Toddler Staycay: Sofitel Sentosa Resort & Spa (Luxury Room)

👍 Great, relaxing ambience, large pool area, 'out of the city' resort feel.
👎 The hotel is definitely due some TLC (refresh, refurb, repair, etc).

Over the Chinese New Year weekend, the Year of the Covid* 🦠 restrictions meant no visiting or travelling so ... staycay it is (again)! This time we left the city, and went 'overseas' (well ... sort of) to the Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa! Sofitel is a French-based chain, so the hotel should be luxurious, chic, and stylish, right? Well let's find out!

* Technically it does seem like the entire 2021 will also be year of the Covid, doesn't it? Ah well, fingers crossed that the vaccine does its job and we can start travelling again in the later part of the year!

Hotels in the Staycay tour:
Raffles Hotel | Capella Singapore | Marriott Tang Plaza | The St.Regis Singapore | Grand Hyatt | The Fullerton Bay Hotel | Parkroyal Collection, Marina Bay | Marina Bay Sands | Sofitel Sentosa Resort & Spa | The Capitol Kempinski Hotel


The lobby and check-in areas certainly do feel quite stylish: what with the huge chandelier hanging right above. We also quite like the tasteful sprucing-up of the decor with lanterns and other Chinese New Year-themed items. There are just two check-in counters, but we didn't have any problems with queues or crowds, perhaps as the Sofitel Sentosa has 'just' 215 rooms.

Check in was quick and efficient, with an 11am early check in (and 2pm late check out) granted - fairly decent as it's our first visit to Sofitel, and have no status with Accor.


After check in formalities are done, we spend a few minutes meandering around the Hotel grounds, which are really very nice. The entire area has a really lazy, resort, and out-of-the city ambience to it, with walkways surrounding pools (some of which still have some koi in them) and gardens with plenty of seating and relaxation areas (shaded by lots of trees). Our little one had a whale of a time here just running up and down corridors and ramps, frolicking in the gardens, and tossing stones into the ponds. It's an entirely different experience from any hotel in the city (with the exception perhaps of Raffles).


Part of the appeal of the Hotel is also thanks to a small family of peacocks constantly roaming the grounds. These peacocks are suprisingly ubiquitous, popping up in the gardens, the pool, Kwee Zeen (Sofitel Sentosa's chinese / asian and breakfast restaurant), etc. The little one had a great time chasing them around (but eventually got frustrated as peacocks apparently walk quicker than a 17-month old).


Anyway, moving on to the accommodations: the entry level room is called the Luxury Room, and is perhaps surprisingly small (given the land size that the hotel occupies). We do like that the door opens to a little foyer that can be closed off, so you can keep your shoes, stroller, and any other unsightly appliance out of sight.


The room itself is fairly functional and good enough for a short stay, although if your toddler still needs a cot it might be a bit of a squeeze. One criticism I have is that the table does not have any power sockets, so you do need to pull your cables across to the row of sockets on the wall beside the bed, which can be a nightmare with young children.


The other side of the bed isn't particularly spacious either, with room for the wardrobe (necessary amenities like safe, ironing board, bathrobe & slippers included), a one-seater sofa, and a small ledge just wide enough to open a medium-sized suitcase on.


The television's decently-sized, but - as far as we can tell - doesn't support AirPlay or Google Cast (or Netflix or YouTube), so you'll have to rely on hdmi cables if you want to play your own content. It also shows that heading early to breakfast means usually means shorter queues: A welcome reminder for you late-risers as the hotel doesn't do timeslot reservations.


The switches controlling the room lights are located bedside, but curiously they're also underneath the bedside lamp ledge. This means that you can't actually see them if you're standing or sitting up on the bed. You might also spot many scuffs on the woodwork: It's actually a common theme throughout Sofitel Sentosa in that there's a fair bit of wear & tear and that a refurb is probably due sooner rather than later.


Water bottles & a small covid-19 cleanliness kit is provided (no masks, though), and the coffee/tea station has the usual complement of nespresso and a few assorted teabags.


The bathroom's not the biggest, but is good enough for a small family not to get into each others way. Bathtub is strictly 1 adult (+ 1 child) only, though. Bath amenities are by Lanvin - a French brand, surprise surprise - and were ... adequate? We weren't particularly enamoured by the scent or cleaning power or anything.


Sadly the toilet - like too many other hotels in Singapore - does not have a bidet or even a hand wash hose. The wear & tear around the hotel was most evident here in the toilet + shower as our room had 5 tiles come off in our 2-night stay.


Now that the room walkthrough's done, let's move on to the pool! Sofitel Sentosa's pool was probably the most enjoyable pool for us the entire staycay tour. Not the pool itself - the pool floor seems to be in need of a deep clean, and the shallow area that's safe for kids isn't that large - but more the surrounding relaxation areas. There are dozens of pool chairs and sheltered cabanas suitable for a small family to really relax in, and you even get peacock visitors from time to time. Because of covid you are limited to 2 hours a day, but thanks to the larger capacity I didn't have any problems getting a timeslot of my choice after check-in.

Pool staff went around handing out mandarin oranges, which was a nice treat.

I forgot to take photos of the gym, but it was huge and well equipped, so you probably needn't worry about missing a workout. Unfortunately I didn't visit the spa, so I won't be able to give you any thoughts on that.


Breakfast is served at Kwee Zeen, and is your usual mixture of Western and Asian main courses. Perhaps of special note is a couple of 'healthy breakfast' choices: An egg white omelette, and poached eggs with a whole accompaniment of fruits, grains, and vegetables. The main courses that we tried were actually pretty decent: I liked the Nasi Lemak (maybe because there was begedil which I adore), and the porridge & dim-sum combo wasn't bad either. I do recall that the bacon from the American Breakfast set being hard & salty though.

Officially it's one main course order per person (which might be a deal breaker if you're a huge eater). We didn't try ordering more than 1 main course each, but we had no problems getting multiple 'side dish' servings (e.g. extra plates of fruits, etc). As I mentioned above, the hotel doesn't do timeslot reservations so do try to make your way over before 9am.


In summary, if you're looking for a place that is slightly more 'vacation' than 'staycaytion' (and don't quite feel like ponying up for Capella), Sofitel Sentosa's a really enjoyable place to spend a couple of nights. For longer stays you could also visit the surrounding areas in Sentosa (Tanjong Beach is within walking distance).

Our toddler also enjoyed himself thoroughly in relaxing with us in the poolside cabanas, chasing the peacocks, and meandering around the gardens and pools. For older children there is a kids club (Villa des Enfants) with some pretty interesting activities to keep them occupied & stimulated.

Yes, the hotel is getting old and needs some refurbishment soon, and yes, the decor has aged a bit, but other than that the relaxing garden & pool ambience, great poolside areas, and decent dining options will really let you 'get away from the city.'

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Toddler Staycay: Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay (Lifestyle King Room)

👍 Gorgeous lobby, well-designed rooms, great Food & Beverage options.
👎 Renovation (drilling, hammering) noise in the daytime, no wading pool for toddlers.

Note: At time of stay, the hotel has only just partially re-opened. Several public areas and many guest rooms are still under renovation, so construction-related issues will undoubtedly clear up with time.

We continue our year of the covid 🦠 Staycay* tour at the newly-reopened Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay hotel! We've never had a chance to visit the hotel prior to its rebranding (previously the Marina Mandarin), so we won't be able to give any before-and-after comparisons, but we imagine that the old lobby didn't look anywhere as gorgeous as the new one.

* Hotels in the Staycay tour:
Raffles Hotel | Capella Singapore | Marriott Tang Plaza | The St.Regis Singapore | Grand Hyatt | The Fullerton Bay Hotel | Parkroyal Collection, Marina Bay | Marina Bay Sands.


The hotel markets itself as the first "Garden-in-a-hotel." I'm not totally convinced, really, but in any case the building's triangular design allows a cavernous lobby area in the middle, which is used to pretty great effect by the current interior designers. Wanting to skip the ~3pm crowd, we turned up at check in at ~12pm and there was hardly anyone in the queue. Thanks to Discovery Black membership we were able to get our room immediately, with a one-category upgrade* from Urban King to Lifestyle King.

* Discovery Black members normally get two-category upgrades, but the hotel currently only has these two room types ready.


In any case, we make our way up to the 12th floor to check out the room, and are pleasantly surprised to find a seat at the entrance to make putting on shoes easier. I am not sure why all hotels don't do this, it's annoying as heck to have to sit on the floor to do up your laces. p.s. please ignore the messy socks and sneakers on the right.


The Lifestlye King room itself is ... pretty nice? The floor is tiled, not carpeted, which I personally don't like so much, but otherwise I find the decor modern and elegant. As far as I can tell the only difference between the Urban & Lifestyle rooms is that the latter has a sofa / daybed at the end (which is extremely useful if you have a toddler who only naps in dim lighting as you can draw the curtain and get some sun on the daybed while he/she naps in the room).

Speaking of napping, though ... because many of the hotel's rooms are still undergoing refurbishment, there are drilling & hammering noises throughout the day. We're fortunate that our little one is a fairly heavy sleeper, but I can imagine the more easily startled kids having trouble staying asleep for their entire usual nap time.


In the far corner of the room we find a mini tent for the little one (with adorable dinosaur, toy car, and Le Petit Prince child amenities), and (presumably) a Discovery Black welcome amenity of cakes & macarons.


Opposite the bed there's a long desk/counter with Nespresso Machine & universal power socket. While the TV did have the usual complement of cable / pay TV channels, we couldn't activate any 'personal' content (e.g. Netflix, Youtube, or streaming from phone via chromecast/etc).


As is par for the course these days, all lights are controllable from the bedside table. There aren't any USB ports (which I don't care for anyway as most of my devices are now USB-C).


The cupboards house the kettle, coffee & tea, somewhat utilitarian bathrobes & slippers, ironing board & iron, fridge, and in-room safe.


Moving on to the bathroom, we see that the Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay has decided to 'go green' by providing a filtered tap water faucet instead of bottled drinking water. As we drink filtered tap water at home we're perfectly fine with this, but if you're used to other types of water you might need bit of time to get used to the taste.

We also noted that the underside of the sink countertop was messy & a little unkempt, which may or may not be an issue for you (you probably won't even notice).


A reminder that the hotel first opened almost 35 years ago is the separate bidet, which I totally don't dig at all. Of course I understand that this is down to personal preference (or more perhaps to which part of the world you grew up in), but I'd much rather have a hand-spray next to the toilet.


As we didn't feel like filling up the entire (adult) bathtub, we requested for a baby tub to bathe the little one in. I think it took less than 5 minutes for the tub to arrive - plus points for efficient housekeeping!


The shower was perhaps a little bit of a minus though. We're not sure if it's because of the hotel's 'go green' goals, or if it's because of its' age, but the shower water pressure was only adequate.


When we stayed, the Marina Bay view rooms weren't ready yet, so we got a city-facing one (which in our opinions is still quite pretty).


As the club / executive lounge is still under renovation, Discovery Black members are given snacks & drinks from 6-8pm every day at the Atrium Lounge. We didn't pay a visit as it conflicted with some dinner plans, but were able to get a copy of the drinks menu thanks to a friendly Milelion Telegram member:


In this covid age, bookings are of course required for Gym & Swimming Pool access. Bookings can be done via the hotel's chatbot, which is great.


The gym is large and seems fairly well equipped. Treadmills & cycling (spin?) machines face Marina Bay / Marina Bay Sands. The pool is great if you want to swim laps, but not so great if you want to entertain a toddler as there is no shallow pool for him/her to wade in.


Breakfast is in the hotel's general-cuisine restaurant, Peppermint, and is semi self-service, semi table-service. For 'small' items like fruits, juices, cereal, salad, and cold cuts, you have to go up to the buffet line and request it from a waiter/waitress, but main courses are ordered at and delivered to your table.


The variety of food items on offer is perhaps a little on the low side, but food's decent (not outstanding). Except maybe for the terribly dry turkey bacon that comes with the eggs. Skip that.


Our room rate includes 50% discount on all F&B in the hotel, so we also had a festive lunch ala-carte buffet at Peppermint. The cost ended up around $40 nett/person which was amazing value, especially considering that the food was also really good. Yes, there were a few hiccups in the (chatbot-driven) ordering, with some orders going missing, but the wait staff were more than ready to rectify.


We also visited the Chinese restaurant Peach Blossom for a light dim sum lunch. Peach Blossom does seem to be positioned a little more upmarket than Peppermint - the decor is pretty & elaborate, food's full of atas ingredients (like iberico pork ribs and abalone woo kok). Service is good, food's good, 50% off makes it great value. Without any discount the prices are a tad steep, perhaps, but I think the food's still good enough to plan a return visit for a special occasion.


In short, we found our stay at the Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay to be really enjoyable. Yes, there's some renovation noise, and yes, the pool isn't particularly toddler friendly if you don't have floats for him/her. Other than that rooms are nice and fairly clean, the hotel restaurants are good, and if you want some variety, Marina Square is just next door. I'd totally come back again if the price is right.

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Toddler Orchard Staycay: Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel!

👍 Orchard location is great, large toddler-friendly pool, great value proposition.
👎 AirCon really cold, Service isn't the greatest, children not allowed in club lounge.

Staycaytions* are the new normal now, aren't they? We've gone so long without vacations that it seems perfectly normal now to spend a night (or two) in some hotel somewhere in town, ordering room service and lazing away the afternoon sipping champagne at a club lounge. Well, perfectly normal to some of us, anyway - a number of friends can't get why I spend all that money and effort to temporarily relocate to a hotel when there's a gym and (far better) pool downstairs at home.

* Hotels in the Staycay tour:
Raffles Hotel | Capella Singapore | Marriott Tang Plaza | The St.Regis Singapore | Grand Hyatt | The Fullerton Bay Hotel | Parkroyal Collection, Marina Bay | Marina Bay Sands.

I mean ... come to think of it, I can't get it myself either, but that's a story for another time as we pull up to the Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel. No doormen available: You pretty much have to manage all your luggage on your own (may or may not be an issue depending on your group's adult to young child ratio).


We really dig this huge Christmas tree in the hotel's intimate (read: small) lobby. Check-in was quick & efficient (even with all the additional covid-19-related declarations). We managed to get a 2-level upgrade from the basic Deluxe Room to an Executive Room, and 11am early check-in, thanks to Mariott-Bonvoy Platinum status.


The roughly ~350sqft Executive Room was pretty spacious! Decor isn't the most modern or luxurious, perhaps, but the mattress & sofa were comfortable, and there was loads of space for our 15-month old toddler to run around. He also figured out really quickly how to get up and down the bed using the sofa, which was comforting for the parents.


The TV is a 46-incher, but thanks to the size (and layout) of the room, looks pretty small when you're trying to watch when lying on the bed. The aircon vent blows onto the open space / table rather than directly onto the bed, which was great as the air con in the Marriott Tang Plaza is really cold. We ended up leaving one keycard in the slot when going out because otherwise the 'default' setting would kick in, turning the room climate into something more suitable for penguins or polar bears.


Speaking of the table: It's a pretty nice and solid table, with thoughtfully-placed universal power sockets. It would be perfect to get some work done if you needed to.


The console below the television houses the nespresso coffee machine, kettle, and tea, and is most-certainly not toddler-safe. Our toddler could reach anything placed on this console so we had to be extra considerate on what we put there (I forgot one time and left a cup of soluble Vit C, which he promptly ran over to and pulled down on himself).


Cabinets in the room have the requisite bathrobes (one is already hanging in the bathroom), slippers, safe ... and an iron / ironing board.


The bedside consoles have power sockets (so you can plug in your phone after snuggling into bed), and electronic light switchs. Drapes and day curtains aren't electric, though, so you'll still need to get out of bed to draw them.


Our room was facing the East direction of Orchard Road: Always fascinating to get a different view of a familiar place. I've lived in Singapore for more than a decade and never knew that there were rows of landed houses just behind Lucky Plaza.


The bathroom is great. It feels modern and luxurious, and has basically everything you'll need in a bathroom ... except perhaps a bathtub, so if your baby / toddler hasn't quite transitioned to showering standing up, you might have better luck borrowing one from the hotel (they do have some available). On a side note, this blogger clearly didn't bother making sure white balance is consistent across photographs, which is super poor form.


The conundrum with longer staycays is how to handle wet swimming suits. Sure, you can hang them up, but in the cold air they won't actually dry, so the next time you go to the pool they're wet and cold. If you have any suggestions please leave them in the comments!


The welcome & birthday gift was quite nice (yes, I really celebrated my actual birthday here).


As with all other hotels in the covid era, the pool is capacity-controlled and reservations are recommended. That said, I feel like the (relatively) large size of the pool allows a higher number of swimmers. I had no problems using the pool as many times and whenever I wanted to during my stay. There are also three pretty large areas where the water's only a few inches deep, perfect to let your toddler wade alone without needing to worry (too much) about him drowning.


The fitness center / gym seems pretty well equipped. The area also has a sauna, which was great for warming up after a cold swim on a cold day.


Our stay also included lounge access, but the Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel's M Club doesn't allow children (this would be a plus or minus depending on your circumstances) - no worries though, we get alternate happy hours at the Marriott Cafe on the first floor.


The alcohol list is decent, and the food was pretty good (although it took around half an hour to arrive). Do keep in mind that the portions are really large, though, so it'll be quantity over variety if you've got a smaller family.


Breakfast is also at the Marriott Cafe, and as might be expected from our 'new normal,' is unlimited ala-carte style (instead of a buffet). Service is quick and food orders arrive promptly; Food itself is perhaps best described as adequate? We didn't think any item was particularly standout, but we can recommend not ordering the dimsum (underwhelming) or the bacon (extremely salty).


Despite the somewhat underwhelming breakfast we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and also found it to be terrific value (our rate was s$350nett for 2 nights inclusive of breakfast and $100 dining credit). Huge plus points were easy accessibility to the toddler-friendly pool, generally toddler-safe rooms, and toddler-friendly restaurants. And of course the location being right at the heart of the Ion / Wheelock / Tangs / Isetan intersection is AAA. Would totally come back again.

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