In a busy, yet tiny little island that we live in, it’s kinda tricky to find a peaceful, serene location to just find some inner peace and relax. I’m a mix in between, I love being around skyscrapers and architecture but also immensely love being around nature and the greeneries too.
One location that fits that criteria is Robertson Quay! The only estate in Singapore I personally love. It has everything I need, from amazing Italian restaurants to just serenity that I desperately need because the past months of my personal life were nothing but overwhelming.
Being in Robertson Quay is simply peaceful. Despite the streets being crowded in the early evenings, it’s somehow a totally different atmosphere than being in a crowded area in the city. People walking their dogs, calming Italian music. God, my Singaporean dream is to get a cute little apartment here!
But since that’s not happening anytime soon, let’s stay a night in a hotel there instead!
Riverside Hotel is located in between Robertson Quay and Clarke Quay. Surrounded by many great restaurants there, you’ll never be out of dining options. My personal favourites? Mondo Mio if you’re into Italian cuisines and Privé if you’re into anything western. If you’re there in the morning, Botany serves delicious breakfast!
The hotel that we’re checking out today is once known as Park Hotel Clarke Quay. It used to be managed by the Park Hotel Group and after the failure of paying a $6 million debt, the property was then bought over by Ascott. Since then, the hotel is rebranded to what we know now as the Riverside Hotel Robertson Quay!
Till today, I’m not sure what’s going on with Park Hotel Group? Even their hotel in Little India was sold over to IHG. Currently they are left with only two hotels to run here in Singapore, the Grand Park City Hall and Park Hotel Alexandra. I’ve not tried neither, so I can’t really give an opinion to how their hotels are managed.
I’m super interested with hotel buy-overs so don’t mind the little extra facts!
I have been to Riverside Hotel Robertson Quay before and after the buy-over and surprisingly, nothing has actually changed visually. No revamp was done other than the change of the logo and signages of the rebranded hotel name.
Check-in was smooth and quick. I am so bad with names so pardon me! I couldn’t remember who checked me in but he was polite and courteous. Prior to my arrival, the hotel team prepared and upgraded my room to the deluxe category. So thank you for that! I totally live for complimentary upgrades.
The corridors are lighted with lights of warm colours which I really love cause it makes everything seem calm and mellow. The design of the lift lobby reminds me so much of Grand Hyatt’s because of the earthy and neutral colour palette.
My room was on the eight level. Not too high, not too low either but the view was fantastic.
The deluxe rooms has a size of 24 square metres, just enough to fit two person per room. Similar like the hotel and lift lobby, the room also has a warm lighting which promotes relaxation.
The full-length bay windows is great for natural lighting too! So if the warm lighting from the room is too dim for you, you have nothing to worry about. I am in love with full-bay windows because I’m such a sucker for sunsets. Watching sunsets from the bed is truly calming for me.
Also, the high ceiling makes the room feel extra spacious and not claustrophobic so that’s great.
The comfort level of the bed is sub-par to me, though. Pillows are insufficient, not to mention that they were also super flat and have no volume to it. The duvet or comforter was too thin for comfort too, there wasn’t any luxurious feel about it at all.
The standard of the bed-making procedure was not done professionally. It seems very lazy and messy. It might be minor for some cause you’ll end up getting the bed messy anyway but I actually do pay attention to the littlest details. Even more so when I need to take photos of it for the blog or Instagram feed. Not very worthy Insta-worthy, you know?
The room also comes with the standard tea and coffee-making station. Coffee machine wasn’t provided so you’ll just have to make do with the water kettle but after reading bizarre stories about how people use the kettles for other “needs”, I tend to avoid using it at all cost. Did y’all hear the story about a guest boiling her panties in the kettle? Dis-gus-taang.
Notice how the hotel here uses a cheaper brand option for their bottled water too, like how budget one-star hotels do. I understand that a new management just took over but I hope moving forward, they’ll replace these with the bottles that has the hotel logo on it like most Ascott properties do. It’s just a little funny to have huge 1.5 water bottles in a hotel room, it’s like we’re going on a picnic!
Tea sachets provided here are from Dilmah, a common household tea brand while the coffee sachets are from Nescafe.
Inside the room’s wardrobe is where you get the basic amenities like your ironing board, hairdryer and room slippers. A safe-box is available for you to store your valuables too.
Hangers and an extra pillow are also provided but what was missing are the bathrobes. Before they rebranded and the hotel was still under Park Hotel Group’s management, robes are made available in all room categories. They’re cutting costs here, maybe?
The bathroom was nothing out of the norm. No doubt, it was clean. My room category includes a bathtub too which I really love cause I love my late-night dips!
There’s a rain-shower system and also a hand-held one if you prefer that better. The hotel is a little dated, so that explains the old-looking shower curtains.
No bidet was provided for the toilet but fret not! Remember the hand-held shower head I talked about earlier? Good news! It’s long enough to reach to the toilet seat so your bumbum can be squeaky clean after you poopoo.
Bathroom amenities are from VitaminSpa, which is actually a good and reputable brand for toiletries. So you don’t have to worry, it’s not unbranded toiletries bought in bulk from skeptical supplier websites. Familiar anyone?
The products from VitaminSpa are made out of natural ingredients that includes Vitamin B5 which has great benefits. You can read more about their products here!
I’d also like to point out that I do appreciate the bright, white lighting in the bathroom. While the hotel embraces warm lighting literally everywhere, having them in the bathroom can be impractical. White lights in the bathroom is super ideal if you’re like me, who needs the mirror to draw your eyebrows! It’s the littlest things, ladies and gentlemen. I need my eyebrows!
Before I end, I wanna tell you a rather funny experience I had here. Usually for my stays, my requests are pretty much the same and not at all demanding I’m sure; I need my room with a bathtub and I drink most of my beverages from a wine glass. Nothing fancy or pretentious about it, I’m just interested with the concept of a wine glass. The size of the rim, the depth of the bowl, the shape of the curves.
I’m fascinated just by the design of a wine glass. Sometimes I will call ahead if time to check if the hotel has it or not. This may surprise you, but some 5-star hotel don’t provide wine glasses at all even if their on-site restaurants has it. They offered me paper cups instead. Yeah, I find that weird too.
Anyhoo! Back to my story. During check-in, I requested for wine glasses to be sent to my room. Being at the front desk myself, I totally understand working alone on a shift so I particularly didn’t mind the long wait after an hour of not having the wine glasses sent to my room.
But it was taking too long so I called the front desk again. They sent a housekeeping staff to send me the wine glass. The problem is, it wasn’t a wine glass.
It was a low-ball glass.
I called the front desk again and about 20 minutes or so, I got a knock on my door.
They sent me a champagne glass.
Did the same thing again and again. Called them up, and waited for a knock.
This time, they sent me a fruit juice glass.
At this point, I was kinda annoyed and I’m usually not that temperamental at all. But it’s just wine glass, how hard was it to get that right?
I literally have the whole set of glasses on my bed now.
I didn’t bother to wait anymore because I had dinner plans so I left the room and guess what I saw just outside the room adjacent to mine?
Wine glasses.
The issue wasn’t the lack of inventory but rather a miscommunication the front desk had with the housekeeping staff. Which is super weird for me cause wine glasses are basically.. the simplest thing anyone can ask for.
The hotel has great potential. It’s located in a prime, bustling location of Robertson Quay. Their rates are really affordable. I can’t find any reason to not recommend this hotel for your next staycation.
Yes, there are a lot of things that need improvements here but then again.. nobody no hotel is perfect. Except for The Fullerton Hotel.
I really do hope there’s changes moving forward. Be it a hotel revamp or quality of the guest service. It’s somewhat sad cause the property is really grand and beautiful.
Ascott is a great hotel brand, I’m sure they’ll get it right. Soon.
Aliff Daniel 