Carlton Hotel Singapore offers: all-new modern Premier Wing; business and leisure travel stay; and drinking and dining favourite.
Here Happy Hour Asia enjoys and reviews a stay in this established hotel‘s new Premier Wing and the 915-room hotel’s refurbished and upgraded areas, including the new luxurious-looking and shining lobby.
Carlton Hotel Singapore a great pit stop
This is also a favourite hotel to return to on any visit to Singapore, and even aside accommodation, thanks to its attractive ‘waterhole’ offers and with its easy-to-get-to location in the centre of things.
Lobby at Carlton Hotel Singapore
Hot and very humid as it often is in Singapore, this hotel venue is a great ‘pit stop’ to drop by and escape the outdoor sauna and unwind; be it in-between meetings or for having meetings in convenience, or to enjoy the many dining and drinking offers. There have been some fabulous bargain specials at the Gravity bar and there are always attractive offers from Carlton Hotel Singapore.
The hotel slogan is ‘It’s All Here’ and the offers changes on a monthly basis and include seasonal themes etc.
It can be anything from Afternoon Tea Set at Tuxedo Café & Pâtisserie. for only $9.90++ and an Express Set Lunch Special to ‘1-for-1 Dinner Buffet at Café Mosaic’ (with fresh Oysters and Scallops on ice, Steamed Fish Fillet topped with Yellow Bean Crust & Sweet Turnip, or Baked Salmon in Puff Pastry to mention a few delectable dishes) and, for instance, Gentlemen’s Night at Gravity Bar when the all get to enjoy happy hour all night long and half price of the second bottle of select whisky and wine bottles. Most often one gets to see ‘Ladies Night’ bar campaigns, so this is indeed nice for a change, and one of the indications about this hotel’s core clientele: businessmen.
Upon one particular visit, select wines were served by the glass during Happy Hour for by Singapore standards and irresistible price.
‘Unwind with Heineken, A bucket of ice-cold freshness at Gravity Bar, with complimentary platter of Gravity Bar’s Signature Cheese Fries’ is another example of the specials that will be tempting, in order to quench one’s thirst, given the outside tropical heat…
Then there are of course stay offers, such as the ‘Exclusive Weekend Deal’ designed for leisure travel and weekend visitors; including complimentary breakfast, yoga class, internet access, and use of gym & swimming pool.
Carlton Hotel Singapore’s Premier Wing
Presented as an ‘International Business Hotel’ this sends a clear message who is the main target customer, and thus the new Premier Wing is very much catered towards this guest clientele, most of whom are businessmen/women.
The new Premier Wing is described as ‘the latest masterpiece of ultimate comfort and elegance.’ The extension houses 287 luxurious rooms and a Premier Club Lounge. In total the Carlton Hotel Singapore now has 3 wings including the Main Tower and Executive Wing – all sharing a gym and spa on pool level 5, where there is also a large outdoor terrace with a bar.
With its strategic location this is a hotel hard to miss for visitors to Singapore and in many ways positioned at a comfortable distance to many of the City State’s most essential areas, business centres and shopping – a glitzy mall is just across the junction outside the hotel’s front corner (at City Hall.)
The 19-floor high Premier Wing’s contemporary façade is all glass and steel – sleek and shiny. Its corner is curved inwards, and after dark with an exterior neon yellow framing on each floor, which is where the guests can look out at the city from outside the lifts.
With Carlton Hotel Singapore it’s a matter of taste – in more ways than one. Aside the sumptuous food selection the design is very appealing, attracting a smart set of leisure and business travellers.
As the doorman in his green suit gives assistance with the luggage you step into a very elegant and beautiful lobby zone, which after its facelift is an absolute eye-catcher with its almost golden colour and a warm feeling.
Connecting to the new wing, the two-floor high lobby, with a staircase up to walkways on the second floor, is covered with sandy marble on the floor, walls and counters – completely bright and shiny from being illuminated by yellow LED lights.
This lobby also has a living room feel thanks to sofa sets, including high-back armchairs and yellow lamps, placed in groups.
The very centre of the lobby is adorned with a very special chandelier – a sort of spiralling tight cluster of transparent and rosé-hued glass balls.
Many guests come and go here but an armada of hotel associates are always catering to the guests. But if you are a guest of the Premier Club you are briskly escorted to its Lounge on Level 19 on the top floor, overlooking the Marina Bay harbour.
Club guests get to enjoy the usual package: complimentary breakfast and afternoon coffee and tea (with luxurious chocolate), followed by evening cocktails with hors d’oeuvers from 6 pm – 8 pm at the Premier Club Lounge, a fruit platter on arrival, and complimentary Wi-Fi as well as dry cleaning of one suite.
A few appointments were held in this lounge during the stay and the atmosphere was really discreet and quiet daytime for private business meetings. Meetings room are available as well.
Club lounge, Carlton Hotel Singapore
The ambience in the 40 metres long lounge (with a curved white ceiling spot-lit with neon blue) is also enhanced by striking views of the city skyline by night, also featuring an outdoor terrace.
A vivid carpet with a web of mainly plum-hued stripes as pattern; and bright, beige chairs and other opulent living room-style furnishings – velvet, comfy brown armchairs and plum pillows – break the monotone mineral silver hue of the interior here.
Masculine, yet warm
If the club lounge feels masculine to a degree the modern room design is probably attractive for both females and males. The bathroom with its dominating greyish granite and mirrors, plus the grey tones including on the headboard is probably more masculine. It features a granite-enclosed tub with a large window overlooking the bedroom side, plus a rain shower cabin. One of the bath walls has a green and purple mosaic and there is a see-through window to the bathroom’s sink section – conducive to romantic weekends.
Yet the atmosphere is warm, in particular thanks to a vintage-inspired design armchair that is strikingly red with velvet upholstering. A tall floor lamp behind it gives warm and strong light for reading.
The Sealy Posturepedic bedding (coming with soft duvet covers, plush down pillows and sheets) is also adorned with equally striking red décor pillows. The mattress is superbly thick.
Decorated with an orchid flower, the room also offers the efficiency of supreme functionality with a moveable ergonomic glass table and a Herman Miller chair to provide the highest level of work comfort. Above the work desk a round mirror hangs with a black ribbon. A flat screen TV of the Sharp brand is mounted on the wall above a cabinet. The stylish interior also features blonde wood on doorframes, slide doors and cabinets.
The lush toiletries add to the luxe factor: Molton Brown all the way with Ultra pure milk soap, Radiant lili-pili hairwash (Senses are surrounded by the uplifting aromas of green lime, mandarin and ginger, enriched with extracts of rainforest Lili-Pili + Wattle Seed helping to boost radiance and shine); Energising seamoss bath and shower (distinctly green and infused with body-boosting seaweed and horse chestnut extracts. It improves skin texture, is an excellent antidote to stress and fatigue, and leaves your mind and senses energized); and Ultrasmooth coco de mer body lotion (infused with pure coconut fruit extract and honey to protect and moisturize the skin – an absolutely lovely smell!)
Finally a noteworthy thing – not always to be taken for granted also in upscale hotels – is that the built-in air-conditioning is blissfully silent, which is something that of course boosts the quality conditions for a great sleeping experience.
You will feel you are in the comfort zone similar to your own home here among Asian hospitality. But remember, after all, that you are in a hotel, so – as the hotel jokingly writes on its website – please do not walk around the hotel in your pyjamas!
Club lounge, Carlton Hotel Singapore
