Trip Report – St. Regis Singapore

This is part three of a Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia trip report covering our stays at the St. Regis Singapore and Le Meridien Bangkok:

• Singapore Airlines SQ 21 – Newark (EWR) to Singapore (SIN) – All Business Class on the Longest Flight in the World!
• W Retreat Koh Samui
• The St. Regis Singapore
• Le Méridien Bangkok
• Le Méridien Angkor

The St. Regis Singapore

The St. Regis is a SPG category 6 hotel requiring 20,000 – 25,000 SPG points for a free night.  Lucky for us, during our three night stay there was a last minute online special non-refundable rate of $179 per night available which I booked on the spot. The next cheapest regular room rate was over $300 per night.  Upon arrival we were warmly welcomed by the staff at the hotel and promptly seated at one of the three check-in desks.  I’m glad we got there when we did as just five minutes later there were several other people waiting and with only three check in desks the line got long really quickly (there’s no check-in counter or SPG check-in).

We arrived at the hotel before 730am as even with the additional 40 minutes of flying time on the EWR-SIN flight, we still landed prior to 630am.  As an SPG Platinum member we were informed that we would be upgraded one category to a Grand Deluxe room our first night, but if we were willing to change each consecutive night we could have the Lady Astor room on our second night, and the St. Regis suite on our third. Not the most convenient rooming situation in terms of unpacking and relaxing but I was eager to sample all three rooms and agreed to the upgrades. Our first room was still being cleaned and we were invited to have some breakfast and offered a changing room to shower and switch into some more summer appropriate clothing.  We were also informed of our SPG Platinum benefits which included daily free breakfast at the main restaurant or out at the pool as well as complimentary wine tasting and evening canapes. As we headed over the breakfast we couldn’t help but notice the amazing artwork surrounding the lobby and the overall sophisticated feel of the hotel.  The indoor breakfast room is truly majestic and overlooks the outdoor fountain pools, though we did feel a little guilty sitting in the same clothes we had worn for the last 24 hours!

The breakfast itself included a huge variety of both western and local choices and we were offered made to order omelets and even a weekly special of 8 oz. filet and eggs.  It was an excellent breakfast variety but looking back on the spread at the Le Meridien Bangkok it’s hard to compare (more on that in part 4 of the trip report).

Next it was out to the pool while we waited for our room.  The pool area is really nice and the water (even though cold) is extremely refreshing, especially on a 98F day!

We were later personally notified at the pool that our room was ready and then escorted upstairs.  Once upstairs our private butler arrived and gave us a tour of the room.  We were offered tea and unpacking assistance though we passed up both services.  All three rooms throughout the stay had certain commonalities including large bathrooms with tvs built into either the mirror in front of the bathtub or in the vanity mirror in front of the sink as well as heated de-fogging mirrors.

Additionally, the rooms all had a console by the bed to control the curtains which allowed you to select several different lighting options as well as built in Bose surround sound throughout the room, including speakers on both sides of the bed and in the living rooms of the suites (these came in handy during our pre-game activities).

All rooms also offer the standard St. Regis butler service with complimentary tea, unpacking / packing assistance, and pressing services. My colleague and I both took advantage of the pressing services before we went out that first night.

Speaking of colleagues, the Lady Astor room was probably the most appropriate for two friends sharing as the room is still quite large but includes two separate beds.  However, all rooms had amazingly comfortable beds, window seats overlooking different parts of the city, pillow menus, and jet showers.  The suite (penthouse) had higher ceilings and chandeliers and a living room but amenity wise was pretty identical to the other rooms (black Bose speakers are located in the corners of all the rooms).

Overall, we were very happy with our stays.  All three rooms were excellent, we enjoyed the breakfast and pools (didn’t make it back for the wine tastings any of our nights), and the service was top notch.  By the end of the first day several staff members even greeted us by name.  One of the strangest parts of the trip was returning to our room one night to find the below with a card and fruit basked from the butler, a nice gesture but a little off for two colleagues sharing a room, though to his credit he had only seen me upon check in!