Hotel Review : State Plaza Washington DC USA by singaporean

Washington DC is, in many ways, a cheap place to take a short holiday. Most of the best museums (and Washington has some amazing museums) do not charge an admission fee. Indeed, even famous landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington monument (which is a must-see) do not charge a fee, a particularly impressive feat for the latter given that it allows you, albeit by use of a timed-ticket, to go up 500 feet and have an excellent vantage point of DC.

The one downside though is that accommodation in DC is ridiculously expensive. Which is why I was pleased to have stayed in the State Plaza Hotel during my recent trip there. When I first arrived at the hotel, I found it somewhat low-key and inconspicuous (had to take a second look before I could even identify it!). Be that as it may, the stay was a wonderful one.

 

For one, the room was ridiculously large. I don’t know if it were only my good fortune, but my room came with its own kitchen (complete with stove and full-size fridge), dressing room (literally, a room for you to preen yourself in front of the mirror!) apart from and on top of the conventional hotel room and toilet. The location was good as well – being close to the heart of DC and only a few minutes walk away from Washington Mall and many of the key landmarks that have come to be associated with DC (e.g. White House, Washington Monument et al).

 

Service was wonderful as well given the price I paid – to state one example, rather than charge inordinate prices for storage facilities (which is what some budget hotels do after you’ve checked out but still have a few hours to burn and you’d rather not be lugging a heavy back around), they were kind enough to offer to hold on to my bag and even enquired as to whether there was anything valuable in the bag so that they can place it in a more secure location if that were the case. There is a complimentary wired internet connection in each room as well, so that affords the busy student / business traveler / busybody Internet surfer to keep himself/herself logged on to the many distractions of the world wide web whilst staying in the hotel.

If I had any complaints, it was merely that I wish that the Internet connection provided was wireless and that the check-in time was a somewhat-oddly-late 3 pm. All that said, for a mere $100 or so a night, ridiculously low by DC standards, the accommodation was good and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a relatively affordable place in DC for a few days’ stay!

Review of Conrad Centennial Hotel Singapore

For SGD 340, you will can get yourself a KING Deluxe room.

After all that pictures overload, I have only one thing to say – Fabulous!

Conrad Centennial Hotel truly leaves up to its Hilton standard of service. It was simply superb. Even though I had no luggage with me, the check-in officer by the name of Chandran actually escorted me all the way to my room. Totally unexpected but well appreciated. Now that’s service!

Everything in the room was in tip top condition so there is nothing to complain there and the view is just superb – especially during the day when the sun slowly rises and allowed natural light to enter the room.

The breakfast spread was okay – not as extravagant but enough. The waffles and ice-cream is a great way to start your breakfast! You also cannot go wrong with the location as its just within walking distance from the malls and the suntec city convention centre.

Conrad Centennial is just excellent. This is how all Singapore Hotel should be!

Overall rating: 88 out of a possible 100

Find me the best hotel deal!Book NOW!

Hotel Review - Orchard Hotel Singapore

At the time of writing, Orchard Hotel is rated at number 52nd out of the other hotels in Singapore by Tripadvisor readers. As it is located along Orchard Road, the shopping city of the nation, and considering it is a 4star hotel, how bad can it really be?

I am in for a shock! Check-in reception was slow and the most outrageous thing was the fact that there there were not many guests going through check-in.

My check-in was handled by a guy (I have decided to make him anonymous here)who seemed pleasant at first until he asked me a question which appalled me - What time will you be checking out?

My goodness - that is exactly like asking what time will I be leaving? This is just so wrong. I believe informing me of the check-out time(like other hotels I have visited) would have sufficed.

What make matters worse is the fact that I did not get a double bed room but a twin bed room - I indicated in my booking form that I am going to be staying on my own so why can't they have booked a double room for me. Very upset! But the hotel did have a non-guaranteed clause so there is nothing that I can do about it.

Lifts to your room require a card to access to other levels. The corridor is more towards contemporary style - this is indeed a business hotel – and from its interior it looks exactly like it.

Upon entering the room my immediate disappointment was with the bathroom. Size was a tad small and to make matter more unpleasant is the very fact that there is no dental kit nor any shaving kit. The guest is required to call for the items to be delivered to your room. I don’t understand the rationale for this at all. Luckily upon calling, those items were sent promptly which ease my frustration a little.

I always love a bathroom with rain shower and Orchard Hotel has it albeit being part of the bathtub. The mirror has some Chinese character on it - pretty Zen-looking if you asked me. It is also very clean and well maintained. However the complimentary toiletries are pretty generics.

From the toilet you can pretty much overlook the sleeping area. In other words if you are a couple you can enjoy the great view of your partner from your side.

The beds and pillows were not as comfy as I expect them to be, it is rather too soft for my taste. But I have to say that the bedroom walls are pretty nicely designed. Very aesthetics. The help desk has a caller id so there is no need to even mention my room number - which makes me ask myself - if they have caller id why can't they answer the phone by stating my name - is that too much to ask for a little service?

No laze chair unfortunately but i guess that armchair will have to do. My other redemption for the room is the 32inch LCD screen.

Another thing which pisses me off is the view outside my window - simply horrendous.

However small touches like my name on the TV is an added bonus.

Another thing - its at Orchard Road so location wise its perfect for shopping and in the end I ended up spending more than SGD200 just for taking a stroll along that wretched road. Oh well, I have not shopped for a while :)

I guess the special room rate that was offered to me was good and edging on being complimentary. As such I believe this must be one of their cheaper rooms. But would you pay the standard normal rate of SGD150 to SGD200 for such a room?

Thus my first ever stay in a hotel in Singapore is quite a dismay which makes me promise myself to only stay and review hotels that are in the TOP 20 in Singapore.

Overall rating: 65 out of a possible 100.

Want great deals on flights and hotels? Click here.