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Property: ibis Singapore on Bencoolen
Status: Accor Plus Platinum
Room booked: Standard Queen
Room upgraded/type: N/A - property fully booked
Rate: Accor Plus Saver Rate avg SG$194pn++
Free internet: Yes, appears to be capped at 15mbps both ways
Free Breakfast: Yes, buffet at Taste restaurant
Early check in/late out: Neither required but are listed on benefits paper
Welcome drink: Yes, two vouchers
Welcome gift: Fruit plate, handwritten welcome card, complimentary minibar (Coke, Sprite, Tiger, Kitkat, peanuts)
Here for a few nights on a short getaway to Singapore. Wanted to stick with Accor as this will nudge me up to 60 nights to retain Plat, however all the other Accor properties were either >$500pn or well outside the CBD, so I thought I'd give this Ibis a try and save myself ~$900.
The good: Room has surprisingly comfortable bedding and strong aircon. Plenty of staff around and good service. The location is not the worst given the price - it's walkable to Bugis, Little India, Chjimes/Raffles City, etc. It's also not far from Bencoolen & Rochor MRT stations and Queen St Terminal (buses to Johor Bahru). EZLink cards can be borrowed from reception. Has coin laundry facilities which many of the higher end Accor hotels do not. Complimentary minibar for Platinums (unsure if lower tiers also get this)
The bad: The building is quite old and it shows. Decor is pretty tacky and dated - plenty of antique Accor Le Club posters. The room's early gen 720p LCD TV is straight out of 2005 (passport pic for scale) although the property is upgrading TVs at the moment. A bit of traffic noise from the street can be heard in my room on Level 5 although it's worst during the day and wasn't an issue during the night. Housekeeping by request only.
The breakfast spread was very good for an Ibis. This hotel offers quite a sharp B&B rate which seems popular as there were at least 50 people eating at 7:30am, and the maître d' (used very loosely but Accor is French after all ) went through a list of at least 100 rooms with breakfast inclusions to confirm I was eligible. Taste has seating for about 120-150 people and there were at least 8 FOH staff so it's quite a large operation - but this means a decent selection and high turnover of buffet items. I went for the construct your own Nasi Lemak station:
The buffet included machine coffee only, I used one of my drink vouchers on a cappuccino from the bar which was unfortunately not a huge step up from the buffet machine.
In short, the property has its downfalls and if money was no object I would pick one of the many 5* options in Singapore. But I don't regret my choice to stay here on this trip given the savings, and would absolutely stay again for the right price.
Status: Accor Plus Platinum
Room booked: Standard Queen
Room upgraded/type: N/A - property fully booked
Rate: Accor Plus Saver Rate avg SG$194pn++
Free internet: Yes, appears to be capped at 15mbps both ways
Free Breakfast: Yes, buffet at Taste restaurant
Early check in/late out: Neither required but are listed on benefits paper
Welcome drink: Yes, two vouchers
Welcome gift: Fruit plate, handwritten welcome card, complimentary minibar (Coke, Sprite, Tiger, Kitkat, peanuts)
Unable to go back and edit post but I ended up asking for 3pm late checkout which was granted.
I also found out that rooms booked with the "extra benefits" rate, of which the benefits were extended to Platinums for free, include the lending of wifi hotspots and bicycles from reception - which I thought was quite good for an Ibis.
Here for a few nights on a short getaway to Singapore. Wanted to stick with Accor as this will nudge me up to 60 nights to retain Plat, however all the other Accor properties were either >$500pn or well outside the CBD, so I thought I'd give this Ibis a try and save myself ~$900.
The good: Room has surprisingly comfortable bedding and strong aircon. Plenty of staff around and good service. The location is not the worst given the price - it's walkable to Bugis, Little India, Chjimes/Raffles City, etc. It's also not far from Bencoolen & Rochor MRT stations and Queen St Terminal (buses to Johor Bahru). EZLink cards can be borrowed from reception. Has coin laundry facilities which many of the higher end Accor hotels do not. Complimentary minibar for Platinums (unsure if lower tiers also get this)
The bad: The building is quite old and it shows. Decor is pretty tacky and dated - plenty of antique Accor Le Club posters. The room's early gen 720p LCD TV is straight out of 2005 (passport pic for scale) although the property is upgrading TVs at the moment. A bit of traffic noise from the street can be heard in my room on Level 5 although it's worst during the day and wasn't an issue during the night. Housekeeping by request only.
The breakfast spread was very good for an Ibis. This hotel offers quite a sharp B&B rate which seems popular as there were at least 50 people eating at 7:30am, and the maître d' (used very loosely but Accor is French after all ) went through a list of at least 100 rooms with breakfast inclusions to confirm I was eligible. Taste has seating for about 120-150 people and there were at least 8 FOH staff so it's quite a large operation - but this means a decent selection and high turnover of buffet items. I went for the construct your own Nasi Lemak station:
The buffet included machine coffee only, I used one of my drink vouchers on a cappuccino from the bar which was unfortunately not a huge step up from the buffet machine.
In short, the property has its downfalls and if money was no object I would pick one of the many 5* options in Singapore. But I don't regret my choice to stay here on this trip given the savings, and would absolutely stay again for the right price.
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