Dorsett Singapore is easily one of my favorite hotels in Chinatown. Great location, plenty of vibrant bars and amazing restaurants around the vicinity makes it the perfect choice for a short staycation here. The room rate? It’s affordable too! I live for that.
The fact that it’s super near to my office makes it really convenient for me to return to work after checking out from the hotel. I stayed at Dorsett Singapore a total of three times including this one. You know what they say, the third time’s a charm and it absolutely felt like it indeed.
Dorsett Singapore has a total of 285 guestrooms. Throughout my stays here, I’ve stayed at the Dorset room, the loft and thanks to their great marketing team, my stay this time round was triple-upgraded to the Balcony Room with the Koi pond view. Prior to my booking, I was already checking out all the rooms and no doubt, the balcony room really stood out for me. The fact that the same exact room that I wanted, was allocated for my review is really incredible. Expectations, exceeded.
A huge, bright chandelier greeted me when I first stepped into the entrance. It gives the hotel lobby a quirky, yet lavish feel. The concierge at the entrance was friendly too, though he didn’t know if the hotel provides ice bucket or not.
The queue for check-in wasn’t that crowded at all, the perk of having a staycation during the weekday!
Dorsett Singapore is advertised as a 4-star hotel but if nobody is really counting the stars, it can totally pass off as a cute, 5-star luxury boutique hotel. The interior design is remarkable, the hotel theme isn’t confusing. The focus is clear.
The lift lobby is really breathtaking. The warm lighting, the beautiful modern carpet design really gives off the sophisticated and chic vibes! And that intricate french design on the white fireplace? Parfait, mi amor.
I am super in love with the design of the carpet and wallpaper. The way it complements each other is just phenomenal. I’m actually looking for a similar wallpaper design cause I feel like I made a wrong choice choosing a vintage-victorian wallpaper for my bedroom at home. It was supposed to give off Queen Elizabeth’s room in the Buckingham Palace but it just looks like the Hajjah Maimunah outlet at Geylang right now.
The corridor to the guestrooms is well-lit with beautiful lighting and the cutest thing here that captured my attention was the vintage cameras literally pasted on the wall, on a tripod. Unique and never been done before! The shutter click on the “camera” works as a door bell. A little random with the camera aesthetic but I am into quirky arts lately, so this was really interesting.
The balcony room comes with a king-sized bed with a Posturepedic mattress, a mattress designed to help provide proper support for your whole body. It also isolates any kind of movement so if your partner is someone who moves around too much when they sleep, you’re good here. Yes, it was so comfortable and I didn’t really wanna wake up in the morning.
The balcony room has a total size of 25m². While the room size is the same to all standard hotel rooms in Singapore, what stands out here is the high ceiling and the full-walled windows that also doubles as a sliding door that exits out to the balcony facing the koi pond.
I’d like to point out at how considerate the hotel is really is. If you notice, the plug sockets here are universal and not the normal ones we have in our homes. This is really great cause it eliminates the hassle of international guests calling the front desk asking for universal adaptors. One other great features is the ability to dim the lights in the room which really comes in handy for someone like me who doesn’t like really bright lights. It can be so blinding sometimes.
The room also comes with a 40-inch LED television with the usual cable channel. Mind you, there isn’t any netflix or chromecast here so you’re not able to mirror any of your device on the screen. As always, I do recommend getting a HDMI cable so you can connect your device literally anytime and anywhere.
A workdesk is provided for you to utilize if you have any work to be done. A downside to the space here is the lack of plug sockets, so if you have a laptop for work usage and you need to charge it, make sure your charging cable is long enough to connect to the other plug sockets.
Coffee and tea sachets are provided throughout the stay. No coffee machine is provided so everything has to be done manually. Bottled water was prepared too but it wasn’t enough for the night, considering the size of it being so small, we had to call the housekeeping team to send us more throughout the stay.
Inside the wardrobe; bathrobes, steam-iron, safebox and other room amenities are available for you to use. Not many 4-star hotels actually provide bathrobes for their guests but I’m glad Dorsett does it.
The bathroom here in the balcony room is not that spacious but it works just as fine. Doors to the bathroom is translucent which I really despise cause I don’t need anyone seeing my shadows whenever I move around in the showers. The mirror here isn’t big enough too. It’s a little high? I’m short so I literally can only see from my shoulder onwards. A little hassle for me cause I need to tiptoe when drawing my eyebrows. I know, first world problems right?
Another downside is the absence of a bidet. Fortunately, the hand-held shower was long enough to reach the toilet bowl, so all is well. Though if I have something to nitpick on, I would prefer the pressure to be a little stronger.
The bathroom amenities are provided by Elemis, a british brand that has amazing toiletries that are currently used in high-end spas and luxury cruise ships worldwide.
The Balcony Room with a koi pond view is located on the third level. Despite the rooms being on a low floor, the view was just as amazing. Though, I really feel the plant in the middle of the photo above really redundant. It blocks the view of the city skyline.
The balcony is furnished with a seating area for you to just chill and hang out. It was raining during my stay so sadly, we didn’t get to do so but just look at how pretty the atmosphere is. It kinda reminds me of those Bali villas, almost.
The koi fishes here were really friendly and interactive. I’ve always loved fishes, so to get close to them was intensely cute. They looked really hyper whenever we get near them but I’m sure they’re just hungry and waiting for us to throw some food pellets into the water. Just a reminder! Please do not feed them as they have the hotel staffs feeding them already.
All balcony rooms with the koi pond view are located on the 3rd level of the hotel. Here on the 3rd level, the rooms are also near to the hotel amenities like the swimming pool, jacuzzi and the gym.
The pool area was closed for maintenance (will only be ready for guests on September) during my stay so I checked out the gym instead. It was fully furnished with state-of-the-art machines which I hope, I would know how to use them one day. The gym was indeed, really huge and with that walled-mirror everywhere? Selfie time!
Dorsett Singapore fits all the criteria for me to have a very relaxing staycation. Not only it was affordable, the rooms and the service was really top-notch during my stay. Of course, the location of the hotel played a part too when I booked the hotel. It’s important for me for the hotel to be accessible so that it’s efficient for me to plan out my schedule and route for the day.
I definitely recommend this hotel to you. Different room categories here cater to different guests’ needs. If you’re going with a group of your besties, the loft room is perfect. If you just want somewhere quiet, the balcony room is perfect. I love nature and modern buildings, so the room I had was really excellent.
If my review made you decide to book a stay here, good news! There’s an ongoing promotion right now that I’m sure you’re gonna love: Travel Today, The Wait is Over.
Benefits include:
- 25% off Best Available Rate
- Flexible free cancellation 7 days prior to arrival
- Complimentary “Dorsett 3 Wishes” perks with Direct Booking
- Additional 12% off with Direct Booking as Dorsett Your Rewards member
Promotion ends on 31 December 2022.
Aliff Daniel 