We haven’t been doing many staycations for some years now, on account that the hotel rates here in Singapore are, as a rule, pretty expensive. One would routinely pay much less for the same property and accommodation quality level just by traveling out of the country both north and south. However, the two of us will still do our annual wedding anniversary staycation, sans kids who’re only too thrilled to spend the night at their grandparents.
Our anniversary staycation place is determined largely by the area we want to hang-out and less about the quality of the property itself. We stayed at the Wangz Hotel situated around the Havelock area last year. While we were quite impressed by the general property last year, we wanted to explore some other part of Singapore for 2017. And specifically, the Shenton area – my old stomping grounds when I worked in the central business district area from 1995 and for 7 years.
The next three paras are a personal reflection. To get right to the review of the property itself, skip the indented paras right below.
One thing to echo again: I remain leery about social media influencers reviewing sponsored products and experiences. Even when it comes with the standard claims of only reflecting honest opinions, I genuinely wonder how unbiased can a reviewer be if sustaining your stream of products to talk about rides on maintaining goodwill from those product suppliers. The same dilemma buggered the early video game print publication industry in the mid-90s, with several of the print giants relying on game publishers’ continued goodwill for them to obtain advance copies of titles for review in time to print, and giving a thumbs down for a poor title could mean withdrawal of future titles for review.
Another take of this is whether media preview invites to bloggers to sample new launches and services will be really the same experience farmers like the rest of us will actually enjoy when we pay out of our own pocket and arrive without fanfare. A recent case in point centers over the hilariously comical goof McDonald’s committed here over their cheesy fries, where it was observed that the pictures of cheesy fries put up by a food blogger invited to a media preview event was nothing like what people actually got. That also summed up our our Club Med Bintan stay two years back: that our experience there – and objectively the rooms – was nothing like what sponsored bloggers gushed about.
Still, this reflects only a personal opinion and how far I trust sponsored reviews. I reckon influencers are here to stay, judging by the amount of revenue they’re generating for all manner of products these days, and how the Millennials today get their product news from them than through traditional advertising. Even our taxman is now paying attention. But our blog here reviews services/products/vacations paid out of our own pocket, and we’re freed of any beholden obligations to say nice things just to keep getting stuff to talk about.
So the below is our honest – and truly unbiased – review of our stay @ M Hotel Singapore at our anniversary last month. The short version: we were not impressed by the overall experience.
For the good bits:
We only needed to use the room to spend the night, with most of the time spent wandering around the area. So, we booked the Deluxe Double Room, and it was of a good size, and can fit an additional bed/baby cot easily.
Complimentary parking at the multi-story above ground carpark. There are numerous levels, and sharp 90 degree corners as you turn – so take your time when hunting for lots.
Good location @ Anson Road, with the train station a short 5 minutes walk away, and plenty of eating places within easy walking distance. It’s amazing to see how much the area has changed since 2003, the numerous eateries springing up everywhere, and even the old office centers from the mid-90s now looking spiffy with refurbishment and facelifts.
We got the room at a pretty good rate that also included breakfast.
And the parts that we felt were wanting:
Cool and business-like hotel staff throughout. Whether it was the staff who checked us in, the person issuing the comp parking coupons, the restaurant wait staff – there were no smiles, no warmth, and no greetings. We did not feel that the hotel was hospitable at all.
We were told at 2PM check-in that there were only two rooms of our rate available: one with two single-beds, and one that was designed for the elderly. This is despite our booking clearly marked for a Queen-sized bed. The two single bed room was inappropriate for us – a married couple on our wedding anniversary – so we had to take the elderly-friendly room with the appropriate bed. The room did not have a bathtub – an amenity that was stated in our booking – and the shower stall area, likely because it was designed for elderly, did not have proper stall floor partitions to stop water spillage. What that meant was that any shower taken will result in water spreading around the entire toilet: ironically making it even less safe for any guest, elderly or not.
The International-styled breakfast was bland, in a fairly small hotel restaurant dense with tables. We had no desire to take our time on it. We ate and left as soon as we were done.
So, bottom line: the hotel is attractive for its rates, and location is convenient in a quiet part of the city on weekends. For us, the bland room I reckon was likely a once-off, but the lack of warmth might be more endemic – and it’s just not nice to stay at a property where you don’t particularly feel welcomed. We will not be returning for another stay.
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