First room I checked into had a smell like something had died in it. Not exaggerating here, it almost made me gag. I asked to move rooms. The second room was the same layout as the first - very small, no shower curtain, a postage stamp sized TV. The bed was rock hard (and I'm used to a firm mattress). The mattress was covered with vinyl (no doubt because the rooms are used by the many prostitutes that congregate outside) and the thin sheet kept slipping off.

On the plus side, there was free Wifi, and the location of the hotel is interesting. True, it's in a red light district, and the prostitutes hang around on the streets outside, but it didn't feel dangerous at all and the area had a very genuine "locals" feel to it instead of being just another street full of shopping malls. Some pretty good local places to eat in the area. About a 10 minute walk to the nearest MRT which is about 4 or 5 stops from the city - not too bad.

Singapore hotels are expensive. This is one of the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. For a cheap stopover in an area with a "local" feel, it's OK. But just for one night. I stayed for two and was happy to be leaving.

I stayed here as a transit stop and it was ok. I do not mind being in Geylang and if you understand it's a red light area and can live with it, why not? The good thing about Geylang, if you are a foodie, is the massing number of restaurants in the area service excellent local foods. Everything is available, and is cheap and delicious.

What I didn't like about the hotel was the aircon was too warm, so much so I really had a tough time sleeping. For that reason alone, I will not stay there again.

However, if the heat doesn't bother you, it's a reasonable hotel.

Hotel 81 is a hotel chain in Singapore. Many of their hotels were obviously purchased from other owners and remodeled. The rooms are actually quite clean and modern. we spent one night in the Hotel 81 Princess in Geyland which is in the middle of the red light district. Many hotels in this and other areas rent by the hour. But here is the fatal flaw in this hotel chain - in all their hotels the mattresses are made, or at least covered, in Naugahyde plastic! The sheets are also about 90% plastic polyester. You cannot sleep on these beds! In my 40 years of world travels this was the worst mattress I have ever slept on. The sheets will slide around and off the bed and to top things off there is no mattress cover. I checked other Hotel 81's and they all have this horrible mattress. I told them I would rather sleep on a park bench which would have been more comfortable! We booked over the Internet for three nights but left after one night. They tried to charge us a one night penalty for "cancelling" but this was not a cancellation it was rejecting a room that was uninhabitible. They did refund our money for the extra two nights. No free Wi-Fi in these hotels. Our room at the Princess was postage stamp size and they mounted the small flat screen TV so that when you moved around the bed your head would impact the TV stand on the wall. If it weren't for the mattress and sheets this would have been a decent place to stay at a reasonable price for expensive Singapore.

I stayed in many hotel 81. But this one is the best. These hotel 81 s are all located in Geylang which is considered to be Red Light area. Yet these are the hotels with clean records.

In my opinion "princess" of hotel 81 is really very good. This time when I had the problem with my room's sink getting clogged and found it at around 1:30 am. I was quite hesitant in calling the reception at that hour fearing that they would suggest me to change the room. To my surprise, there was this handyman who knocked only 10 minutes later. He came in and temporarily fixed it. It was however, fixed again properly in the morning without me reminding then.

A very nice budget motel for a place like Singapore