Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa Staycation Review 2021
If you were following me on IG, you may have noticed that sometime back my cruise getaway was cancelled last minute due to a positive COVID-19 case on board. I was desperate for a holiday and immediately started searching for a suitable staycation. Unfortunately the suites at Raffles Hotel Singapore and Goodwood Park Hotel were both unavailable at the last minute (mind you it was mid-week). We finally landed on Sofitel Singapore Sentosa since it is the most resort-like without breaking the bank. I had previously stayed at the property before and remembered it to be decent. There are a few staycation packages to choose from and we went with a 3d2n stay with full-board option (without knowing what it really entailed because the t&cs were not clear).
Sofitel Singapore Sentosa is a 5-star resort by the French Accor Group. The location is away from the hustle and bustle, so you get to enjoy the lush greenery with wildlife (the peacocks are free-roaming) and lots of privacy. Once we stepped onto the hotel grounds, we immediately felt relaxed with the expansive space, and breeze from the South China Sea. However, if you are more into the island life action, you should note that it is a bit of a hassle getting around if you don't drive as the shuttle bus service is quite slow, and it'll take you a while to get to the beach clubs or the integrated resorts. The hotel's own complimentary shuttle service to Vivocity is more reliable imo (every 30mins) and you could easily head out for a better meal, or for some shopping if you wish.
Accommodation
Our bedroom for 2 nights was in the Luxury Garden Room and this was our view.
Our room is quite sizeable at 36sqm and features a king-sized bed. A LED Smart TV, digital newspaper and magazines and WiFi access are also provided. There are several powerpoints and USB port for easy charging of your digital devices located next to the writing desk.
While there is also a pillow menu that you can choose your pillows from, their firm options were too flimsy for us. Our twin towers of pillows were absolutely useless in providing any decent neck support.
Stay with a peace of mind knowing that everything is sanitized and wrapped. The standard coffee and tea making facilities are still available, with TWG tea bags and Nespresso capsules wrapped in a package. You could ask for more when you have finished this. The mini bar cabinet has been emptied and sanitised but you could request for it. Orders, requests, and bookings are all made through the hotel app, which i found extremely frustrating as it was either very laggy or didn't work. It was just much easier to call housekeeping/ front desk directly for assistance.
My favorite part of the room was the bathroom. Just check out the spacious bathtub for the perfect bubble bath! I was in a rush and forget to bring my bubbles but that was easily solved with an order from LUSH. There's also a separate rainshower area if you need a quick rinse.
The bath amenities.
Dining
We were informed that dinners are served at Kwee Zeen and it is buffet style. Unfortunately, buffets only work if there were sufficient diners (and there weren't) and it was a terribly water-down version and a shadow of what i remembered Kwee Zeen to be. We were terribly disappointed with the variety and quality of dishes available- no live stations and the food wasn't fresh or piping hot and tasted really mediocre. The roast beef and soup were probably the more decent dishes and we only ate for sustenance. The a la carte menu certainly looked more appealing as we saw our neighboring diners polished their pizzas. Honestly that's all we needed, a simple pizza or burger instead of a sub-par buffet.
Breakfast was a lot better in comparison since it caters to more diners. My recommendations are the congee and laksa station. The nasi lemak is also quite satisfying with the crunchy ikan bilis and peanuts and a fragrant sambal.
I suppose our displeasure with the food didn't go unnoticed by the restaurant manager but the service recovery was very spotty as well, which we realized that evening. The manager shared that for our package, dinner is only served at Kwee Zeen (which we swore never to eat dinner there again), and offered to make arrangements for us to dine at The Cliff instead. While we were not really enthused about it, since we had a super meh dinner there not too long ago, we reckon it could not be worse than another lousy dinner so we agreed. That said, when we finally went to dinner that night, we realised that no reservations were made whatsoever, and we ended up being forced to order from the set menu and paid extra as it was considered a top up. Thankfully the food was better than expected and we saw no need to kick up a fuss.
I was also very pleased with the beef burger. Just check out the size of the massive stack layered with ground beef patty, tomatoes, bacon, gherkin, an oozy fried egg
& cheese and toasted sesame bun. The fries were fresh and crispy and exactly what was needed for a holiday.
So The Cliff has been regarded as one of Singapore’s most romantic dining destinations but on this visit we noticed that the dress code wasn't strictly enforced and there were diners in shorts and slippers. Imagine you brought a date to what you thought was a fancy dinner and this happens? I guess they were just trying to fill the tables.
For mains, we had the fennel sausage pizza with Mozzarella, panna, spring onion, fennel sausage, and fennel pollen; and the Linguine and clams with pancetta, chilli & white wine. Both dishes were seasoned and cooked well and we had no complains. Either we set a super low benchmark, or was really hungry, or it was actually not bad. Desserts did nothing for us, which we wouldn't even have ordered it if we weren't made to.
Amenities & Activities
You would not miss the 33-metre pool at Sofitel Singapore Sentosa and if possible, i'm sure everyone would spend their entire day here. Unfortunately, each room is limited to one booking per day with a maximum of two hours per visit (which you could extend if it wasn't crowded).
There's also a gym which is housed in a little shack. We didn't bother with this and headed to our own gyms in town instead.
We took the opportunity to explore Sentosa on bike since Sofitel offers free bike rentals for 2 hours. Their bike was obviously too big for me to handle but i had to make to. We checked out the Fort Siloso exhibition and also went up the Imbiah Nature Trail (i meant to walk here but Jr convinced me that we should just cycle and it was just crazy with the rocks and roots). This was possibly the most exciting part of our stay because we've not experienced these before.
We also discovered a shortcut to Tanjong Beach from the pool area! It's about 130 steps down to the beach, which we found rather convenient. This makes for easier suntanning at this less crowded beach.
From my review, it's quite clear that the stay was rather lacklustre for a 5 star resort. Skip the full-board package at any opportunity, it's really not worth it. The facilities and rooms are also little worn and not particularly comfortable but a night's stay is still manageable. As for us, i doubt we'd visit Sofitel Singapore Sentosa again.
2 Bukit Manis Road
Sentosa 099891
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