendezvous Hotel! 😀