1 more staycation before I enlist on 05 Aug 2014 - Cultural Hotel @ 270 Jalan Besar

Exterior

The morning before we checked into the hotel, I tried calling the hotel to ask for early check in. They nearly gave me a heart-attack early in the morning because they told me they can’t find my name in their system. Frantically, I keep asking the receptionist to search carefully and eventually she found my name. Phewww ~ (LUCKY)

In the end, although we are able to check-in earlier, we took our time to buy snacks and lunch over before checking in. Ended up, we still check in at the timing previously assigned which was 14:00.

SNACKS~ WOHOOOO

The hotel is walking distance from city square mall and conveniently there’s one bustop situated right in front of it.

Reception Counter

The receptionist was nice and greeted us warmly however she seemed like she is still new to the job as her working speed is not up to standard and she is unsure of certain things in the hotel. She even forgot to ask me to sign the indemnity form which I then only realized need to be sign when we are checking out.

1 & only Lift

They should have more than one lift as the hotel has too many floors. It is rather irritating to stop at every single level whenever we want to take the lift up and down.

Spot the Room Key!

Upon receiving our room key, we quickly make our way up to our room at level 4. Our room was to our likings – spacious, clean, pleasant smell & comfortable J.

Double Bed

Tea/Coffee Making Set & Complimentary Water

Flat-Screen Television

Toilet [Towels provided :)]

As usual, once we stepped into the room, we are too lazy to make our way out. Just want to rest the whole day inside the room. 

But nope, time is precious, can’t waste it like this. So after munching away some snacks and my favourite mashed potato from Popeyes, we decided to head out and continue our original plan of going East Coast Park for cycling & roller-blading.

The most epic thing happened: someone left his wallet in the room!

The black Pedro wallet spotted!
Was covered under the NTUC plastic bag

So we eventually never went to ECP and head out to citi square mall for our early dinner and shop around the mall. We had jap food for dinner @ Nihon Mura!

We thought of watching movie but seemed like no movie interests us so we went into Toys ‘R’ Us to walk around. Just happened to see this Monopoly Hotel board game which made us fascinated over it. So we bought it back @ $10, what a good deal isn’t it?

At the moment when we are making payment, we were asked to sign up for their membership card for free, since the card looks nice why not? 

Meanwhile, I also asked them to wrap the board game up since also free. Always wanted to receive a gift in a wrapper when is what I chose but not I paid for it.

Finally we are back to our hotel room again and I was happily unwrapping the present like a small kid. At the same time, trying to figure out how to play the new board game we bought. It was really entertaining for us through the night!

After a 2 rounds of long battle, we are KO! So we went to sleep and wake up for breakfast the next morning. Heard reviews sad that the breakfast not worth trying, but still I would like to see it for myself.

Dining Area

Plates and Cups

Toaster

Eggs, Sausages, Hashbrown, Noodles, etc

Tea, Milk, Coffee

My Breakfast

It is really disappointing, nothing seem appealing to me hence I only grab two toasts, scrambled egg and some sausages to fill up the plate. The tea tasted weird also, smelled like jasmine tea which is not to my liking.

Thereafter, we went back to our room to kill some time before checking out at 12pm on the dot. No one bother to give us a call to remind us to check out, lucky we are aware of the time ourselves. 

Bye Bye Cultural Hotel

Descriptions:

Deluxe Rooms are 20sqm, and are fitted with queen or twin beds. Please note our child policy. Maximum only one child below 12 years of age is allowed to share existing bedding free (Breakfast included); extra bed is required for one future child or child above 12 years of age. Limited to maximum 3 persons in Superior/ Deluxe Room.

Room Features:

Non-smoking Rooms	Air-conditioning	Desk	Satellite/Cable TV
Television LCD/Plasma Screen	In Room Safe	Shower	Hair Dryer
Coffee/Tea Maker	Ironing Facilities	Complimentary Bottled Water	Free LAN Access

Good: Friendly receptionist, cosy and spacious room, clean toilet, well functioned air-conditioning, comfortable bed, accessible.

Poor: Breakfast lacked varieties & tastes, slow lift, no wake-up call.

Surprise treat to Kam Leng @ 383 Jalan Besar

Exterior

The moment we stepped in, we could sense the vintage kind of feeling. The decorations at the lobby were filled with the olden day’s kind of furniture. It was eye-catching and fascinating.

Reception Counter

After taking a tour around the hotel and took some photos, we proceed to check in at the reception counter. 

Lobby 

Dining Table

The receptionist was an American lady who was very polite towards us. Thereafter she did some admin procedures include asking for payment and passed us our room key.  

Room Key

Even the room key was printed with the vintage image of a Chinese lady dressed in the traditional clothing.

We went up to our room to wash up and rest before heading out. The room flooring was made of grounds that resemble those that we can found in secondary school classroom.

Our Room

I guess the hotel is trying to follow as closely to the vintage image, that’s why they used such flooring. Personally I do not like it as it feel dusty to step on it. Fortunately they provided us with disposable slippers.

The attic was beautiful as they have this spiral staircase which is filled with plants coiling around it. They have tables and chairs out there for guests to rest. However, I guess is not a good idea to sit out there as the chairs were not cleaned.

Friends came over to find us for supper opposite Kam Leng Hotel at the Lavender Food Square Centre. Friend recommended the Wan Ton Mee at there but we never managed to try as the queue was horrible.

Thereafter, we went back to wash up and sleep. The next morning was disturbing as the cleaner did not give any warning that she wants to do house-keeping. She nearly budge in but we stop her in time.

Descriptions:

Standard Queen Room. Feature 1 Queen Bed with ensuite bathroom. Free WiFi, full set of in room amenities. Window in bathroom, street view. Cost: $105.22 (inclusive of 7% Tax & 10.7% Service Charge)

Room Features:

Non-smoking rooms	Air-conditioning	Mini bar	Desk
Satellite/cable TV	Television LCD/plasma screen	Television	In room safe
Shower	Hair dryer	Coffee/tea maker	Complimentary bottled water
Free Lan and WiFi access

Good: 

1. Warm & Polite Customer Relation
2. The room is overall clean and pleasant smelled
3. Spacious room
4. Comfortable Bed 
5. Clean and spacious toilet
6. Nice decorations and ambiance

Poor:

1. Flooring of the hotel room
2. No wake-up call before house-keeping

1st Staycation in Singapore - Moon Hotel @ 23 Dickson Road

Exterior 

When we arrived at the hotel itself, we approached the receptionist for checking in on the Friday, May 16 2014. However, we were asked to wait for another 20 minutes as they have to clean up the room when we arrived at the appointed check-in timing.

Reception Counter

20 minutes later ~

We talked to the receptionist and kindly asked for late check-out for the next day as to compensate for the waiting. Yayyy, and they agreed!

Lobby

After which, we gotten our room key and went up to the room at level 3. To our dismay, our room does not seemed like how it should looked like in the picture shown online.

Reality 

Far from Reality

We got a Standard Room which stretched 16 metre squares. Breakfast provided. Cost $141.24 (including 7% Tax & 10.7% Service Charge)

Room Facilities:

• Standing Shower
• iPod/iPhone compatible stereo set
• Internet Protocol Television (IPTV)
• LED lighting
• Award winning designer platform bed with built-in executive table
• Slumberland mattress with micro-fibre silicon topper and pillows
• Pure cotton towels, bath robes, high-end Grohe faucets and fittings. 

Please note request for Twin Beds will be subjected to availability. 

Features:

Non-smoking rooms	Air-conditioning	Mini bar	Desk	Satellite/cable TV
Television LCD/plasma screen	In room safe	Shower	Hair dryer	Coffee/tea maker
Complimentary bottled water	Bathrobes	Free WiFi access

The room air-conditioning was bad as we stayed for 1-2 hours later, the room was still as warm as when we just arrived.

Oops, Lemon Green Tea & Wine are ours, not provided.

The fridge has complimentary drinks not only just mineral waters but soft drinks like sprite and fruits drinks which we never see the brand before. It tasted weird though so not worth trying.

The television was good as the size is just awesome and right smack in front of us while we are laying down on the bed.

The WiFi connection was bad as we had hard time loading movie online, in the end, the laptop was brought for nothing.

At night, we wanted to open the alcohol which we brought along with us. We tried to ask for a wine opener from the receptionist as we do not own one but we got rejected. It was frustrating as the hotel should be equipped with such necessities for guests' uses. The solution we Googled was to use my key to push down the cork and eventually it worked. Finally, we got to drink our wine and accompany with prata and deep fried sweet potato fries. What a weird combination, but it was an awesome supper and night spent.

Overall, the stay was pleasant as when it turns to night time, the air-conditioning starts to get colder. The breakfast was pretty average, should have just slept through the whole morning. We checked out at about 1pm as we were compensated with a late check-out.

Good:

1)        Clean room with pleasant smell;

2)      Comfortable bed;

3)      Complimentary drinks include more than just mineral water;

4)      Clean and spacious toilet;

5)      Receptionists were overall good attitude

6)      There was call to inform us to check out.

Poor:

1)        Breakfast was not appealing;

2)      Air-conditioning at the start was not working;

3)      WiFi was slow;

4)      Room is small and do not have the neon lighting as shown in the pictures online.