Staycation at Fullerton Hotel

Written by Donovan August 19, 2021 Category: Asia, Singapore Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Comments

The magnificent Fullerton Building is a grand neoclassical landmark built in 1928 that was once home to Singapore’s General Post Office, the Exchange Room and Exchange Reference Library, and the prestigious Singapore Club. Today, the Fullerton Hotel Singapore has been transformed into a stunning 400-room heritage hotel in Singapore.

Dynamically located in the heart of the financial and arts districts, the hotel successfully blends rich heritage with contemporary style and personalized service to offer guests a world-class accommodation experience. It is actually located at the mouth of the Singapore River and is a mass of grand staircases, high ceilings, and marble, super classy! This area was originally the heart of colonial Singapore. A nearby footbridge dates back as far as 1870.

This hotel is magnificent with a pillared frontage, historic dining rooms, and glorious waterfront views. The hotel is actually dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers but offers a nice slice of history on the waterfront.

Upon check in, I was told that our room would be on the second floor. It was not the most ideal, but there were quite a number of staycationers over the Youth Day holiday. The receptionist kindly allocated us a room with a city view instead of the original one over the atrium.

The room was spacious with a king size bed, and a bathroom that comes equipped with a bathtub and shower.

There is a workstation with a comfortable swivel chair and a table made of mahogany. There are also several charging points near the work desk, which is an added advantage as nowadays, travellers have many devices to charge.

While other rooms have a view of Marina Bay Sands, ours faces the street below. We could catch a glimpse of the Singapore River. The spacious balcony has two chairs, for people to sit outside the room to people watch or more likely, for people to smoke. It was quite cooling at night, but the setback is that when it rains, the balcony would get splashed with rain.

Just a stone’s throw away from the Central Business District, the Fullerton Hotel is really convenient for business travellers if they have to attend meetings at one of the office buildings nearby. It is also easily accessible to public transport, with a bus stop right outside the hotel and the nearest MRT station at Raffles Place.

The pantry comes stocked with instant noodles, a bottle of wine, mineral water and some snacks. Only the mineral water in the tetra pak is complimentary, while the rest of the minibar items are subject to charges. I always never consume items from the minibar, instead we prefer to buy our snacks from outside at the supermarket.

There is a wide selection of TWG teas, with 4 different flavours. For coffee lovers, there are Nespresso capsules which you can make a cup of hot coffee using the coffee machine to start your morning.

The hotel key card comes in a simple yellow design. I liked the design on the card hotel, which is a beautiful photo of the facade of the Fullerton Hotel.

Local artworks were present in the room and also along the corridors. They showcased the art of our local artists as they painted scenes of famous sites in Singapore, contrasting between the past and present.

Moving on to our tour of the washroom, one noteworthy observation is the Japanese style bidet toilet. It is a smart toilets that features a stream of water to cleanse oneself, as well as many other buttons on the panel to customise the other functions.

The toiletries provided were from Atkinsons. Atkinsons of London is a British perfume house founded in London in 1799. They are well known for their fragrances and wide array of toiletries.

Posing with the Fullerton bear mascots.

Swimming pool slots were not that difficult to book. Just a call to concierge and they would help you to book the slots for the gym, pool and restaurants at any timing that is convenient for you. We booked a gym slot but due to our packed schedule, we did not visit the gym. We went to the pool around 3pm on the second day, since we had a late checkout, and in the morning we went out for shopping.

The pool is like an infinity pool, located on the second mezzanine floor. In the past, one could easily access the pool by climbing some steps down from the second floor, but due to Covid restrictions, there is a need to register all guests and do a Safe Entry check in, so the staff were stationed near the gym, which also leads to another door to the pool. Luckily the weather was really fine when we swam and we had an enjoyable time. You can admire the Central Business District and the Singapore River in the background.

Lastly, the complimentary breakfast that was included as part of our stay. There was a wide selection of food, and you are allowed to order second or third helpings. We tried the Roti prata set, dry laksa and the American breakfast set with scrambled eggs, grilled tomatoes, hashbrown and sausages. The breakfast was quite typical of a hotel breakfast. There were a lot of people already dining at the restaurant when we went down. As usual, it is necessary to make bookings for breakfast and it was only limited to two people per table.

Even though it was a short 2D1N stay at the Fullerton, with the late checkout at 6pm, we really maximised our stay here by exploring the nearby Asian Civilisations Museum, Raffles City and Bugis. Taking a walk along the Singapore River at night to enjoy the breeze and look at the magnificent lights was a relaxing activity. We hope to come back next time. Do check out my post on the afternoon tea set at Fullerton as well! We made use of our dining credits for the afternoon tea, that was served to the room.