A whole new year, a whole new beginning! A whole new world, a new-

I’ll stop there! Don’t worry, I won’t sing the Aladdin theme song.

I hope everyone is having a great start of the year! I am genuinely super excited because this year, not only new hotels are opening up soon but more hotels that are closed for operations are now starting to re-open their doors for leisure stays!

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One of the many hotels are, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and I was there during the reopening week!

The hotel was in full-swing when I arrived. The front desk was busy, the restaurant was full. It makes me happy to see how fast the hotel industry is healing. I remembered passing by Fullerton Hotel during the start of the pandemic and everything was dark and gloomy. It was legitly a ghost town. I was genuinely upset. It seemed like we were losing the battle to the virus but here we are 3 years later, still going strong and motivated.

It was crowded during check-in despite having a time slot booked prior to my arrival. However, the process was fast and efficient. Queue poles were placed, concierge staff was around to facilitate. Everything was organised! Mind you, it was only the first week of reopening and they were fully prepared. Impressed? Definitely, yes!

The hotel lobby was grand and phenomenal! Costing a whopping $17 million, they went through a massive refurbishment in late 2016 and till now, it still looks stunning as ever. It’s incredible how everything still looks shiny and new.

Alexa, play Like A Virgin by Madonna.

When I walked in, the first thing that captured my attention was the artwork lighting on the ceiling by MOLO. It looks like colourful clouds! I love it.

I was greeted by the ever so courteous front office manager, Ms Lynn Kim. Super polite, super gracious. I truly love how my arrival was anticipated, how my room upgrade and requests were prepared swiftly just when I checked in.

Unlike the hotel’s revamped lobby, the lift lobby on my level was rather gloomy and dark.

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The room that we’re gonna review today is the Deluxe Waterfront Room.

Like the name suggests, the first thing you’ll see when you open the door to the Deluxe Waterfront room is the beautiful, picturesque 180 degree view of the riverside from the full-walled windows.

I am very much into sky views. I love my sunsets, I love cloud-spotting so being in this room was indeed an absolute pleasure. You will feel as though you’re literally up with the clouds. Love!

A super cute fruit platter was also prepared in my room. I really do appreciate these healthy amenities, as compared to the sweet junks that certain hotels offer. My cravings are really specific! If I don’t have any chocolate cravings, I can go without eating them for years.

With a whopping size of 376 sqft, the room is bigger than most standard hotel rooms. In fact, this particular category is the biggest one apart from their suites. With the big windows, not only does the room look spacious, it feels airy and open too. You won’t feel claustrophobic here, I promise!

But the downside of having a room that is too spacious is the awkward placing of furnitures. The television, in my opinion, was a little too far from the bed. There isn’t any screen-mirroring function nor does it have any Smart TV features so this is where a HDMI cable comes in handy. The screen of the TV was really small too. Fortunately, the volume and audio was great so at least that makes up for it.

The placing of the sofa was also odd, not really a great position to comfortably watch anything from the TV screen.

I usually have my movie sessions on bed, prolly the only reason why I’d prefer to have a bigger TV here.

Speaking about beds! The deluxe waterfront rooms come with a king-sized bed. Super comfy! Nothing weird or unusual about it. I generally love hotel beds, they’re always extra comfy than my personal one at home. My personal favourite bed is from Yotel! They’re really.. beyond comfortable. Should I do a review there soon? What say you?

The bed here comes with four fluffy pillows. I love sleeping with a lot of pillows! But two for each person is just as great.

Right by the bed is the end table, that is equipped with a lamp and two bottled water. No USB or plug sockets are available here so you’ll need to find a place elsewhere to charge your devices. Personally for me, I like it when my devices are charging near me when I’m on bed.

On the far end of the room is a work desk with a bright, dimmable reading lamp installed on it. A wired telephone is available too!

While no USB slots are available at the work area, there are plug sockets for you to utilise here. In terms of trend and technology, Grand Copthorne Waterfront certainly has lots to improve on.

There isn’t any coffee machines in the room. Instead, a kettle to boil your own water is provided for your coffee or tea making session.

For a 5-star hotel, it’s rather peculiar for them to use Nescafe for their coffee sachets. But hey, at least it’s not from Super right?

Other amenities like robes, safe-box, hangers and ironing board is provided as well.

In terms of safety, the hotel is indeed well-prepared. A torch light is provided for emergency. Just a little fun fact about them! The emergency torchlights are designed and engineered based on the hospitality standards. With an aluminium body, you can also use it to break a callpoint to trigger the fire alarm or break the exit’s break-glass in case of emergency.

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Just like the room, the bathroom is massive as well. In this room category, the bathroom comes with a tub and also a separate shower if taking a bath isn’t your thing. Downside? There isn’t any bidet here.

I absolutely love the gigantic mirror! It covers almost more than half of the wall. It definitely made the bathroom look bigger than it actually is. The bathroom can get a little too dim during the night too with the warm yellow lights so be careful with your steps!

I think it’d be great if the marble floors and tilings are white instead of the dark-coloured ones they have now. Future revamp maybe?

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Now, do I recommend this hotel for your next stay? Certainly, I do! I do think the hotel need to improve in terms of the current trend and technology but to be honest, it doesn’t affect my experience here at all.

Grand Copthorne Waterfront is indeed, a very remarkable hotel for your relaxing staycation or getaway. In fact, they were awarded the best luxury hotel in Singapore back in 2020. It definitely live up to its name, I truly enjoyed my short but memorable stay.

I genuinely love how the hotel team, be it from the restaurant or frontdesk, took care of my every need and wants. Their interaction and service was personalised and warm too. Definitely not the cookie-cutter approach unlike some hotels, sometimes you don’t even know if you’re talking to a robot or a real human.

With Grand Copthorne Waterfront’s great service and current affordable rate..

I’ll be back.