Yotel Singapore Review: Staycation in the heart of Orchard Road!

Yotel Singapore Orchard Road was our next venue for staycation and you might be wondering why we’re checking out Yotel instead of the usual brand names like Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza, Hotel Jen Orchard Gateway, Hotel Jen Tanglin or Hilton Orchard? Well, this is because, sometimes, you just want to be in Orchard to feel the city vibes, have easy access to shopping, cinemas and hip chill out places without the need to pay high end prices. This was also why we chose to stay at Orchard Hotel previously and now, to check out Yotel Singapore Orchard Road…

If you’re arriving at Yotel Singapore by public transport, you’ll walk past a little walkway at International Building, past Hans Im Gluck (German Restaurant) before reaching the flight of stairs as seen in the picture above. Yes, you’ll have to navigate these flight of stairs each time you enter and leave the hotel. There is also an elevator for wheel-chair access as well.

As we did our staycation at Yotel Singapore prior to the easing of measures on 26th April 2022, there was still a queue on the right side (as seen in the picture) to facilitate the required SMM (Safe Management Measures) prior to entering the hotel. We’d imagine that you could head straight to the counter for check-in…

Yotel Singapore Orchard Road is a modern hotel that leverages on smart designs as well as creative technologies throughout its hotel. At the lobby, we saw the robots Yoshi and Yolanda…

They are actually used for room service – to deliver amenities such as towels and toothbrushes to your room. If you’re ordering from Grab Food, they’d be used to deliver your order right to your door step as well! Unfortunately, during our visit, Yolanda and Yoshi were probably “overworked” and only one of them was able to do deliveries to all the rooms. Nonetheless, it really is a nifty idea to utilise robots especially in the post-COVID world and constraints of manpower in Singapore. There’s also a touch-screen food and beverage dispensing machine in the lobby of Yotel Singapore.

Soon, it was time to check out our room…We headed to the lift lobby and were greeted by these futuristic neon lights that outlined the lifts…

We stayed at level 23 this time round and inside the lift, we found that Komyuniti (the in-house bar and restaurant) is located at level 10. This level is also where the swimming pool and gym is located. Quite impressed that at this price, we were still able to get some of these facilities at Yotel.

The Premium Queen Room that we booked was actually quite small. At 14sqm it is the smallest available room at Yotel Singapore. However, it does have all the frills that a conventional hotel room has…

Even in such as small space, Yotel Singapore has been able to squeeze in all the usual amenities such as coffee & tea, kettle, ironing board, TV, complimentary water and even a safe. We love it that the bed can be adjusted to the upright or flat position for comfort and increase the space for movement in the room…

Of course, the highlight of the room for us was the view…

Yes! The shower in the rooms have views of Orchard and beyond! As for privacy, you can draw down the either the day blind (for the more adventurous ones) or the night blinds for complete privacy. In the evenings, we’d leave the blinds up to see the night lights of our city.

For lunch, we headed to Komyuniti – the in-house bar and restaurant of Yotel Singapore…

There are daily specials at Komyuniti and we were in time for its daily lunch specials…

Daily lunch specials are priced at $14 nett which includes a mains, a drink and a scoop of ice cream. This time, we chose the Spicy Dory Fish Rice Bowl as well as the Komyuniti Club Sandwich…

For the price, it is actually quite a good deal, given its location, ambience and the quality of the ice cream (rum and raisin was good!). Workers in the area would probably frequent here for a more relaxed dining venue. After lunch, it was time for Kate’s favourite activity – SHOPPING! We walked about Orchard Road quite a bit and also bought our movie tickets at Lido (just next door)…

Prior to the movie, we had a sumptuous meal at Eggslut – which was really as good as they say! You can read our complete review of the Eggslut experience here.

As for Matrix Revolutions, it was…ok…Thinking that it is more of the franchise squeezing the last bit of revenue from this last installment. Didn’t really get the part as to how Trinity suddenly becomes the more powerful “being” between Neo and her though 🤔

On day 2, we started the morning with breakfast at True Breakfast Cuppage Plaza. As it was raining, we took a Grab over which costs less than $5 bucks. The queue was rather long when we arrived at 10am…

We waited for almost an hour before we were able to be seated but for authentic Taiwanese flavours, it was worth the wait. Click to find out more about our review of True Breakfast.

Day 2 was a day to chill and relax. Hence, we utilised the complimentary drinks from Yotel Singapore on day 2. This could be a norm now but during our stay, we were given 2 complimentary drinks at Komyuniti which we can choose from an wide array of choice…

First, choose the series that you’re interested in (i.e. Yuzu, Streets of Harajuku etc.) and then select the cocktail that appeals to you. We must say that the cocktail selection here is EXTENSIVE! We were surprised by the selection and even more so when the cocktails arrived. They were individual prepared, glassed and what really impressed us was the Friends of Maui cocktail that even had a layer of tropical fruit foam at the time. A very delicious cocktail!

Originally, we wanted to gym and swim today. However, as it was still raining, we were only able to visit the gym. During our stay, bookings were still required but it should be more relaxed now. Both gym and pool are open daily from 7am to 10pm…

The gym has all the frills of free weights to machines and treadmills, making it a really decent option for work-outs. There are also towels and water available just like those in the higher end hotels. Due to the incredulously full breakfast from True Breakfast, we decided to skip lunch and just shop around. We were wanting to find a replacement for the Lalique perfume that we received during our SQ First Class flight previously. However, after trying out the various fragrance at Takashimaya, we were still unable to find a woody scent that was remotely close to it. Then, while walking past Paragon, Kate stumbled upon a surprise find…a Lalique store – the only one in Singapore, right there as we were searching for the fragrance!

We went with the 200ml bottle that went for $175 😱 – proving that such tie ups and marketing with SIA does work to get the brand and product out there. If you are aware of a similar sort of woody fragrance at a fraction of the price, do let us know – we’ll probably downgrade for our next purchase 😅

If you enjoyed our content, “Like” us on Facebook Today!

On our last day, we decided to try out Grab. This is because you won’t usually be able to get delivery from shops in town if you’re staying in the heartlands. So this time, we went with Mui Kee Congee while watching the Scooby Doo movie!

This time, we went with the beef congee and it was good! The beef was soooo tender and the congee was infused with rich flavours. The youtiao definitely perked up the dish. On the other hand, the fish noodles tasted “healthy”. We should have stuck with congee for a congee stall – so much for variety.

Before heading home, we stopped by Arteastiq Depatio at Plaza Singapura for a delicious European-themed meal. Find out more about our review of Arteastiq Depatio here.

We hope you have enjoyed our review of Yotel Singapore Staycation at Orchard Road! If you’re looking for a cheaper option for a stay in Orchard Road, Yotel Singapore and Orchard Hotel are definitely on top of our list!