During my wild review trip, I finally had the chance to visit The Private Room, which is Singapore Airlines’ most exclusive lounge. The airline completely overhauled its lounges at Changi Airport within the past couple of years.
One of the biggest changes of the new lounge compared to the old one is the addition of proper nap rooms in both The Private Room and the First Class Lounge, which is something I really appreciate. However, the execution is… a little odd, and I’m curious if I’m the only one who feels this way?
The basics of Singapore Airlines’ nap rooms
Singapore Airlines has four nap rooms in The Private Room, and four nap rooms in the First Class Lounge. This is such an awesome feature, for those looking to get some rest between flights.
In The Private Room, the nap rooms have a very comfortable bed, a chair that can recline almost flat, and a desk. In the First Class Lounge, the nap rooms have a bed and a desk. Even though the beds are small, they have extremely comfortable mattresses.
These rooms are available on a first come, first served basis. Guests can enjoy the room for two hours, though if other people don’t want to use them, you can extend your stay. Even though The Private Room closes for a few hours every day (from 2:30AM until 5:30AM), you can actually stay in these overnight, so I guess at that point you get a minimum of three hours. That’s exactly what I did, since I arrived late in the evening, and departed early in the morning.
Singapore Airlines’ nap rooms have some quirks
There’s a lot to love about these nap rooms, though there are also some things to be aware of. I’m trying to make sense of the logic of these quirks, and I don’t know if they’re bugs, features, or what. Let me rank them in order of weirdness, starting with the weirdest.
I was super tired when I got in the nap room, so I immediately got into bed. Not to share too much information, but I wear different clothes in bed than in public (scandalous!).
While lying down, I looked over, and noticed there’s a window between the room and the hallway. I could even see a person standing there briefly. I figured maybe it was a one-way mirror window thing, or something, because surely the nap rooms aren’t designed so that people can look into them? Well, no, as it turns out, that is how they’re designed. And there aren’t blinds you can lower either.
So that certainly impacted how I chose to sleep. As a side sleeper who usually bunches up a blanket and sort of spoons it, and likes to sleep in the direction of a wall, I changed my sleeping position.
Anyone want to take a stab at the logic for this? Is this intended so that staff can easily figure out which nap rooms are occupied, and which aren’t? Is this to avoid people engaging in non-PG-13 activities? Those are the only theories I can come up with.
Now, on to the next quirk — the lights in the nap rooms just fully turn on at random intervals. At first I assumed that this was a way for the staff to tell guests that their allotted nap period was over, but nope, my lights turned on after 45 minutes. I then assumed that maybe I accidentally pushed something. But nope, they turned on again an hour later. I also heard two other people in the lounge share the same feedback. Surely this has to be a temporary glitch, or something?
The lights turning on is even stranger when you consider the above point about the windows…
Now, on to the third quirk. You can’t actually make the nap rooms fully dark, but rather the lights at the top always stay on. Again, I’m not sure I understand the logic.
Bottom line
Singapore Airlines finally has nap rooms in its most premium lounges, which is awesome. However, there are definitely some things to be aware of, the most significant of which is that the nap rooms have windows so that people can peek in. Combined with the lights turning on at random intervals for seemingly no reason, and the lights not fully shutting off ever, you’ll definitely want to plan (and act) accordingly…
Can anyone make sense of these Singapore Airlines nap room “features?”
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