Lately all my hotel reviews are around town or Orchard Road so I decided to check out other properties elsewhere on other parts of Singapore to just explore a little. I’m from the west side of our sunny little island so naturally I don’t travel anywhere near the north but this time I did!
Ramada by Wydham Singapore is located at Ah Hood Road, with Toa Payoh MRT being the nearest train station. I know! Toa Payoh? There’s a hotel there?! I mean I’ve heard about it but still, it seemed a tad too out-of-place for me but I always keep my mind and options open so here we go!
Being a business hotel, of course the main lobby isn’t as trendy and grand as the leisure, traditional ones do. I totally love the high ceiling and the panda plushies! A little random but it’s so cute. Check-in process was quick and swift, I usually do all my enquiries through emails so that saved a little time too.
I booked the standard room, the City View room. My initial plan was to upgrade to the patio room category but the clouds decided to cry on that day so that’s cancelled. The rain said.. not today! The occupancy level wasn’t that high during my stay too so the ever-so-polite front desk agent gave me an option to choose between the City View room and a Park View room.
Smart little me chose the Park view one, thinking it has views similar like Marina Bay Sands. I know! Sometimes my expectations are too high, I can’t even explain it myself.
Apparently the Park View room has a view of the park.. but not the park I had in mind? It looks like a normal neighbourhood one. Was I disappointed? Not really though. Sometimes I laugh at my own stupid decisions, really remarkable how I’m still alive at this point. If I had known, I would definitely chose the city view room. I’ll never get bored of seeing skyscrapers! Learn from my mistake, besties.
The room has floor-to-ceiling windows, which instantly make the room bright, airy and spacious. Of course, the actual size of the room indeed helped, definitely big for a standard room.
Speaking about big! Because sizes do matter, okay? The standard room comes with a king bed, which surprisingly.. was just enough for three.
I was in love with the bed! A few hours, and I was dead and gone. I truly appreciate hotels that provide more than two pillows. There’s four here on the bed, and another extra one in the wardrobe. Pillow fights!
It was perfection. The bedsheet looks cute too! Totally love how it’s not those normal, boring white sheets you get at most hotels. If you know where to get them, tell me! I need it for my bedroom too. The artwork or photography by the bed was a little random, I must say. Is the hotel supposed to have a heritage theme?
The room was that spacious that the corner of it is enough to make into a lounging area. Oh, there’s an extra cushion here too! Every space available in the room was made practical and that’s great! My friends and I used that corner to sit and have dinner. Plus, it’s the perfect spot to just enjoy the sunset.
A fruit platter was also prepared in the room prior to my arrival. Although, I’m unsure if that’s for all room categories.
As for the amenities, there wasn’t any coffee machine sadly. The teas provided are from Dilmah, which is one of my favourite household brands. Affordable yet so delicious.
Of course, if the hotels provide in-room dining, it’s almost compulsory for me to actually order in something. It’s the convenience for me. It’s rather annoying to drop by the lobby every single time you order food externally so in-room dining is always the best choice!
I ordered the grilled chicken and the beef burger. One downside and prolly one of my biggest pet peeve, is when food is served in a paper bento box. Let me rephrase that, it’s my biggest pet peeve when hotels serve their in-room dining food in a bento box. It diminishes part of the experience if you ask me. Apparently they said due to the pandemic, they prefer using disposable boxes. I don’t really understand that, like don’t you have a dishwasher with a hot water system to disinfect the plates? Or they don’t have enough manpower, hence nobody to man the dishwasher? I’m confused.
As miserable as the food and packaging looks, the food was surprisingly great. Never judge a book by its cover! In this case, never judge the food by it’s disposable packaging. The burger? Cooked to perfection! Patty was well-seasoned, it was just super juicy. The grilled chicken? A tad too dry but the star of the dish was definitely the broccoli. I don’t know what seasoning or sauce the chef used but I gotta say, that’s the best broccoli I’ve ever tasted in my whole life. No lie.
The bathroom in this room category comes with a bathtub, which is great cause I love soaking myself in a bubble bath after a long day. Not sure what scientific benefit it has, but it relaxes my mind! Something about dipping in my own filth excites me.
What I greatly appreciate is the existence of a bidet here! It really makes everything more comfortable. Sometimes during my hotel reviews, I would hold my poop in cause it’s just too uncomfortable to do my business without having a proper bidet. It’s 2022, it’s time for hotels to invest in some great bidet. A great bidet, with a greater water pressure. Let’s make bidet great again.
Everything looks simple and clean. Not much design was incorporated in the bathroom but it’s alright to me considering the property is a 4-star branded hotel.
No expectations! As long as the toilet looks and feel squeaky clean, it’s perfect for me.
Since Ramada by Wyndham Singapore is a business hotel, it really is a good hotel if you need somewhere calm and quiet to do your work. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring your friends over! I did and we had the best time ever.
In terms of convenience, the hotel is housed within the same building as Zhongshan mall where you can get a huge variety of food if the in-room dining menu doesn’t excite you. NTUC Fairprice is also located on the ground level, so everything you may need is within your reach.
Affordable, convenient and a spacious room. The hotel ticks all the right boxes for me and I hope it’s gonna be the same for you too.
Aliff Daniel 