Hotel Review: South Beach, Singapore
I was a little frowny-faced in 2015 when I realized my streak of celebrating my birthday on foreign soil would be broken. With no trips on the horizon, it was then a very welcome treat when The South Beach invited me to stay and check out their new hotel. A Singapore Staycation at a new luxury hotel is a pretty sweet mini-holiday compromise. I’d already done a tour of all the rooms on preview night at South Beach hotel Singpaore, so it was nice having a chance to actually enjoy a night in these fancy rooms myself.
Paperless Check-In
Happy to have an excuse to unwrap my Tiffany-blue cabin size suitcase, I wheeled it down to Beach Road and checked in to South Beach for my little staycation. I was greeted with big smiles at the door and shown to my room without delay, where I signed the electronic tablet for the paperless in-room check-in.
I like the psychedelic big screen at the entrance, as well as the chairs and tables in the Global Village lobby. Rather than a uniform look, in here all the pieces of furniture are different from each other.
Beam Me Up Octopus
The lift in South Beach is still my favourite thing in this hotel. The lights change and you see eels and octopus and… It’s just really cool lah.
Showcase Me
I stayed in one of the Showcase Me rooms at South Beach. You can check out the other room types on Expedia here.
First all my attention went to the 3-tier dessert platter waiting for me. Eventually though, I took notice of the rest of the room.
South Beach is a Philippe Starck designer hotel in Singapore so naturally the room has little interesting touches all around. Most of it is hyper modern.
The king-sized bed was roomy and comfortable with lots of fluffy pillows. It was hard to peel myself off the bed for a spot of shopping in Suntec City as planned. I just sunk in, with eclairs for company and watched a movie.
I really like the design of the TV flushed in the wooden panel.
I snapped a picture of the room and sent it to my friend to make him jealous, and he immediately noticed all the mirrored closet doors parallel to the bed. I don’t know what you’re into, but if you’re into a kinky staycation with your partner… *wink *
In front of the TV sat the desk, which doubled as my dining table when I ordered room service.
It has that modern sleek look accompanied by a signature Phillipe Starck chair. The metallic look is pretty outstanding and gives a nice touch to the room. But it did bother me how cold it was on the skin because of the air-conditioning in the room. So I threw on a bathrobe and it was all good.
R2D2 Potty
Still amused by the automatic toilet in the South Beach hotel rooms. It opens automatically whenever you enter the toilet, and closes when you leave. It also has a controller (!) to control the bidet functions. Luxury latrine ftw.
So after I peed I said “Arigato, Mr Roboto” and bowed to it, and it bowed back to a close. Naturally.
(If the novelty wears off and the open-and-shut noise bothers you, there’s a switch for you to turn it off.)
So after I peed I said “Arigato, Mr Roboto” and bowed to it, and it bowed back to a close. Naturally.
Bed Bath and Beyond
The other thing I really loved in the South Beach hotel was the bathtub. These babies are great! I did eventually pop down to Suntec the first evening and had a swim the next morning so finally on the 2nd day I had time to take a relaxing bath.
I swung the mirrored doors close, threw in the bath salts that they provide, filled the tub, and put on my Diva power-ballad playlist on Spotify and climbed in.
I liked that they have a little stand that you can reposition as you like, so I pulled it close to the tub and lined up the complimentary designer toiletries within reach.
With my wine glass in hand, I sat back comfortably and belted out with Celine Dion in the privacy of my spacious bathroom. Good acoustics for professional bathroom singers! I could totally get used to this.
Selfie heaven / The spacious bathroom
The Munchies
Shortly after I checked in, I ordered some ribs via Room Service. It wasn’t the fastest room service and the meal was tasty but I found it quite overpriced for what I got. Dinner down at the hotel’s LAUGH Bar was way better. The Spinach & Cottage Cheese Tortellini was absolute yum!
Ribs and fries via Room Service
Tortellini at the Laugh Bar, groundfloor of the hotel
In the room, there were also quite a few free snacks in the alcohol-free minibar. There was Lays, Snickers, Stewart’s drinks… There’s even more in the premium rooms. Pretty good stuff. And that adorable water bottle that says ‘Water You Waiting For’. Chuckles.
If you prefer something hot, there’s coffee and tea making facilities. And not just any tea. TWC tea! Aiseh!
If you want more food options when staying at South Beach, you can also go across the road to Suntec City. I planned to have some Din Tai Fung but the bed won and so I ate gummy beds and watched The Walking Dead marathon instead. I’m glad I had one dinner at LAUGH bar though!
If I had to pick one room in South Beach hotel, I’d say LAUGH Bar is my favourite. If it’s not too crowded, it’ll make a great spot for after-work drinks.
Cute lampshades in Laugh Bar
The Court Martial Bar wasn’t open when I was staying but it will be opening soon. Love the name! It’s inspired by the nearby original Beach Road Police Station from the 1930s.
One TV to Rule Them All
It was pretty cool that I could, without moving from the bed, control everything in the room – from opening the curtains, closing the blinds, turning off the lights and ordering room service. It’s all done with the remote control via the TV.
There were however a few hiccups, which is fair enough for a brand new hotel in their pre-opening phase. The hotel will only be opened in full force later this year. So I was prepared for a few bumps. To their credit, staff were quick to respond and help.
I had a bit of a thumb war with the remote, frustrated that things weren’t working well. The staff came up and gave me a new remote and reset the TV and that fixed everything quickly. So it really wasn’t too bad. I suppose that’s just a general downside of centralizing technology – when it works it’s super convenient, but when it fails everything has to pause.
To be fair though, there are still manual buttons for the curtains and lights etc in the room, so you can just get up and control those. But I’m not too crazy about having the room service menu and clock all on the TV. I had to stop my movie to access those. Also would have preferred a movie menu that I could select and watch from start to finish rather than tuning in halfway to whatever was on cable.
Still, I had a great time cracking open a bottle of wine after dinner and staying up late watching movies with a bag of gummy bears. Like a big, happy kid 🙂
Mucking about
Sooo excited! As you can tell I am marvellous at posing
Window seat
On A Sofa With Toes Dipped in Water
To convince myself I’ve worked off all that chocolate and gummy bears, I took a brisk swim in the 18th floor pool of South Beach hotel. The open-air pool overlooks The Padang and many CBD skyscrapers including Marina Bay Sands. Loved the view. Unfortunately it was hazey 🙁
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And how cool is the fact that they’ve put sofas and chairs IN the water? Perfect when you want to swim but your friend isn’t keen to get soaked. You can still hangout together and everyone’s happy.
After my swim I chilled for a bit on the submerged spa seats at the far end of the pool for some bubbles.
Breakfast with a side of Nutella
Bread, cheese, cereal, prata, charcuterie selections, omelettes, nutella, fruits, dim sum. I had one happy belly!
The food served in the breakfast spread at South Beach was really good. And so was the setting. ADHD – All Day Hotel Dining – hosts the buffet breakfast till 1030am, and lunch and dinner after. It’s got nice big windows , different kinds of seats and a cosy ambience.
I liked the little doggy mug and the comfy long sofa benches at the dining table. With cushions even! If you want to nauseate other hotel guests, you can cuddle and feed each other ham and cheese. Not saying you should, but you have the option.
Breakfast was good. I was pretty thrilled to have the little packets of Nutella, grilled mushrooms and eggs freshly prepared how I like it. That’s my favourite part of any buffet. The pastry and cheese selection at The South Beach hotel was particularly good.
Cute!
Check Out
After getting pruney in the tub, I was all refreshed thanks to Mariah and Celine and Aretha making me feel like a natural woman, and checked out of the hotel.
The staff at South Beach hotel are very attentive and friendly. So you get lots of smiles and greetings. I personally prefer a little more space than having to return greetings every time I walk by a guest service officer at a hotel, but better to have more service than less. I enjoyed the banter at check out in any case, and they went out of their way to help me with my bags even outside the hotel.
Verdict – The South Beach Hotel Review
Overall I had a good stay at South Beach. What’s outstanding is their attention to design, with lots of unique pieces and colourful combinations that come together in a way that’s fun but functional. (It is after all a concept hotel by Philippe Starck.)
There’s an ambience of luxury, comfort and fun too, like they don’t take themselves too seriously. Beds are comfortable, food is delicious, everything is either funky or pretty.
It’s wonderful for a luxurious Singapore Staycation, and you should definitely get in while the hotel is new so you can show off that fact. It’s going to be a hot one. I’m also a big fan of the Beach Road location both for locals and visitors to Singapore. Would I stay there again? I already have, and it was even better than the first time 🙂
Book your staycation at South Beach online with Expedia here.