I have stayed @ the Orchard Hotel on several occasions in the past whilst visiting or passing through Singapore and have found it to be very good, not excellent but very good. However, on my last stay they seem to have dropped the ball.
I stayed in an Executive room in the Ochard Wing which is the room grade I normally choose but based on my last stay, I think I'll explore other accommodation options.
Firstly, the room tariff has increased to SIN$400 per night + 10% service fee + 7% GST. I think the Orchard is becoming a little expensive.
Secondly, the executive checkout wasn't functioning (so I was told) when I tried to check out and I was told to go downstairs to the main desk. This didn't worry me unduly but one of the things I like about the Executive Club is that you don't have to wait in line to checkin or checkout. After waiting for 10 minutes to reach the front of the queue, I was told by the staff member that I could have checked out upstairs. When I stated that the staff member upstairs told me to come to the main checkout because of a problem, he didn't look very impressed and neither was I.
Lastly, on each occasion that I've previously stayed @ the Orchard, I've sometimes tipped for excellent service and sometimes not if I thought it wasn't warranted. This last visit was the first time that I've seen staff on 2 seperate occasions obviously stand there waiting for a tip and not being at all backward about it.
On a previous visit I had asked about the service charge on the room and had been told that tipping was not necessary as the service charge covered this aspect, and besides "this is Singapore and it's not considered to be polite".
If you consider that the service charge on my room was SIN$40 per night, that's a lot of tipping value that's supposed to be distributed amongst the hotel staff.
I like the Orchard but they need to pull their socks up in my opinion.






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