Sunday, July 21, 2019

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Review (Harbour Studio with Discovery Black)

πŸ‘ Nice, spacious rooms. Good service. Stylish club / lounge with a gorgeous view.
πŸ‘Ž Hmmm. I guess the view is slightly blocked by the Mandarin Oriental?

There are 2 types of people: Those who staycaytion and those who think it's a ridiculous waste of money and therefore don't. The darling and I are the former; We do enjoy the occasional visit to a nice hotel in Singapore, enjoying the service and the change of scenery. Which brings us to today's post, where we check out the Pan Pacific Singapore for a night at their Harbour Studio with access to their gorgeous Pacific Club (Lounge) courtesy of a Discovery Black loyalty membership (more on that at the end of the post).

The Pan Pacific Singapore's got a pretty good location. It's one of the hotels connected to the large Marina Square shopping mall, which means you're walking distance from Marina Bay, Padang, National Gallery, and a bunch of other nearby malls. About the only downside of the location is that the closest MRT station is a bit of a walk away, but with staycaytions that's a pretty inconsequential downside.

We arrived at the hotel at around 12pm. Pan Pacific's lobby is gorgeous, huge, and bright. In our excitement we forgot to take photos ... so you'll have to unfortunately use some imagination πŸ˜“

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion

Check in was quick, friendly, and efficient. We initially booked a Panoramic Room, but thanks to Discovery Black, were upgraded to a Harbour Studio with Pacific Club benefits. We were also offered a 6pm late checkout, which we gladly accepted.

Our room was on the 27th floor and was surprisingly spacious (for Singaporean standards). The room is 495sqft, which is literally more than half the size of our entire apartment (915sqft). The King-sized bed and pillows were really comfortable and we had no problems getting a good nights' sleep. The more keen-eyed readers among you might also spot a Herman Miller Aeron chair at the work area.

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Harbour Studio Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Harbour Studio

The mini-bar area has complimentary tea and Nespresso coffee, and the usual range of non-complimentary wine, snacks, drinks, and alcohol.

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Harbour Studio

The washroom is nice, and has separate toilet (with manual bidet seat), shower, and bathtub areas. It might not be too clear from the photo, but the tub can fit two adults with a bit of a squeeze. A full range of amenities are provided so you can pretty much leave all your toiletries at home (except maybe facial wash).

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Harbour Studio Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Harbour Studio

Pan Pacific Singapore also arranged for a pretty nice welcome gift of chocolates and dragonfruit (I'm not sure if this was because of my Discovery Black membership, or if all guests receive it).

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Harbour Studio

The most amazing part of the room was, however, the view. The rooms on this side of the hotel all overlook Singapore's iconic Marina Bay (with Marina Bay Sands out of the camera's field of view over on the left). It's quite nice in the daytime, but absolutely gorgeous at night when the lights come on.

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Harbour Studio Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Harbour Studio

I mentioned earlier that we were provided with Pacific Club (lounge) access thanks to the room upgrade. This comes with:
• Afternoon Tea from 3-5pm (on both check-in and check-out days)
• Champagne Breakfast in the Club, or breakfast at The Edge
• Cocktails & Canapes from 6-8pm (only on the check-in day)

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge

At all other times you're welcome to rest and relax in the pretty stylish lounge. Outside of breakfast, tea, and cocktail hours, there's a small selection of biscuits, crisps and candy bars on offer, but drinks and other food are chargeable.

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge

As the Pacific Club is on the 38th floor, the views are to die for.

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge View

For the Afternoon Tea session, the Club provides an assortment of sandwiches and salads, cold cuts, a couple of hot dishes (har gao and glutinous rice for us), and pastries / cakes. As long as you've had a decent (or late) breakfast, the selection of food on offer is more than enough to serve as a late lunch.

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge High Tea Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge High Tea Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge High Tea Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge High Tea

Evening canapes & cocktails is pretty similar, except that there's booze and a dress code (smart casual). For the teetotalers among us, fear not! A wide range of soft drinks, fresh juices, and mocktails are available.

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge Cocktails Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge Cocktails Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Pacific Club Lounge Cocktails

For breakfast we decided to skip the lounge and head directly to The Edge (Pan Pacific Singapore's huge buffet restaurant). The buffet spread is HUGE, covering all sorts of international, chinese, and indian cuisine. No photos though -- sorry! (we didn't bring our phones / cameras down with us).

Pan Pacific Singapore also has a decent swimming pool, gym, and spa. As we were only on a 1 night stay we didn't really have the time to explore any of them.

Pan Pacific Singapore Staycaytion Swimming Pool

Now just to come back to the upgrades. Discovery Black entitles to you to up to a 2-level space available room upgrade. If you book a room with no Pacific Club benefits, it is possible for you to be upgraded to another room which also has no Club benefits (or to not get upgraded at all). Therefore the only way to guarantee Club access is to book at least a Pacific Room.

Discovery Black membership can be fast-tracked for free and with no strings attached if you are a World Elite Mastercard holder: Check out the details over on Mile Lion.

To conclude, the darling and I really enjoyed our short staycaytion at the Pan Pacific Singapore. The rooms are nice and spacious, service at the Pacific Club was very good, and the hotel's location right above Marina Square means that it's easy to fill in the time between meals with some window shopping or to just take a stroll. In fact we might go as far as to say that this hotel is our favourite price / performance staycaytion spot in the city at the moment (as long as you get lucky with the Club access, of course)!

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