Before I stayed there my impression was that the Mandarin Oriental in Singapore was way too corporate for my tastes. But I was knocked out by their amazing service. Nothing is too much trouble. Our room was upgraded when they realised that we were travelling with our two children. Extra dragonfruit delivered within double quick time - twice! (that's kids for you). But when the doormen great you by name (even though you are only staying a night or two), you are either notorious guests or this is a pretty special hotel. I choose to believe the latter.

I spent 2 nights at the Mandarin this week and having previously stayed at the Mandarin in HK it was exactly what I expected, even to the room decor! The hotel is well located and has superb views if you book one of the higher Marina view rooms. The staff are exceptional and the service similarly outstanding. I had a discounted room rate and so found the room rate reasonable for a quality hotel. I was there on a business trip and also booked a meeting room which was excellent. The breakfasts have received rave reviews and I similarly enjoyed it. However, given a price of $54 I would have expected nothing less than a world leading breakfast! I did enquire about a continental breakfast and was told that that was not an option, which seems unfortunate if you are short of time and thus don't have the opportunity to get value for the price paid. I also had to use the business centre and was charged $3 per page to scan and email a document, which seemed somewhat excessive!

Overall, a great hotel and I would certainly stay there again. As noted by other reviewers it does lack a "wow" factor - but then that's probably not why you would stay at the Mandarin!

We didn't start the stay on a very good note - we had an issue with our room, had to wait for the staff to investigate, then wait some more for them to arrange a new room (of course, the wait always seems longer when you have kids in tow). The hotel itself is starting to look a little dated, and the rooms are great but not anything out of this world, but like most reviewers have mentioned, the service is very impressive. They are friendly and personable and at the same time very professional. They went beyond our expectations in service recovery for the room issue, and the service in the club lounge was commendable. The champagne breakfasts at the club lounge are well worth upgrading your room for!

This was my third stay in the last couple of years. Last time it was for a conference, this time it was for pleasure. Both occasions I was impressed by both the rooms and the service. The standard king bed rooms are comfortable - probably a little smaller than other prestige 5 star hotels in Singapore such as St Regis, Ritz Carlton and Four Seasons, but the space is used fairly efficiently and it doesn't feel small by any means. The beds were comfortable - a little soft which is how my wife likes it. I like firmer beds but had no issues. The pillows are a good size and down feathered so quite good. Windows are double glazed and since the construction around the marina is mostly finished, outside noise is usually not a problem - more on this later. Noise from the corridor outside is noticeable when loud voices go past but not materially different from other hotels.

Service is very good. Every encounter started with a friendly attitude as though they wanted to help and training was obvious. On check-in I had asked for a quiet room. They "upgraded" me to a harbourview (or was it seaview?) room. However, at 7am on the next morning (it was a Saturday) I was woken up by booming noises. A peek out the window revealed that there was a fun run being held across the road from the hotel and the moronic organizer had the PA system maxed out as well as playing pop music as loud as possible just in case anyone in the surrounding six 5 star hotels were sleeping with ear plugs and wasn't being rudely woken up. (To try to liven up their stodgy conservative image, Singapore has in the last few years tried to play loud pop/rock music everywhere in public spaces with loud and hyped up announcers "woohoo!". They haven't yet realized that it actually annoys the tourists and the locals absolutely hate it). Since I got to sleep at 3am, I was really livid with the noise. I went downstairs to complain to both the concierge as well as the duty manager. To their credit they remained calm during my rant and apologized, offered to change my room and said they were already working with the Ritz to see if there was something they could do since they already had complaints from other guests. I do know that Singapore has very lax rules about excessive noise late at night and early in the morning so the hotel cannot be blamed. I even went out of the hotel in my dressing gown and slippers to give the inconsiderate organizers "what for" but the source of the noise could not be seen from our side of the road. I guess the upshot was even though there was something to complain about at this hotel, it was politely and professionally handled. My wife used concierge for other things such as directions and a restaurant booking and all was handled well. Breakfast was fine with plenty of choice. Food was good and there were plenty of seats for all the guests which is a big gripe I had at the St. Regis and one of the reasons I am looking for a new "regular" Singapore hotel to patronize. I have a recent review on the St Regis. A further plus is that they have a whole floor of restaurants (4 I think) apart from the hotel brasserie, Melt, that also serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. I haven't tried them but they have good reputations and are useful if u don't want to leave the hotel - there is a Moretons for those that want a lot of American style meat.

The pool (for laps) and gym I have tried previously and were both good. Checkout was fast and efficient. Another big plus is that there is a place for taxis to wait inside the hotel driveway so there always seems to be taxis waiting for guests. It is difficult to get taxis at some Singapore hotels, particularly at peak times. I still want to try some other hotels before settling on a new favourite Singapore hotel but this is a front-runner and my wife would definitely agree.