Festive (or not so festive) Hotel

It's our 7th wedding anniversary this weekend. And I had some RWS vouchers to use so we booked a room at the festive hotel. It didn't come cheap either. A simple room with a King size bed and sofa bed for the kids came up to just over SGD$400.

At the end of the stay, we decided that it wasn't worth it at all. It was a good thing that we had vouchers to offset the bill. I'd give it 5/10. For a 4 star hotel, which is just over a year old, right next to Universal Studios, the service and amenities were terrible.

We arrived by car at 2:30pm and the valet service was quick and efficient. The lobby was quite crowded, understandably since it was a weekend and a school holiday weekend at that. There was a queue to check in and we lined up. Once we got to the counter, the receptionist said that check in time was actually at 3pm and so we were early. But she proceded with the checkin, we signed the forms and produced our credit card.

Then she told us the room wasn't ready and we had to come back at 3pm. (half an hour later). I asked if she could get us the first available room since I have a toddler who was grumpy and needed a nap. She repeated that check in is at 3pm and she can't give us a room until then. So I asked how come the couple in front of us were given their room key since check in is supposed to be at 3pm. She looked at the screen and said that we only booked a deluxe room and our check in is at 3pm. (as if booking the cheaper room at the hotel disqualified us from an early check-in). I again I asked if she could give us the first available room. She dismissed me again asking to me to come back at 3pm. She did not at any point in the conversation picked up the phone to call housekeeping to find out if the room was already clean. Neither did she ask any of her colleagues to assist.

At this point, I decided that if we have to wait, we have to wait. So I asked her if I could wait at the side of her counter so once the room was ready I could get the key. She looked at me in disbelief and said no. I had to wait over there. There was quite a queue to check in now and I said ok. But in that case how would I know when I could collect the room keys? She then said that at 3pm I can join the queue again. I felt incredulous. We had already completed the check-in process and all we were waiting for were the rooms keys. And for that I had to join the ever lengthening queue? Most other hotels would have at this point asked us to have a seat and they will call us when the room key is ready. I felt like I was checking into a hostel, not a 4 star hotel. I told her that that was not acceptable. And I was going to wait at the side of the counter until the room was available.

She simply ignored me and proceeded to check in the next person. And she repeated the exact same line about check in at 3pm. Let me again say that the couple in front of me  was already given their room key. So obviously some rooms were already made up and ready. But it's clear that she didn't even bother to find out whether there were rooms available or not.

Anyway, a few minutes later, another receptionist who must have overhead the conversation pulled me to one side and proceeded to process the room key. I thought maybe the first receptionist was just very hassled by the number of people in the queue which was why she was curt and dismissive. However, later in the lift on the way up to the room, the lady who was queueing behind me told us that this hotel is like that. And we had to insist on getting a room key immediately otherwise we'd end up waiting and waiting.

I was quite shocked to hear that. This is supposed to be a 4 star hotel at the Resorts World, next to Universal Studios and that's how they treat their guests? Should it matter that I was staying in a cheaper room and hence I had to queue up again for my room key? This is the first time ever that I've been treated like I don't matter to the hotel. And I've been around to lots of hotels. Comparatively, the Disneyland Hotel in HK (hotel next to the theme park) which costs just a little more, had much much better service.

That aside, when we got to the room, it didn't feel like a new hotel room and it certainly didn't look like it was worth $400 a night. There was no bathtub. The handle on the balcony door came off. The table had scratches and stains. The soap and shampoo didn't come in nice small souvenir size bottles. Instead it was a huge pump bottle. Clearly meant that the hotel was trying to save costs. There were no drinks in the minifridge. There were no snacks available either. And the cost for room service was atrocious. $12 for juice! And wi-fi was charged at $5 an hour! And the price of the room did not include breakfast.

To be fair it had a nice big balcony. Which is probably the best thing I can say about the room.

Another point, this is what is said in the website at Resorts World - "Children-friendly amenities are key highlights, such as the assortment of candies at the reception that will put a smile on any kid’s face. Welcome novelty packs and tailored bathrobes are also catered specially for the little ones." There was no such amenities or welcome packs or tailored bathrobes in the room. That's false advertising isn't it? I chose this hotel because I wanted my kids to enjoy themselves and feel at home there.

Now, in the room, there is a sofa bed which is supposed to open up in to a bed for my kids. And when we went out for dinner, we had expected a turn down service when we returned at nearly 9pm. There wasn't any. So I had to work out how the sofa opened up myself. Then put the sheets on. The worst part was the design of the room was terrible. When the sofa bed opened out, it blocked the cupboard. So once it was opened, there is no way of opening the cupboards. And guess where the extra pillow and blankets were? In the cupboard! What a waste of my time!

The next morning, we went swimming. The pool there is small compared to the Hard Rock Hotel next door. And I think the water wasn't very clean. In the water, I felt my legs itching and I came up with a few small bites on my legs. I swim a lot and I don't usually get rashes from pool water. I also noticed my younger boy scratching his legs. There were also areas of plants next to the pool. And on the ledge of the pool, we spotted a few millipedes? Or were they centipedes? Hmmm... I certainly didn't want to go swimming with any of these creatures. We got straight up out of the pool after that. The boys were rather fascinated with the bugs though.

Again to be fair, checking out was fast and there was no issue there. The hotel offered to hold our luggage for us if we wanted to walk around in Sentosa for the rest of the day. They do also provide free parking at Sentosa/Resorts World which has insanely expensive parking fees. And valet parking is a mere $3.

Well, not quite the way we wanted to spend our wedding anniversary. I can say safely that I'm not going back there, neither am I recommending it to anyone! Glad to be back home.

And yes, this review is going to be put up on Trip Advisor.