Mandarin Orchard Hotel Review
We stayed a night at Mandarin Orchard Hotel for our wedding anniversary and left with 1 regret. Find out what it is by reading this Mandarin Orchard Hotel review.
As if to compensate for the low-rise staycation at Parkroyal Beach Road a month earlier, we got to stay on the 30th floor at Mandarin Orchard in Nov 2020. The hotel is hosting guests serving their stay home notice returning from overseas.
We enjoyed the food, comfort and facilities there. Largely it’s thanks to the extended check out to 6pm that we got more done during this stay.
This is a staycation to celebrate our wedding anniversary, in place of the year-end vacation. With our growing coverage of hotels in Orchard, this hotel fits the traditional style of Elizabeth Hotel more. Just a more elaborately luxurious interior. Watch the Mandarin Orchard Hotel review walkabout video to find out more.
Mandarin Orchard Hotel Review: Location
Mandarin Orchard hotel is walking distance from Orchard MRT, though we took a taxi there with a toddler in tow.
With Mandarin Gallery just downstairs, it will satisfy your craving for some art piece appreciation as if you are entering a museum.
The room view was high enough, looking out I can see the Apple store ads all night. And the defunct Robinsons store too.
We set out to make the most of the room, not going anywhere and ordering delivery for our lunch.
While the location of the hotel is decent, staying at Orchard Wing and having to go to the Main Tower to use the gym was quite unintuitive. The gym was also where the quarantined guests are at.
Not complaining since we could use the exercise.
Mandarin Orchard Hotel Review: Comfort
During this stay, it felt safer than at Parkroyal as the toddler did not bump her head against the protruding edge of the table. It also helps that it has a rounded edge, making the glass table more child-friendly.
We got an extra bed for the toddler to sleep beside our bed. It also helps to create a barricade to prevent her from going to touch live power points, forming an effective barrier together with the armchair and coffee table.
On the bed are soft pillows, while the mattress is firm. The sheer size of the bed makes for good rolling without falling off the bed. Has anyone else noticed that the king size beds that we get from Harvey Norman are still smaller than king size beds in hotels?
No wonder we got some good sleep during our stay, with no sounds from other guests walking along the corridor outside. It helped that we got the corner room all the way to the end too.
The TWG tea bags are a nice touch, serving up a premium drink should you have the habit of winding down with a hot cup of tea before sleeping.
USB sockets at the study desk and bedside make it easier for you to keep your mobile devices charged. You just need the cable, no need for the adapter so you can pack lighter.
To prove a point that the bathroom is spacious, the bath tub and standing shower area are separate. 2 people can shower at the same time not at the same place for maximum efficiency. Though you shouldn’t be in a rush when you’re checked into the lap of luxury here.
While some people fancy a getaway that’s not in a city setting, Mandarin Orchard puts you right smack in the middle of the action. The view is of the busy city, and that is something else to be in awe of. To feel the energy of the never-ending stream of vehicular and human traffic below.
The concierge area is not on the ground floor, that is too small. Going up to the 5th floor will reveal a grand area for guests to await their check in.
Triple Three and Bar on 5 are both on the level.
Swimming pool access is also from level 5, accessible only by the room card.
Mandarin Orchard Hotel Review: Service
Our check in experience was with a non-native English speaking staff. She was able to answer most of our queries, with a service oriented attitude.
Upon sharing that it’s our anniversary, we got an upgrade from a deluxe room to the Meritus club on the 30th floor.
See the Mandarin Orchard Hotel review walkabout to experience the room for yourself.
Food came as a free flow delivery, courtesy of Coffee & Crust. This happens during tea time all the way to close to dinner time.
You can choose to enjoy the food up on the club floor on level 38, or have them by delivery to your room. For us, the choice was clear because children below 18 years old cannot enter Meritus Club Lounge.
Throughout our many calls to request for food, they have all come within reasonable time. This is impressive because I can imagine the staff having to do delivery for many other guests staying there.
While the in-room delivery was a nice way to keep ourselves in the comfort zone, breakfast needs to happen at Chatterbox.
Because of the legendary chicken rice, I had high expectations of the food there. Breakfast was edible, with the buffet option unavailable for hygiene reasons. See the pictures for more details on breakfast.
Remember to stick to the dress code, I got sent back for wearing the hotel slippers down. Covered shoes only, and they stand by their policy on this one.
Having lived the past months in decadence, we decided to visit the gym.
The current rules limit the number of people at 6, you’ll need the concierge staff to give you the pass upon declaring the time slot you wish to take. We thought we were lucky because for our selected time slot, there were 2 passes left.
Our experience with this was not too pleasant.
The pass was not working when we tapped it at the reader. This is after following instructions to hold the pass to the reader for 5 seconds, with us taking turns to hold and count to make sure we’re not skipping beats.
Picking up the phone outside the gym did not connect us with anyone either. There was no button to dial.
The journey from Orchard Wing to the 37th floor of the Main Tower is substantial. It involves climbing stairs in order to reach the gym. Not keen to go all the way back to change passes, we tried our luck to catch the attention of someone working out inside.
After all, 4 passes were given out during this time slot. To our despair, not a single soul was in sight!
The person who eventually helped tap us in was a cleaner lady who happened to be inside.
When we entered, we found that we were the only other people in the gym.
Not the best way to use your time limited gym pass, my 4 missing fitness aficionados.
We were secretly glad that no one else witnessed our struggle to return to fitness after being couch potatoes for as long as work from home started.
At first, I thought the towel formation on the bed was the cake to celebrate our anniversary.
Turns out later on that Danny had signed off on a chocolate cake that was delivered to us along with the tea break snacks.
What a nice touch!
Conclusion
Remember at the start of the post I mentioned our regret?
Seems we enjoyed the food, the facilities, the comfort of the room.
The one thing missing: we wished we had brought our toddler to go swimming!
Though the pool doesn’t look big, we realized that it was the only activity she can take part in. Gym was a no-go, club lounge too.
Next time we visit, we will be sure to make a date with the pool.
To conclude, our stay at Mandarin Orchard has its fair share of hits and misses.
Hits in the food department. Despite coming to us in plastic containers that will make some patrons lose a bit of appetite, the quality makes up for it.
Misses in the gym access. Please ensure the passes actually work before leaving concierge, we were told off by the person opening the door for us that we don’t know how to use the pass. This despite us having visited the gym a day earlier to check out the facilities.
As a sharing to parents looking for child friendly staycations with your little one, I’m going to rate this hotel 3/5 for child friendliness.
1 taken away for lack of children facilities;
1 taken away for lack of children food items for breakfast.
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