For the second part of our recent trip to Singapore, we stayed at the Marriott Orchard hotel. It’s a very upscale hotel in one of the most popular areas of Singapore for leisure and business travelers alike. It’s a very nice hotel with great service – and that comes at a price! Read my review to see if it is worth it for you!
Location: The Marriott Orchard is right on Orchard road, above the Tang department store and across from the Ion Mall. It’s convenient to the MRT system, with the station right below the hotel, connecting you to anywhere on the island quickly. The ride to the airport is 30 minutes. All the malls, stores and restaurants of Orchard road are in walking distance, so if you have shopping on your mind, you won’t find a much better location.
Service: The service is what you’d expect from an upscale hotel in Singapore: excellent. The staff is polite, professional and very well trained, from the front desk to the lounge and restaurant staff. We arrived at different times of day and the hotel was prepared to hand over keys separately without issue. Our Marriott Rewards Gold status was recognized with access to the lounge. I had high expectations for the service in this category of hotel in Singapore – and they were met. We didn’t encounter any issues during our stay.
Room: All the rooms at the Marriott are arranged in an octagon around the central elevators, giving them the shape of a “slice of pie”.
The rooms are of good size for Singapore, with a comfortable bed on the one side and a small bench/lounge with table in front of it. The bed was soft and comfortable with great quality linens, as you’d expect. The small bench looked good, but wasn’t very comfortable to sit on and not very useful. On the other side, you’ll have a large working desk and the entertainment center with a large TV. The decor is upscale and muted in beige and brown colors – neither inspiring nor offensive, just as you’d expect from a Marriott hotel! 
There was a large TV, large safe (in my favorite drawer style, making it easy to access) as well as coffee/tea facilities. You’ll also get the standard Marriott multi-media panel next to the TV to connect your own devices. The wifi in the room was some of the fastest and most reliable I’ve had in hotels at an average of 48.5Mbps.
I found the bathroom to be exceptionally large. It has a large walk-in, glass-walled shower on one side, a dual vanity in the middle and the toilet and a make-up desk on the other side. While that’s great to get ready for a couple (where one person needs a lot of time in front of the mirror – ahem), I’m a big fan of deep soaking tubs and would have preferred they used the extra space for a bath tub! The beige, white and glass of the bathroom was as upscale and inoffensive as the rest of the room. The bathroom amenities were standard issue Marriott – good quality – and the same was true for the towels and robes provided.
Restaurant/Amenities: The Marriott has a large, beautiful pool with a good number of loungers and cabanas around it, so you can enjoy it in the sun or shade. There is a full restaurant and bar next to it, so you can enjoy the resort-feeling as a break in the city! For a more active day, you can check out the large gym with cardio and weight equipment for a full workout. Or for a leisurely day, visit their spa.
As Marriott Gold elite members, we enjoyed access to the lounge. The regular lounge is currently under renovation, so a temporary lounge was set up in the hallway to the meeting rooms. The atmosphere wasn’t quite as luxurious as you’d expect, with a lot of tables & chairs lined up along the walls and the buffet tables at the end. To make up for the disappointing setting, the food, drink and service were excellent. There was a large selection of cold and hot snacks – much better than what you’ll find at a US Marriott! I loved the cold cuts, fresh fruit and the meatballs – yum! The staff was quick to take drink orders and was attentive in following up with refills. We enjoyed our visit, it was certainly a great treat!
For breakfast, Gold members have access to the full breakfast buffet in the main restaurant at ground level. It offers a huge selection of cold and hot dishes, including lots of fresh fruits, warm croissants, crunchy breads and a number of hot Asian dishes. You’ll also get eggs made to order and fresh pancakes. Breakfast doesn’t get much better than this and I’m sure there will be something for everyone. Service was surprisingly disorganized with wrong bills or multiple bills arriving for us and some of the people around us.
Conclusion: The Marriott is a very upscale hotel in a great location with nice rooms and excellent service. The great lounge service and excellent breakfast make it very attractive to Marriott Rewards elite members. All of that comes at a very steep price: The room was $275/night during our stay. If you are a Marriott Rewards Gold or Platinum member on a business trip, you will enjoy the Marriott. If you are a leisure traveler, it’s hard to justify paying the steep price. While it’s certainly nicer than the Holiday Inn Express Clarke Quay we stayed before, paying twice as much for that or the similar HIE Orchard is a big premium for what’s on offer!