Amara Singapore Hotel near Tanjong Pagar MRT Station @ Singapore

We have not been offered free stays at Marina Bay Sands for quite a few months and the staycation bug bites deep and hard, especially when it's still not as easy to travel, compared to pre-pandemic times.

Hence, when a friend shared an incredibly good deal for Amara Singapore; it didn't take me long to book a room for mid January 2021. Price was key to my decision although I wouldn't discount the hotel's location which was near to Tanjong Pagar MRT station and close to many dining establishments, including hawker centres and restaurants.

100 AM was literally next door! For those unaware about this shopping centre, it has quite a wide range of Japanese eateries and hosted a pretty big branch of the popular Don Don Donki! 

Lobby of the hotel. Kind of reminded me of grand hotels in the past, where high ceilings, spacious lobbies and wooden themes were in. From outside, there was even a pair of Chinese stone lions! 

Section of modernity, with plush sofa chairs and even a baby grand piano.

Got our keycards! Check in timing should be at 3pm but as I have always recommended, it's good to arrive earlier and pray that a room is available. If not, you can always leave your luggage with the reception and go out for lunch before returning to check in.

Brightly lit corridor with a wide passage! 

Room

1314 - this deluxe room is the cheapest accommodation within the 5-star hotel but at 32 square meters, it's huge for Singapore's standard and definitely way more inviting than my last staycation at Hotel NuVe Urbane.

For me, I have always looked at hotel rooms as a place for me to sleep and I am honestly not picky so long it's moderately clean, and comes with air-conditioning and an attached toilet with shower facility. This room was fine for me but Alex took issue with the wooden smell and the generally dated furnishing. Oh well. 

Basic hotel amenities with mini fridge, in-room safe with iron, electric kettle etc. Nothing that particularly caught my attention as being interesting / out of the norm.

Maybe because I am too practical; things like chaise lounger don't really appeal to me. However, the same couldn't be said when it comes to Alex; he loves to relax in such chair, eats his snacks while watching the programs on television.

Window view - facing the public housing at Tanjong Pagar, including the Pinnacle＠Duxton, said to be the "world's tallest public residential buildings" at 156-meter tall. 

Wait, there's indeed something interesting about the room; the entrance to the attached bathroom which was slanted at about 45 degrees! Now, I am not too sure about the reasons but my suspicion told me it's likely feng shui related.

There was a bathtub! 

I can finally use my bath bombs! 

Toiletries with the hand soap coming from Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa. So much for exclusivity but why not for sharing of resources to reduce the carbon footprint. 

Separate shower! Personally, I dislike it whenever hotels do not separate bath and shower. Each serves different purpose and showering while standing in a bathtub is dangerous! Give me an option between bath and shower and I would gladly choose the latter. 

View of the swimming pool on the 6th floor.

Gym

The fitness center on the 6th floor was closed for maintenance on the days of our stay. From the above photo, it appeared spacious with sufficient equipment for my exercises. 

Garden

Outdoor pavilion before the swimming pool.

Cascading water features; it's all about the visuals for a relaxing stay but ask a true blue Singaporean, relaxation is likely to be in air-conditioned arenas on this hot and humid island. 

See the red arrow? That access was so inconspicuous that many would just ignore its existence and think it's just a access point reserved for hotel staff.

Wrong; it's an accessible path for hotel guests too!

Bordering the perimeter of the hotel, my curiosity was piqued and it's obvious I would check it out in case there are nice, little surprises along the way.

Pinnacle＠Duxton again! 

Given the apparent lack of utilization, the path was almost litter free although wooden railing would benefit from a new coat of paint. 

A small garden as we turned a corner. 

First thing that greeted us, however, was the towering, phallic shaped Oasia Hotel Downtown. It's a hotel in my list for potential staycations but with Singapore slowly opening up the country for tourists, I think prices would not be competitive enough to attract me to make a booking.

Random photo of a flower.

There was an exit sign but it was blocked by a chair and table, which could have infringed Singapore's fire code. I used the word "could" because by its strictest sense, it shouldn't be blocked for safety reason although table / chair could be easily moved away by able individuals. 

Decided to proceed along the path in case it was a loop.

Dead end. Those people working in the nearby buildings would likely be amused by ignorant hotel guests who stood there, not knowing if there's another way back. Guests like us.

Well, walking back was the only official option.

Swimming Pool

Here at the 1.25-meter deep pool; surrounded by palm trees, it gave a very nice, resort, oasis vibe. Bookings are supposedly required but I didn't have anyone checking if I have a booking when I was there. 

There's a benefit to making a booking; you get a pool towel from the hotel lobby. Once you are done, just deposit at the rattan basket at the unused pool bar. 

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In summary, I am quite satisfied with the hotel, especially when I just paid slightly less than S$100 for one night. Alex is pickier and was unhappy with two issues he faced. One, for a five-starred hotel, it should be the norm for a staff to be on standby to open the doors for the guests, which was almost non-existent at Amara Singapore.

Another incident happened when I was out for a jog. The tea room as above was supposedly open and Alex stood at the entrance for 10 minutes, waiting to be brought to a table. No one came. I was surprised actually because the tea room was next to the hotel reception and the last the hotel staff could do is to check with the dining establishment. That should be the basic level of customer service practiced by a five-star hotel.  

Address 

165 Tanjong Pagar Road, 

Singapore 088539

Map

As above.

Pricing

Deluxe Room - S$96.90

(promo price via trip.com)

Hotel NuVe Urbane - A Boutique Hotel at Jalan Besar, near Lavender MRT [Singapore]

Back in November 2021, I realized I had yet to utilize my S$100 Singapore Rediscover vouchers and with less than two months to go before its expiry, I quickly acted on finding deals and finally settled on a staycation right on new year's eve! 

Hotel rates were expected to be skyrocket-high but voila; I found a boutique hotel at Jalan Besar, priced at just S$163.80 for deluxe double room. I have been wanting to stay in this area as there was a great amount of food, aside from the amazing Cheng Mun Chee Kee Pig Organ Soup.

This is the beautiful black and white boutique hotel, Hotel NuVe Urbane. Converted from a colonial era building built in the 1950s, it was revamped as a hotel in 2018, featuring just 62 rooms. Let's pop in for a better look! 

p.s. there's even a small rooftop pool on the 5th level. 

Reception lobby was quite tiny although hardly surprising given that it's bot a big establishment with less than 70 rooms. We arrived earlier at about noon, with the intention to leave our luggage at the reception so that we can grab lunch before checking in at its official 3.00pm timing. 

Turned out a room was already ready! 

Don't you just love the two posters at the lift lobby? Well, the Singlish might be an overkill given that most hotels are going for the local market given the pandemic but the visual representations of local coffee was a nice touch. I recently heard a local ordering kopi kosong! 

Corridor on level four; narrow, no window. 

I am just happy it's brightly lit. 

Outside Room 402. Customary of Chinese customs, we were mindful of the taboos when staying in a hotel, regardless of whether it's local or overseas. Read more here! 

Maybe we were just too pampered with our stays at Marina Bay Sands; at 14 square meters, the room was a bit claustrophobic, and reminded us of UNIZO Inn (Sapporo, Hokkaido). 

Wide-angled shot for your reference; personally, I am fine with the size as the main objective was to try the food in the area and to me, a hotel is merely a place to sleep at night. I have different thoughts for Marina Bay Sands though as I work from the hotel in order to save some annual leave.

The queen-sized bed was comfortable and I had such a great sleep that night! Special thanks to the weighted quilt blanket, which should be a given in any good class hotels.

Cleanliness was a bit tardy; I found a wrapper behind the curtains and dust on the decorative piece in front of the mirror above the bed. Frankly, I almost wanted to help clean up the dust and have to remind myself that I am only here for a night. 

Complimentary snack bar which included two bottles of water, two packs of Oreo biscuits and a pack of cheetos. There's also a Nespresso machine with two free capsules. 

Wardrobe, and strangely, the mini fridge was inside! 

Not complaining to see the free drinks in the fridge. All are complimentary and being cheapos, we didn't waste the goodwill from the hotel. 

Safe was on the lower drawer of the bedside table; another weird placement but there didn't seem to be any power and it was a tad too tiny for my electronic devices. 

Drew apart the curtain to reveal the view outside the window. Nothing much as it was just an old office building. Better to keep the curtains closed if you prefer to sleep shirtless.

I didn't realize the windows can slide open until I was about to check out the next day. A look at the the partially blocked view where the concourse is, and the back alley. Frankly, Eat 3 Bowls is just a short walk away since it's between the Hotel NuVe Urbane and concourse building.

Now the washroom; it has frosted glass but if you are not close friends with the person you are bunking with, it might still get a bit awkward. I can totally see a translucent Alex when he stepped out of the shower.

One thing I hate having in a hotel; shower curtain as I know it's not easy to clean up and in a restricted space, there's a tendency for your skin to keep touching it! 

Love the rainfall shower though.

Hair dryer was displayed outside! You get handwash, shower gel and shampoo in dispensers; so much more eco-friendly. There were disposable toothbrushes and vanity kit though. There are two of us, and only one face towel. 

There's nothing unconventional over this toilet bowl. However, it has a handy spray that would do since there's no bidet around. I wish for the day when most hotels around the world would adopt the Japanese standard in installing electronic bidets for all their toilet bowls! 

Controls; I used to find it funny on the need for extra labels when the buttons were already self explanatory. Until my astigmatism worsens, and with presbyopia hitting me two years ago. By the way, there's no USB charging port in the room.

Proceeding to level five, where the pool is! 

Before the pool, it's the roof garden that greeted us as we stepped out of the air-conditioned arena. Not a huge place but there are cabanas to chill out on a nice evening. 

It has been raining since the eve of 2022 and while it's nice to have such cool temperature, the constant drizzle means I can't really enjoy the roof garden as much as I would love to; e.g. getting a bottle of beer and just chilling out the last sunset of 2021.

Don't think I will see much of the sunset anyway since the view faces south. 

Pool area - I brought my swimming trunks but no way am I going into the pool in such weather! And with the HDB block right opposite, my shyness would likely spike. To register for pool usage and secure a towel, please approach the front desk at the reception on level one.

In case you are wondering, there were a few rooms just inches away from the pool. Noise might be of concern but if it's any comfort, the pool closes at 10.00 pm.

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In a nutshell, my one-night stay was acceptable except for the cleanliness issue I raised earlier. C'mon, I don't think I should complain for the price I was paying for on New Year's eve. 

Alex was way more negative; there's a smell in the room he disliked and given the rain, it's quite hard to move around as such old buildings are not usually connected with sheltered walkways / underpasses etc. Anyway, Alex pretty much told me he would pay for the difference in the future for better hotels, and I absolutely don't mind accepting his offer.

Address

3 King George's Ave, 

Singapore 208582

Map

As above.

Website

https://hotelnuveurbane.com/

Additional Information

Some information about the building before its revamp.

Bored in the room? You can rent monopoly, jenga, uno and HDMI cables at no charge. For Nintendo and a galaxy laser projector (which will transfer your room into outer space), there's a S$5 nett charge a night.

Feeling adventurous? There's a Muslim cemetery nearby although not near enough the hotel for us to feel freakish / eerie. Most people wouldn't even notice it.