the hotel just located at orchard road (next to Takashimaya, if you are looking brands). However, we have to go to level 5 lobby for check in. the room is quite spacious and clean, but with poor sound proof as you can hear people walk pass or talking outside.

Good Points :
Great Location ,very close to MRT and on the main orchard road shopping hub
Breakfast was also decent
Rooms very nice, big and clean and so was the bathroom ( view was bad though )
Concierge staff was good and pleasant

Bad Points:
extremely commercial hotel with no personal touch, they just mean business and make money

A lot of noise in the room from god knows where, made several complaints but i was told the construction outside which i couldn't see......................and construction at 12 in the night ???

Huge Lobby had seating only for 6 people rest all would stand as they have strict check in and check out time policies
I was promised late checkout when checking in for 2 hours but the manager decided to cancel that at the last minute ( shame.....i would have made arrangements if i was told before )

I would never go there again as i like to be welcomed anywhere i go especially if i am in a 5 star hotel and paying a lot

This Mandarin is not the Mandarin that you think it is. Nothing to do with the Mandarin Group so don't get confused, number one. This Mandarin belongs to Meritus. In my opinion, it is closed to a 3-star hourly motel. Location is good but it is probably top of my hate list.

I arrived late at 11pm so I called my brother, who arrived two hours earlier than me, to order me a club sandwich and a fresh orange juice ( I will come back to this room service in a minute!). I arrived hotel and one poor girl at the whole counter and I waited for 30 minutes to check in. That was 11:45pm. I dumped my bags and rushed to my brother's room for my room service. The sandwiches was there but it came with a water melon juice so I asked what happened. They do NOT have orange juice... you are kidding me! By the way, the next day we had a drink at the coffee shop at 3pm and I checked again, they do NOT have fresh orange juice, only canned one.

Anyway, when I went back to my room at 0145, key card was not working so I had to visit that poor girl at the lobby. She was still there and I had to queue again for another 30 minutes, just to ask them to replace my key card. Then I got a lesson from her that I am not supposed to be attach the key card with any metal, where is that coming from!!!! I told her that I put the key back into the same envelope she gave me and I left it on my brother's bed; I picked it up and was holding it back to my room! Bloody amazing.

Next morning and the following morning, same scenery at the lobby, more staff but loooooong queue.

The hotel room is ok but with no sound proof as I kept hearing next door's activities two nights in a row. That is when I thought I was staying at one of those hourly motel!

In the morning, they sent a waiter to direct us to dine at the Charterbox which is one of their outlets (used to be famous for their chicken rice but that was the real Mandarin time)... I was wondering why they didn't let us to have our breakfast at the normal, proper cafe! I paid for that and the check -in girl specifically pointed me to the breakfast area which is directly opposite to the counter.

Another area is the taxi stand. No one there to guide, no signage indicates where the queue direction is. All mixed up with all those tour groups and they also queue at the taxi stand. Totally disorganised.

Definitely not coming back. Definitely not recommend to anyone.

I shall be candid and say that this hotel is one of the earliest hotel i can remember staying at when i was 6. And i keep continuing to stay here when i make trips to Singapore. They have gone numerous refurbishments and the most recent one has made their foyer, in my opinion, even more chaotic and not conducive to pedestrian management. In the past, the foyer is in the ground floor and there are various counters to approach. Now there is only 1 counter and it seems that every time i am checking in, there is only a single frazzled receptionist apologising profusely. So check in can be painful.

Now to the hotel. I always get a high floor which gives you some form of view, away from the cooling towers and also minimises the traffic noise. The room has gotten smaller following the refurbishment but the bathroom is still beautiful and spacious. They have now installed a ergonomic shower which dispenses water as a hydro therapy horizontally.

Why do i stay here? The location! Get up in the morning, put on a dres, walk across the street to Takashimaya food court and get the $3 Yakun eggs and milky tea or coffee, or a bowl of laksa, or a bowl of noodles, or some pohpiah or some yautiu or for a croissant if you prefer. Walk a bit further and take one of the hairiest escalator in front of Paragon Plaza to Food Republic food court. Or take a right after you exit the hotel entrance and go towards the MRT station. Or, take a left and keep walking towards Tangs but don't forget the underground walkway via Takashimaya lower ground floor, plenty to see and eat. Or, walk across Orchard Road towards Grand Hyatt for the hawker buffet, for a premium of course. I have eaten in Mandarin's restaurant but have always found it a bit meh since i am surrounded by food.

Would i come back? Absolutely.