Fairmont Singapore

“Very pleasant club lounge in Fairmont”

Fairmont and Swissotel have always been my go-to choices in singapore. Fairmont sg is usually not as generous as other hotels for room upgrades due to diamond status, but i did not ask for upgrades either. I must say i was pleasantly surprised at how the club lounge exceeded my expectations this… more

Fairmont and Swissotel have always been my go-to choices in singapore. Fairmont sg is usually not as generous as other hotels for room upgrades due to diamond status, but i did not ask for upgrades either. I must say i was pleasantly surprised at how the club lounge exceeded my expectations this time. I didn’t get the chance to go there as much as i would’ve liked as my schedule didn’t permit, but whenever i went in the past it was normally ok. Good. This time they really upped their game. The lounge staff really made us feel at home. The service was impeccable, I really appreciated their attention to detail. Would like to mention Sam, the new club manager in particular. I was wondering as he was there in the morning and also in the evening making sure we were taken care of. After chatting a bit I learned that he was previously with St Regis, 4 Seasons and a some other big names. (With that said, if Fairmont can add afternoon tea that would be awesome) Thank you to Sam and other names that I left unmentioned, you made my stay very enjoyable and I felt truly at home at Fairmont Sg. I am sure with this hospitality crew everyone will feel the same. One note, the shower cap is unusable. This happens last time i was here too. Please look into the shower cap quality.

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“Fairmont Gold Singapore, an excellent Hotel.”

We have stayed at the Fairmont Hotel in Gold, five times over the last few years and always found it excellent. This trip was no exception,the staff went beyond normal service, to make our visit special. Congratulations to Management for selecting such professional people. The names we can recall o… more

We have stayed at the Fairmont Hotel in Gold, five times over the last few years and always found it excellent. This trip was no exception,the staff went beyond normal service, to make our visit special. Congratulations to Management for selecting such professional people. The names we can recall of some of the Gold staff are: James Yong, Hamzah Joha, Hermee and Junelyn

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“Mixed (and mostly slightly disappointed) feeling”

Just spent a few nights at the Fairmont Singapore on business as a newly minted ALL Diamond member. My two main hotels of choice in Singapore so far have been the Conrad and the Andaz (I've stayed at others too over the years) but since becoming Diamond on Accor, I thought I would try the Fairmont … more

Just spent a few nights at the Fairmont Singapore on business as a newly minted ALL Diamond member. My two main hotels of choice in Singapore so far have been the Conrad and the Andaz (I've stayed at others too over the years) but since becoming Diamond on Accor, I thought I would try the Fairmont booking a signature salon suite on a STEP rate (includes room upgrade subject to availability, breakfast, food credit, late checkout, etc) and was excited to. We also booked a second suite on a non eligible rate (through our airline) whilst the first suite was fully eligible. Overall, I had very mixed feeling. There is a lot to like but also generally poor loyalty recognition and poor management of issues. Positive: - I really like the location - Diamond club lounge granted as per ALL rules without issue - Excellent housekeeping (both main service and turndown) - Liked the Fairmont Fit kit - Really liked the Japanese restaurant (Mikuni) sadly due to close I think - Breakfast at Prego had great juices (breakfast itself was good, not great) - Some excellent staff (Thalya fixing our cocktails in the lounge on our first evening was great!) - 4pm late check out granted without issue - Liked the little stuffed lion in the diamond amenity! :) Negative: - First and probably most, the loyalty recognition felt very poor. No room upgrade granted (despite the STEP rate giving upgrades subject to availability and the diamond status). Higher room categories (ambassador and above) were available but the hotel said they do not upgrade beyond the signature salon suite (effectively junior suites). Obviously no restriction listed when booking. Difficult to get drink voucher (first was told no, then yes but was asked to specify which date we'd use it which I was never asked anywhere before. No drink voucher for second room as ineligible (i'm sure it/s technically correct but always had it on ineligible stays elsewhere) - Signature suites and salon suites have mediocre views (towards the city, pool or Raffles but not the marina which is the nice side). Also because the two towers are built at an angle, you always have a vis-a-vis with the other tower - Didn't like the shower rooms. Only shower, no bath, and materials felt cheap (e.g. they use imitation-marble tiles rather than actual marble except for the sink). - Don't like the synthetic cover on the bed which makes you sweat (bed and pillows otherwise comfortable) - Room is comfortable but unremarkable and feels a bit dated/showing wear and tear. For instance the side of the power socket near my bed had fallen showing a naked socket and was never fixed in my 3 night stay. - No usable fridge or cold water. The mini fridge is automatic and filled with the hotel's expensive drinks so you can't keep any of your own things. there is a water dispenser (hot/cold still only) but the cold setting in my room was room temperature, frankly unpleasant in hot Singapore where I wanted cold water - Lounge experience was hit and miss. Breakfast is a lot less nice than downstairs (poor juices). Cocktail hour is generous in quantity but varies in quality. It was great our first evening, food was completely cold (not as in cold food but as in hot food being cold) on our second, and mediocre on the third. Drinks varies a lot too. Great cocktails fixed by Thalya on our first evening but very limited choice on our other two (e.g. was told no to a Negroni because it is not on "the list" whilst I had them on the first evening and lots of other bespoke options offered them). In between breakfast and dinner you get coffee or very basic soft drinks (coke, schweppes, etc) - Early check in not delivered despite good communication with the hotel beforehand. Was told room was being cleaned,would be available soon, could go down to lower floor to get a room faster (even less view) but ultimately it was only ready at 3pm for the official check in time. - Last night of our stay, there was a big power cut in both our rooms and presumably much of the hotel (ironically a day before a planned power cut we were told about for the next day!) Everything went off, then lights automatically switched on at 3am waking us up, then internet was down for hours. Not a good experience, no apology, fix, and obviously no offer of compensation of any sort. - Check out was problematic. I immediately spotted a mistaken charge (food on the first day which I know we hadn't had) and mentioned it. It was treated as though the system couldn't be wrong (it was). It took some time to figure out it was an in room dining charge. I said we hadn't had in room dining the whole stay so could they please check the order time and nature. 15 minutes later I was told about the order (ironically, the one type of food I hate and would never order!!) and asked if I was still "disputing" the charge. I said yes of course and had they checked the time. They hadn't but did and another 10 minutes later finally acknowledged that the order was placed hours before I had been checked in into the room! However, I was then told that the full amount had already been charged to my card (despite my never accepting it and signalling the mistake at the first opportunity) so all they could do was refund the charge to my card within 14 days. Very poor show and very poor way to give people a bad last impression. - Also checking out, we had asked for the accounts to remain open to be able to go down to the pool and charge lunch to the room to pay everything at once before returning to the lounge to shower, change, and get our bags back. We were told of course and no problem. But of course, the hotel closed both accounts after telling us they wouldn't so pool restaurant staff were looking like us as though we were giving false room information, had to pay by card, and lost both the guest dining discount and the ALL points on lunch. Furthermore, the keys didn't work to bring us back to the lounge. We had to return 3 times to have them redone first in lounge and lastly at the main reception. I really wanted to like this hotel, and I really wanted it to make my new main hotel in Singapore, but on balance, I have to say that this was a disappointing experience. Loyalty recognition was very poor, and whilst problems can occur, they were really poorly handled and either not resolved at all or only slowly and begrudgingly slow as though they were the guests' fault somehow. If I am treated much better at the Andaz (where I have a relatively low frequent guest status) and the Conrad (where I am also diamond but it is much easier to get than with Accor), given generous room upgrades and service in those but not at the Fairmont, it doesn't really give me good reasons to return to the Fairmont. The problems with bathrooms, lack of views, and lack of basics such as ability to get cold water are also problematic. Finally, being able to have a good night sleep without being woken up at 3 by power cut, lights switching back on, and loss of internet for hours should be a basic provision in every hotel, let alone in a luxury one. Not even apologising or proposing to fix this in anyway was poor. As for billing inaccuracies, they can of course happen and do in many places, but the least a hotel can do is to fix them properly (here it took 45 minutes for the hotel to finally acknowledge it was their mistake, not mine), without looking at the guests with suspicion, and properly (not asking guests to wait 2 weeks for a refund of SGD40 or whatever it was). I also find it very poor practice to proceed with charging for the bill when the guest has not accepted it, not chosen express checkout, and explicitly pointed to the mistake at the first opportunity. I really, really wanted to love this hotel but I do think that they have a lot of progress to make to deliver a service, problem resolution, and loyalty treatment consistent with their claims and ambitions.

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