Tom An Orchard Hotel Staycation was next on our list due to a deal that we saw on their website. For a Premier Club Room that comes with breakfast and afternoon tea, the cost was only $169 (with taxes included). This was a relatively good deal, considering that the hotel is located right on Singapore’s premier shopping belt – Orchard Road. Then, we found out why it was priced so cheaply…
The day after we made our reservation, we found out that Orchard Hotel was fined and suspended from making new bookings for 30 days due to contravening of Phase 3 (Heightened Alert) measures. They probably knew about the impending suspension and tossed out the deal we guess? But this actually worked out nicely for us as we checked into Orchard Hotel for our staycation…
Orchard Hotel Staycation Premier Club Room Review
As with all establishments these days, your temperature would be taken at the entrance to Orchard Hotel. Likewise, you’ll have to check in via the Trace Together App, verified for check-in on the day, before you can enter the hotel’s lobby.
At the Orchard Hotel’s lobby, you’ll be greeted with its Tower Clock that shows the time from various cities across the globe. It was a nice grand entrance to a hotel. High ceilings, wide spaces. Probably due to the ongoing restrictions, we didn’t have to wait long for our turn to check-in. We arrived at 12pm and our room was ready. Our receptionist seemed a little inexperienced and did not inform us about breakfast and afternoon tea arrangements – we had booked a Premier Room with “Club” privileges. Of course, we do know that during P3HA, “Club” is no longer the clubs that we know. Miss the Pacific Club (Pan Pacific Hotel) and Meritus Club (Mandarin Orchard Singapore) already… This time, there was no cocktail hours but a simple afternoon tea at Orchard Hotel. As usual, we made our request for newspapers and were acceded. Afternoon tea with newspapers always sounds good! 😄
Also at the Lobby is the Intermezzo Bar, which had been converted to a Virtual Reality (VR) gaming arena with game sessions going at $25 for 3 games. The hotel’s restaurant – Orchard Cafe is also located at Orchard Hotel’s lobby. This would be where we would be collecting our breakfast the next morning. Although 2 pax dining was allowed, Orchard Hotel only allowed dining-in during afternoon tea but not breakfast, due to the high traffic expected during peak breakfast hours. Understandable, but a little unfortunate for guests. Made us thankful that The Clan hotel was able to restart dining back at Qin Restaurant during our recent staycation.
Then it was time to check out our Premier Room at Level 14…
We were a little underwhelmed when we first entered the room. There was a musky smell that greeted us. Reminded us of rooms that we’ve been to in Malaysia. Orchard Hotel has some rooms that have already undergone renovation but the room that was allocated to us, had not. Understandable, given the price of the room and the current phase that we’re in (P3HA). Oh well, with the smell, it does remind us of a vacation in Malaysia.
Next, we checked out the rest of the Premier Room of Orchard Hotel…
For the rest of the room, we were relatively satisfied. Coffee/tea amenities were available (though no Nespresso) and there was a bath tub (though a little small by most standards). There were cable channels including the usual HBO, Nat Geo and Cartoon Network which was great. As for the views, it was partially unblocked and we were able to see Duxton at a distance while we had a great bird’s eye view of the swimming pool of Orchard Hotel…
After checking out our room, we scanned the QR code provided by the reception to book our swimming pool and gym slots. This time, we booked our pool slot from 5pm to 6pm as well as a gym slot at 6am the next morning. We were also able to book a second time slot from 6pm to 7pm but probably it was available due to the lower occupancy and that it was a rather cloudy day. Once the bookings were made, we headed out for lunch!
This time, we visited Biseryu – a casual Japanese Restaurant located at Far East Plaza Orchard. We managed to snag a 20% discount via Eatigo this time and we ordered the Wagyu Hamburg Rice Set ($19) as well as the Black Curry with Pork Loin Cutlet ($19). We’ve got to say that both were excellent choices! 😋 The Wagyu Hamburg was sooo tender and flavourful while the Black Curry intrigued with tastes of the usual Japanese Curry with a gingery and oniony twist. The cutlet though not as tender and fatty as the Top Grade Black Pork at Tampopo and definitely pales in comparison against the best Pork Miso Katsu at Yabaton Nagoya, still the flavour was heighted with the Black Curry. Definitely worth a try!
While in the heart of Orchard, we didn’t miss out the opportunity to do some shopping at Tangs, Isetan and Takashimaya. This helped us work up an appetite right before afternoon tea back at Orchard Hotel…
The afternoon tea at Orchard Hotel was included as part of our Premier Room with Club benefit room reservation. At 3pm, we headed over to Orchard Cafe and we were promptly showed to our seats. Orchard Cafe looked rather modern as do the seats. We were asked for our choice of drinks which ranged from the usual black, latte, cappuccino or choice of teas. After ordering our lattes, we sat back, relaxed and indulged in our newspapers requested at check-in. Soon, our afternoon tea set arrived…
The savory items included a couple of sushi, samosas and ham/cheese sandwich while the desserts included cakes and a custard puff (which we enjoyed). They were not particularly delicious but did make the passing mark. The nice thing about dining-in is that the lattes are refillable and we were able to enjoy the afternoon sipping away and reading our papers leisurely. Ah…
Soon, it was time for our evening swim in the swimming pool!
Orchard Hotel Staycation Review – Swimming Pool
Both the swimming pool and gym are located at Level 4 of the Claymore Wing at Orchard Hotel. To access the swimming pool, other than booking your slot, all you had to do was to tap your room key and register next to the pool. Your temperature would be taken there and you can collect your pool towels there as well.
Besides the main swimming pool, there is a circular jacuzzi pool as you can see above. To activate the jets in the jacuzzi pool, make sure that the red button is not depressed before you press the black button. Otherwise, the jets won’t work. The main swimming pool itself is shallow at one end and deeper at the other. Length wise, a decent distance for some lap swimming. There are also lounge and deck chairs around the pool where you can lie down for a quick nap.
If you’re interested in a game of chess, there’s life-size chess board next to the swimming pool as well. As the hotel is north-south facing, you’ll get sun at the swimming pool most of the day. Even at 6pm, there were still a little bit of direct sunlight hitting the pool at a distance.
After the swim, we were also able to capture some nice sunset views…
For dinner, we decided to try out the new McCrispy chicken from MacDonald’s right across the street (Forum the Shopping Mall) from Orchard Hotel. Another perk of staying at a hotel with a great location! We had a $2 discount code and the 6 pieces, along with the new blueberry cheese pie, costs $18 dollars.
For the McCrispy, it was spicy! Real spicy! But nothing, some beers couldn’t douse. This time, we had the Edelweiss Beer (2 for $9) and Kronenbourg Rouge (1664 Blanc Fruits Rouges) (2 for $6.50), again from the 7-11 next door…
McCrispy tasted like McSpicy, just with the bones from the thigh and drum in place. The outer coating is crispy while inside, it was tender and juicy. Taste wise, it was just too spicy for you to taste the chicken itself. The other thing we noticed about McCrispy chicken is that it’s “flattened”. We think that it’s intentional so as to allow the consumer to easily bite into the crispy and juicy (albeit spicy) chicken. Overall, it was shiok, though we don’t think we need that level of spiciness anytime soon…
Orchard Hotel Staycation Review – Gym
The next morning, we got up early to check out the gym at level 4 of Orchard Hotel. But before heading over, you have to take your temperature at the lobby and draw a “gym key” as the gym cannot be accessed via a room key card. You’ll also be handed a gym towel at the same time…
The gym itself was simple. You had weight machines and treadmills. No free weights though – probably due to the ongoing P3HA restrictions. At any one time, only 2 pax were allowed in. The treadmills were new – the ones where you can watch the TV channels while you do your runs. Love it.
Orchard Hotel Staycation Breakfast Review
As mentioned earlier in the post, dining at the Orchard Hotel’s in-house restaurant Orchard Cafe, was not allowed for breakfast during our stay. Hence, we had to ta pao (take-away) to our room. But the concept was rather interesting…
You’ll first have to take your temperature and check-in via Trace Together App before you can enter Orchard Cafe. Once inside, you’ll walk through 2 rows of food for breakfast. This is where it gets interesting. You can have as much as you’d like by pointing to the food that you want and the server behind the counter will pack into containers for you to bring them up to your room. 2 packets of bee hoon and 2 bowls of porridge? Sure. More prata and gravy? No problem. Remember to ask for your latte/cappuccino towards the end, right before you pack your food into a carrier to be brought back to your room. Yes, you heard right. All the food containers will be placed on your tray and at the last station, you’ll do some simple packing and this was what we eventually brought back to our room…
It was ALOT OF FOOD…
There was the asian selection of porridge, bee hoon, steamed buns (coffee buns!) and prata as well as the western selection of eggs, sauages, tomatoes and hash browns. There’s even fruits, pastries, yoghurt and coffee. Yes, Tom managed to bring all these up to the room at one go. 🤣
Taste wise, the food were average (or slightly above average) but it was the experience of having a “buffet-styled choice” that made this breakfast at Orchard Hotel Staycation, stand out for us. When was your last time having a buffet? This could be an alternative in the “new normal” post-COVID…
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Here’s a little video review of our Orchard Hotel Staycation!
All in all, we were happy with the staycation at Orchard Hotel. It had a great location and the price of $169 (inclusive of taxes) which included breakfast and afternoon tea, was actually quite attractively priced. Besides the musky room smelly (which we associate with holidays in Malaysia), the stay was actually quite pleasant and enjoyable. If the price remains, we might consider another staycation at Orchard Hotel. Perhaps, this time, we’d bring our own air fresheners – wood sage and sea salt fragrance anyone?
