Review: Westin Singapore

I have stayed there for two nights in April and it was absolutely stunning for me.

The property itself is gorgeous and stunning itself and the view (I had a Sea View room which overlooked the harbour) was amazing, especially at night.
The staff was - singapore like - super friendly, even as a normal guest (Single traveller at young age) I was accompanied to my room. Even though the service was a bit unipersonal, it was top notch.

I was looking forward to read this review, wonderfully written and it brings all the memories back!

I loved it also.

There is a subway stop about 5 minutes from the hotel entrance. I can't recall which line, but it was pretty convenient.

I also liked the food court in the building next door. Lots of good options for coffee and snacking.

I wonder if Bulgari amenities are only in the suites. I didn't get upgraded, and am pretty sure I had the normal Westin stuff. That was last April.

I'm traveling there in March with my 19 y/o son for "father/son SE Asia tour" trip and we'll be staying here for a few nights. Although I'm only SPG Gold and won't get a suite upgrade or access to the lounge, the property still looks spectacular and I'm looking forward to visiting.

Thanks for the review, Ben.

So Ben, who is "WE" ? You mentioned "we" twice in your blog, I find it odd that you bloggers never mention who you are traveling with, why is it such a ?

In regards to the food spread, it's not suppose to be dinner, on the other hand, I wish that US SPG hotels had food spreads like that..

@Tony

He's traveling with his dad, you idiot.

Lucky, what restaurants are in the building?

Also, this is a general type question, but is it possible to get a suite with 2 twin beds instead of 1 king size?

The highlight of my stay: the club lounge offers champagne breakfast on the weekends :).

@Tony: Right, it's not supposed to be dinner, but often times in Asia (especially in China) there is a large enough and diverse enough spread to make it a dinner. The happy hour and breakfast spreads at the Westin Singapore seem markedly better than what I experienced at the Sheraton Towers Singapore Executive Lounge two years ago. Regardless, it's good to see Starwood have this property in Singapore, as the W and St. Regis are expensive (in either cash or points), and the Sheraton Towers is a bit dated. The Westin location is great too, if you want to be near the Downtown Core.

'salright. Next time try the Pan Pacific instead.

"I mean, really, what’s not to love?"

The regular rooms?

I'm hard pressed to name another location that does such an amazing job of combining boring with expensive. I'd rather live like a revenue king elsewhere in Asia than trying to coax a status upgrade at the one good hotel in SIN.

Finally a hotel in Singapore that makes it worth visiting the city. Have stayed away since most of the hotels are pretty poor and I was never impressed with the hotels. Now I can start thinking of visiting again as it has been a while. Will definitely stay at the Westin after reading your review.

WOW! the room is absolutely stunning!..must check it out when I can 🙂

@wwk5d Please maintain friendly and positive language on this awesome blog.

Nice. Wonder if the ordinary rooms have the same bath layout? Now that I have Plat status, as yet untested, perhaps I'll get the chance to try an upgrade where in town this March.

When comments are that ridiculous, I think it's allowed.

@Abdel Raahim Abdallah - Your point is well taken, but I think @wwwk5D was referring more to the innuendo by some posters here trying to find out whether or not Lucky was travelling with a gay companion or not, nevermind that anyone following this blog knows this is his dad's trip of a lifetime adventure.

The Westin SG also offers complimentary breakfast in the hotel restaurant and complimentary use of the spa amenities (e.g. Whirlpool, Sauna) for SPG Platinum members. The breakfast is underwhelming (e.g. Not as nice as the W TPE), but the spa amenities are great!

I don't think not mentioning the details of a travel companion is indicative of gender preference. If I were travelling with a girt friend (though my wife might get grumpy about that but let's put that to one side) she might not want her personal details on the web.

What Stephen said.

I prefer the location of the St. Regis. My company has an office near the Westin so I stayed for two nights recently. The room was nice, etc, but I missed being able to stroll along Orchard like I can from the St. Regis. I'm also betting that this hotel gets bumped up to a cat 6 when Starwood in Feb.

@ wwk5d -- Unfortunately most hotels don't seem to have suites with two beds, which is annoying.

There was a restaurant in addition to the lobby lounge, though I didn't have a chance to check either out. Sorry.

@ Tony -- See the introduction post...

I don't think there's any way on earth I could have been more public about who I was traveling with on this trip, heh.

I'm sure this is a very nice hotel. Your view is certainly shaded by a very generous upgrade.

Can't believe you got bumped up into one of their suites on a points stay! Is Starwood stalking your blog?

Thanks for this Lucky! I'm staying here for 2 nights in a couple of weeks and was looking forward to your review. Was debating about staying at W but after seeing the pics and your reading your post. I'm gonna keep my reservation here.

SG has always been in the cheese/truffles fries phase 🙂

Ref that port/sea view, enjoy it while it last... With all that construction nearby, you'll probably see only the next office block in a few years time.

Wife and I stayed here last summer and it was amazing. We booked a basic award which was a city view, but it was still a huge room with a huge bathroom. The only status we had was from the SPG card which I think is between the lowest and the first level, it's sort of a hidden status that doesn't do much. Our bathroom was half of the unit, and both the bedroom and bathroom had floor to ceiling windows. And I think the shower was bigger than yours. The tub was the same, and it was right next to the window as well. For 12,000 SPG points it was a steal for Singapore. We'll be in SE Asia again this summer via CX/JL F, but we couldn't work SIN in this time. Just means we'll have to take another CX F trip 😉

@ Colin -- Based on the number of times I'm incorrectly denied an upgrade, I doubt it. 😉

Just completed a two night stay a few days ago. For the most part, I was pretty happy with our stay at the Westin. But some negatives:

* As mentioned, the hotel is new and out of way. Many taxi drivers don't know how to get to the Westin.
* At check-in, other guests were offered welcome drinks. For some reasons, I wasn't.
* Even though I had requested one room with king, and one room with two beds, and even confirmed via email the night before, I was told at check-in that I could only have king rooms. I checked in fairly early during the day too, so not too happy.
* As a SPG Gold, only benefit I got was that one of two rooms got upgraded to a corner room. The other room was not upgraded! SPG Gold always seems more or less useless.

I forgot to mention that we had done the night train from KL to Singapore and I didn't get any sleep at all. Our room was next to the storage closet and nothing was strapped down so plates and dinnerware were banging into the wall the entire ride. When we got to the Westin at 9am or so they gave us a room and I was out like a light for a few hours. I really wasn't expecting that, especially with my only status being my SPG card.

If only this review came earlier. Booked my stay with St Regis Singapore through Virtouso!

Stayed in Westin for a stay cation for my birthday. Was disappointed. 1st the concierge wanted my car keys if I did not come down within 10 minutes when my sister already told him the concierge that she was just helping me to check in and she is leaving once we are done with the check in and he kept wanting to take our car keys when my sister already saying she is leaving once the check in is done and my sister told the guy she would be down in a while and she wouldn't know how long the check in is going to be as it depends on the reception who is checking us in and we are SPG member! ISecondly told them was my birthday and the only thing they gave for the birthday was only 2 miserables pieces of small cakes and 2 pieces of Macaroons and a chocolate stick saying happy birthday. I stayed in Marina Mandarin Singapore before for my friend birthday and when we stayed there, it was past my friend birthday, I told them it is my friend birthday month, is there anything they could do. The reception told us oh we will send a complimentary cake to you shortly and it was a whole cake not like what Westin did. Thirdly, I had to switch rooms 3 times! 1st time was the whole room and the lights etc went out and I told the manager I did not blow anything or over charge anything since I was only just watching the tv that's it. When the manager came, the 1st thing she said this is the 1st time that a blackout went out in this room. I was like so. To top of on that, one of the wall socket was not working well but I have informed the reception before hand and the technician had came in to try to fix it and apparently the guy told me it would not affect anything and he needs to change the wiring or something and that's going to take 20 minutes and he wants to fix it only when no one is in the room. So the fixing did not happen since I was in the room.So had a switch of rooms that's fine. 2nd time was we asked for a harbor view but the room we got was not exactly over looking the harbor compared to the blackout room. So we finally managed to settle in the 3rd room and that was like nearly 4am in the morning.

Would not choose to stay in Westin again even though we were given free lounge access and late check out at 5pm and evening cock tail because of the black out.

This Westin looks like a nice hotel. Might have to try it out.

Did a stay at the InterCon Singapore a few days ago, and thought it was dated. I've reviewed it at: http://milesdownunder.com/2015/01/review-intercontinental-singapore/

Lovely report as always Lucky. I stayed there with my parents and got upgraded to Sea View Suite. Westin Singapore has fairly limited number of both type of suites and to get upgraded to Harbourview Suite there, IMO, was fairly slim chance. You're very LUCKY there lucky!!!! The living room was gorgeous though I think bedroom for the 2 suites are pretty similar in comparison. Did you have a chance to check out the breakfast at Seasonal Tastes? I think it is way better, selection wise, than St Regis Singapore.

@ Golf -- I didn't! I'll have to check it out next time.

The view from the pool of Marina Sands is a LOT nicer. Especially at night.

What a great blog post! to it after reading your blog post! *Fingers crossed* that I'll get a room as amazing as yours

Just stayed at this property two weeks ago. as an SPG Gold we received a nice room with a view towards the cruise ship terminal/port. There is basically a building going up right next door (but it does have a bit of a cut-out in the design so you still get a nice view). Staff was outstanding - very helpful. We loved the location - quick walk over to the Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre for cheap eats or over to the Marina for more upscale restaurants and the MBS. The pool was fantastic - just what we needed after a day strolling down Orchard Road. Easy ride back to the airport - about SGD $18 in a taxi.

Thanks for sharing your trip reports Ben. It's been great following through your BEST trip ever.

Keep finding your blog on Google searches (was searching for Qantas lounge review when I saw the thread to your entire post. Decided to give it a read). By the way, you always seem like a genuinely nice person and it comes through in your writing.

Michelle seems like a great SIA stewardess; glad you got such an amazing crew on such a special trip.

Best Regards,

Benjamin

Bob, you could also have actually just as easily taken the City Hall MRT to the airport for $3 SGD if you wanted to experience some local transport before your flight off.

Due to the expensive COE (road tax) and higher car prices (than America) along with cheap (relatively) taxi fares and an ever increasing network of efficient public transit...many executives in the CBD area will use the public transport (or cab) instead of driving.

This hotel is also very hear to Harbor Front ferry terminal if you want to visit Sentosa or travel briefly to Indonesia by boat (Batam and Bintan - quite an experience really). In terms of food, you can also try out another store near Lau Pa Sat (this is quite a tourist attraction with the unique architecture, it was recently renovated several years back.) by Green field building (or Green scape?) call Grain Traders. I had it the last time in Singapore from a friend and it's basically healthy, nutritious food with a slightly local spin. Very crowded during lunch hours on a week day (which if you follow Singaporean mentality, it means it's good haha - when looking for good food in Singapore just join the line-ups. If you have the time)

I'd also recommend next time you walk to the Fullerton hotel, the same route to MBS except when you hit the water front go the other way. It's accessible to the public and it's a restored historical building with great views of the waterfront. Keep walking a little further to Esplande and check out the outdoor theater or maybe catch a look inside the durian.

Didn't stay at the Westin but very familiar with the CBD area. Stayed at East Coast area when I visited which was rather convenient still.