After our flight with Cathay Pacific to Singapore we took a taxi from the airport to our hotel, the InterContinental Singapore Robertson Quay. We selected this hotel as it was brand new, just operating for a few months, and cheaper than the ‘old’ InterContinental at Bugis.

The InterContinental Singapore Robertson Quay is located along the Singapore River, close to the Robertson Quay and Clarke Quay commercial areas where you can find many shopping and dining options. The hotel itself is located in a quiet dead-end street in a residential area, so you won’t be bothered by traffic noise. The closest MRT stations are Fort Canning on the Downtown Line and Clarke Quay on the North East Line, both are about ten to fifteen minutes walking so for a lot of excursions it’s often easier and more convenient to make use of the relatively cheap taxis. Luckily most of the city centre is in walking distance with just a nice and quiet walk along the pedestrianized riverside.

 

The hotel itself is divided into two main parts, at ground level you find the hotel restaurant ‘Publico‘, an Italian style deli, a gym which you could only access by walking outside along the building and of course the main entrance where you could find the elevator to take you to level 4. At level 4 you have the main lobby where you can find the check-in and a small bar in the centre, at the elevator end the restrooms and the meeting rooms and at the other end there is the Club InterContinental. On the outside terrace which runs all the way around level 4 you can find the swimming pool, which was the first pool which I felt to be bigger than it appeared on photographs. Even though it was quite narrow it had a proper length to do some swimming to keep in shape.

The Room

With my Ambassador status we got an upgrade to a more spacious Club Deluxe Studio Twin on level 9 which provided a lateral view on the Singapore River. When entering the room you had the bathroom on the left hand side with some storage closets along the wall on the right. The Bathroom was divided into three areas, in the centre you had a wash basin alongside which were available all toiletries and towels as well as a hair dryer and even a scale. At the left hand side behind the glass wall there was the spacious rain shower, which was surprisingly simple to use while at the right hand side behind another glass wall was the toilet cubicle.

 

Further down in the room you had the two comfortable double beds with many pillows on them, the only downside being that the beds where on the short side so my feet where hanging over the edge when lying down. The panoramic windows had two sets of curtains which you could lower by pressing on a button to provide the necessary privacy or black-out. Right in front of the window there was a small table with a fruit scale and some water bottles on it with a proper chair at one side and a sort of bench against the wall at the other side. In between the televison and the closet at the opposite side of the room you had the usual minibar and coffee and tea facilities along with a mini cocktail bar to make your own cocktails, something the hotel seemed to be very proud of. As of course the cocktail ingredients weren’t complimentary we opted not to try out making our own cocktail but decided to enjoy some of the complimentary ones in the Club Lounge.

 

The most useful feature of the room by far was the complimentary smartphone to take along in Singapore, this provided you with unlimited 3G data coverage as well as complimentary calls. During our stay in Singapore it proved to be very useful as we could use the GPS function to find our way in the city and google everything we needed and wanted to know. We even had to use it to explain our taxi drivers where exactly we wanted to go as places and addresses aren’t the best known in Singapore. This smartphone certainly was very beneficial as this meant we didn’t need to buy a local sim card for the weekend or spend lots of money on roaming charges.

The Club Lounge

As we booked a club rate for our stay this meant we would have access to the Club InterContinental on level 4. To enter this area we had to scan our key cards at the entry door, after which the door opened to let us in. The inside portion of the lounge was on the small side with some tables and seats along the windows and the bar and food area along the wall. Even though the inside was rather small the lounge boasted a wonderful spacious terrace on which we spent most of our time in the lounge, enjoying some warmth and sun while we could. As even the WiFi reception outside was exemplary there was no need to sit inside at freezing air-conditioning temperatures. As usual the lounge was designed in a way you could serve your own drinks and food but there was plenty of staff present making sure you couldn’t make a mess and you were served by them instead.

 

In the morning breakfast was served in the lounge, while most items could be selected from the buffet inside you also had to option of ordering your personalised egg dishes which were served on your table. Unfortunately on the second morning there was a power cut and the egg station couldn’t deliver the egg dishes for a while so the order took a while to arrive, the staff apologized several times for this and later in the afternoon we even got a personal apology from the manager along with two glasses of prosecco, just to prove how service oriented the staff at the hotel was.

In the afternoon you were served afternoon tea, with an emphasis on the sweet part. Most of the items where delicious although maybe a bit on the small side but of course you could order extra’s if you wanted. The tea selection was also exemplary with some very nice flavours to choose from.

In the evening there was a selection of canapés as well as a small buffet with some salads, cold cuts, cheese and bread. The highlight however was the cocktail menu with some very delicious freshly made cocktails and mocktails.

 

The Restaurant

As on the last day of our stay the club lounge was reserved for a private event, probably due to the Singapore Airshow taking place that week, the hotel arranged for us to have breakfast in the restaurant instead. If we wanted to have afternoon tea or evening cocktails there where made arrangements as well, all clearly explicated in a letter when we checked in, this was quite a contrast to our stay in the Crowne Plaza Belgrade where they just rudely put us in a corridor without proper explanation . This story will be published in the future.

 

In the restaurant there was a much bigger breakfast menu to choose from, with plate sizes being much bigger too. The quality of the food served on the table was outstanding, the food on the rather small buffet not so much. The décor of the restaurant made it look like a cheap-ish Italian restaurant somewhere in the United States and didn’t really fit in with the rest of the hotel. Also service was a bit spotty here, taking a long time before someone came to take our orders. If you would actually have to pay the prices they charge you for this, the experience would be a bit underwhelming.

 

All in all I would rate the experience we had in the hotel as good and certainly would not hesitate to come here again and recommend this hotel to other people. The biggest asset they have is their staff, they all do their utmost best to provide the best possible experience at the hotel and this all with a genuine feeling of friendliness.