Our first staycation of 2022 at Park Hotel Alexandra turned out to be a disappointment: we encountered significant issues before check-in, and a few more during the actual stay itself. Like everything else we write about on this blog, we made and paid for our own reservation, so while our experiences might not be the same as everyone else who’s stayed at this property, it’s at least authentic and as observed as guests who did not have the red carpet treatment as one would expect in a media-invite.
Firstly; the choice of this hotel for our first quarter of the year couple staycation was deliberate: the Bukit Merah and Queenstown area is solidly heartland, and there are few four star and above properties in the area. But we really wanted something different this time, and Park Hotel Alexandra is one of the few in the west side of the island. The hotel is also fairly new, and according to a plaque in the reception and opened in 2015 then by Minister of State Heng Swee Keat. The ‘Superior’ room we had was compact and not particularly roomy – around 20-25 sqm by my reckoning – but it was at least clean with modern finishing. The bed side of the room has the usual rug, and the foyer where the entrances and to the bathroom is uses polished tiling that was very cold to the feet in an air-conditioned room. There are full-height windows in the room: the wife observed that one side of the hotel would offer stunning views of The Interlace, the iconic Lego-like condo in Singapore. But ours did not, as it was facing the residential side of the road: i.e. HDB blocks and the roof of Ikea Alexandra. The room walls don’t do a good job insulating sounds though: we could hear the TV in the adjacent room, or maybe they were just blasting the TV at maximum volume. Parking is complimentary though in the adjacent Alexandra Central Mall – we did not have difficulties finding car park lots. And finally, the complimentary hotel breakfast at The Carvery was sumptuous and filling.
The mostly good bits said, here were the challenges. The largest one was problematic communication with the hotel. Just over 2 days before our stay, we contacted via Agoda to confirm our booking. This is our usual SOP for every property we stay, and the more important in this current age of the pandemic; last year, a number of properties cancelled our reservations, ostensibly to support the government’s Covid-related activities. There was no reply from the hotel. So, hunting around, I found two different general information email addresses: one cited on their web site, another from Tripadvisor. I wrote the same request to confirm our stay to both addresses: no luck still. With just a day left before we check-in, I tried calling the hotel hotline, and several times. And for every one of those seven times – yes, I counted and my phone log confirmed it- the line was never picked up, despite us using the auto-call response to be directed to room reservations, and general inquiries.
At this point, I was a little annoyed but still willing to give the hotel the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they were just terrifically busy. Still, I looked up the Facebook page of the hotel, and contacted it via Messenger: and this is what the chat bot messenger replied:
?!?!?!?! Yep, that was my exact reaction. And this was less than 24 hours from checking-in.
Fortunately, by that evening, I finally received replies on Facebook Messenger and also on email that the hotel was indeed opened, and our reservation was confirmed. But by this point, the reservation had already caused enough unnecessary anxiety.
The following afternoon at the point of check-in at reception, we were told that we had been allocated a room with twin and separate beds. This is despite our Agoda booking clearly for a room with a queen-sized bed, a point I’d also further specifically noted in our booking remarks. But apparently, the type of bedding as promised in the reservation and my booking remarks were either not noticed or observed by hotel reception – as it seemed they assumed that we would be fine with a room with separate beds. The reception staff did not begin with an apology to say that the bedding arrangements we had booked was not available – he went straight to tell us this was what we were given. I replied politely but firmly that this was unacceptable, as why would we as a married couple be fine with a room with this bedding type. The reception took 10 minutes to sort this out, and we were, fortunately, finally allocated a room on the 14th floor with the correct bedding type.
A bit of side note: before we headed up to the 14th floor, we also provided feedback to the communication difficulties I had prior; and it was then that I learned that there were there were few staff on duty, and that the call operator was not available the day I called in vain. The hotel had apparently just been re-opened a week earlier on, and been involved in Covid 19 activities before that. The reception promised us that they would get their marketing department to update the Facebook messenger chat bot.
By this point, the difficulties before reservation and at check-in had left us with an indelible impression of this property, that it seems I would be nitpicking if I also had to mention the other problems with this stay, but here they are: both Ling and I woke up with backaches the following morning. And the main door to our room did not fully close on its own – an issue we did not notice, including when we went out for dinner. Thankfully our room was not intruded upon during our stay.
In short, this was not a good stay for us. The rooms are mostly OK, the rates provide good value for money, and the location isn’t the atypical central area. The other guest reviews on Tripadvisor are largely positive, leaving the hotel with a pretty respectable ranking of #59 – which really left me wondering whether what happened for us is a once-off. But a check on other guest feedback actually affirmed at least one part of what I’ve written above: a few guests have also similarly remarked that there seems to be a shortage of staff in this hotel. So there we have it: maybe it wasn’t just me. Which is just unfortunate: I really wanted to like this hotel. The breakfast was great, and I like the full-height windows in the room – it let in a good deal of sunlight, which I like in the properties I stay in.
Some final bits: about the two small shopping malls in the vicinity: there is a lovely ramen joint – Otoko Ramen – at Alexandra Central Mall and where we had dinner. The mall otherwise is small and in need of refurbishment. There’s also Anchorpoint Shopping Center across the road, which looks like it was recently renovated: it has a few dining places, TCC, Starbucks, and also Cold Storage. And if squeezing with crowds is your thing, knock yourself out at Ikea Alexandra!