I was appalled by our reception. Two cars had been allowed to block the driveway for one particular family. After an interminable wait, our vehicle was finally allowed to pull up and our luggage was discharged, but no one from the hotel came to help us.
Bizarrely, this hotel has done away with the reception counter and replaced it with individual desks, so you feel like you're going up to your boss when you check in. With this ridiculous design innovation the hotel is telling you who's in charge, and it isn't you.
But I deliberately chose this hotel—friends stayed there during a previous visit of mine—because of its excellent location. It is right across the Singapore Art Museum and just down the road from Nathan. Raffles is a short stroll away and the exquisitely Gothic Chimes even nearer.
The design of the rooms, with a glass bowl sink over a glass counter in the bathrooms and flat screen TVs in front of the beds, is now looking a little dated, but their condition is still mint.
It's undoubtedly the value of the quality of the rooms and the hotel's prime location that draws heavy traffic to the hotel. Unfortunately, the traffic seems to have worn down the staff, and, to me, the staff manning those ludicrous desks seem to have been swept away into a torpor by a profound sense of futility. What can it all mean, they seem to be thinking to themselves as they check you in. Maybe they should visit the art museum to get over it.
- Royal At Queens Singapore
- Royal At Queens Hotel
