Our family (myself husband and two large teenagers) have just returned from a wonderful trip to Singapore. I will be posting a Trip Report on the forum in the coming days but thought I'd do hotel reviews first.

My agent originally had us booked into the Pan Pacific but when she received notification of soft furnishing renovations at the time of our visit to the Pan Pac she recommended that we stay elsewhere. Based on TA reviews, the location, plus a very good rate that gave us our fourth night free and included breakfast, we booked a King and Twin (connecting) at Raffles The Plaza.

The excellent location of this very elegant hotel cannot be praised too highly. With divine views over the Esplanade and the harbour to the Merlion (we were in the South Tower, Premier Deluxe Rooms, Level 19) opening the curtains from the master switches next to your bed each morning was exciting in itself! Walking out onto the small balcony an adventure!

Situated above Raffles City Shopping Centre and the City Hall MRT station meant that most of Singapore was within easy reach. We had created our own itinerary and these four days whilst at Raffles The Plaza gave us easy access for our first four days of self made touring.

The rooms were very spacious with ALL the mod cons, decorated in my favourite soothing shades and with very comfortable beds and bedding. A big plus for us was the couch/chaise at the end of the bed so one of the children could comfortably stretch out on it while we other three lay on the bed watching a TV show together before bed.

The buffet breakfast each morning was a real treat and the smiling staff were professional and attentive. The offerings changed slightly each of the four mornings and with such an extensive choice we were never bored. Only minor issue was that the tea was never actually really hot. I'm not sure if it was the actual urn of water used, or the solid silver teapots that were then used on the tables.

The pool area was clean and inviting with towels on offer and carried to our lounge chairs for us. A dip in the beautiful round pool at the end of a hot day was always welcome. We used the area only twice - once late in the afternoon and on another day well after our return from dinner. It was never crowded or noisy as the twin pool is the shallow version and if there were any younger children then that pool is where they swam.

So my only real complaint is that of a lack of customer service from the front desk staff. Their attention was robotic at best and harrassed at worst. We arrived at 10pm as expected so the lobby was not busy. I had had a very bad start to our holiday with my British husband not being allowed to leave Australia with us due to not having a Re-entry Visa (this is a whole other story!!!). So it was just myself and the two children checking in - not knowing if my husband was actually ever going to be able to join us I was a bit tired and teary - and I explained what had happened to the girl as she was completing our check in procedures. I received a sympathetic smile and that was about it! Now I wasn't looking for anything major but where the Qantas cabin crew had gone out of their way to help me (and I will be writing a letter to Qantas complimenting them on their customer service) the staff at this hotel barely seemed to care. Maybe this sort of thing happens all the time and they were immune - but I think they should have picked up on my signals and been a little more caring.

Then really the only other time I had anything to do with the staff was breakfast in the restaurant on the 2nd Floor as recommended here on TA (terrific), pool guy (attentive), luggage guy (great) and then check out (awful!). It was busy - about a 15 minute wait at approx 12 noon - but only had two staff on so not good enough. She rushed me through (as we had no extras to pay for) and I don't even think I received a thank you for choosing Raffles the Plaza! Just not what one would expect from such an otherwise professional and tasteful hotel. This front desk area is what is letting them down and I think you can see that here on other TA reviews.

Having said that, I would still recommend this hotel if you can get a good rate as the rooms are generous and this location at the bay end is superb (I might just point out here that the last two nights of our trip when we were doing all our Orchard Road shopping were spent at the other end of town at Royal Plaza on Scotts and I will post another review for that hotel tomorrow night!). Look out for my trip report and feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Cheers