As part of a business trip to Singapore, I chose to have a longer stay in the So/ Sofitel in the heart of the Financial District, close to the company’s office, which was just a five minute walk.

 

SO/ Sofitel Singapore – Location

So/Sofitel is located in the heart of the Downtown / Financial district. Many attractions are not too far away.

The location is really nice. There are a lot of restaurants nearby. It is very handy that they have a hawker food court, the Telok Ayer Market, right in front of the hotel, which allows to try a wide variety of dishes for a very small price. In the evenings, the street in front is closed and the people can sit there and enjoy sate. You can also easily connect to remaining Singapore by Metro. Telok Ayer and Raffles Place station are just a short walk away. You may also walk to the Downtown station. Marina Bay with its wonderful light shows is just a walk away as well – it may however be a bit bothering to walk in humid weather conditions.

 

SO/ Sofitel Singapore – Rooms

My original booking was for the standard room category, which is called SO COZY. The public rate they offered for that nine day period was some 450 SGD per night, including all taxes and breakfast (270 EUR roughly). I however stayed on a company rate, which was significantly lower. Due to my Accor Gold status, I was upgraded to the SO URBAN category.

The room upgrade leads to about a double size room, which then also features a bathtub. It room is quite long but comparably slim – the 40 square meters were roughly 3 to 12 meters in my estimate. The design is a posh, but classic look with some modern elements like an iPad, which can be used to control the room appliances. The bed is huge and comfy. The workdesk, however, is rather on the limited size side. This room category, which has been designed by Karl Lagerfeld like the whole hotel, has a clear focus on the amazing bar area. The minibar is located in a huge door cabinet. All non-alcoholic drinks and some snacks are complimentary and refilled on a daily basis. There is TWG Tea available as well.

The bathroom, which is separated from the room with a glass wall, is lovely and very spacy. In a box on the left of the sink, there is likely the most complete collection of amenities I ever saw, including Eau de Toilette and stuff like hair gel. Great place! The toilet is in a separate, quite narrow room next to the door. It does not feature an own sink.

The problem of the room, despite its 40 sqm, is size. I hardly found a place to put my two suitcases to. I needed the space in the drawer for my clothing (not too much free space there). The most obvious space is in front of the bar, but there the cases block the doors. It is not the most fortunate design in this regard. On the positive side, though, most power plugs are universal power plugs, so that you do not need any converter. There are USB charging ports available. The entertainment systems even includes a limited number of movies on demand for free.

 

SO/ Sofitel Singapore – Breakfast / Food

Apart from the poolbar, the hotel just has one restaurant, which is also serving the breakfast. Most of the items served in the buffet are really high quality. I was not always in line with the quality of the Eggs Benedict, but that is a very minor thing. The selection of items was as far not as wide as in the One Farrer Hotel I stayed in a couple of weeks before, though. Nevertheless, there was a nice variety, which lead to a absolutely fine breakfast.

 

SO/ Sofitel Singapore – Service

The staff in the hotel was amazing. They were really friendly and welcoming. Furthermore, I had minor technical issues in the room over the course of the full stay, which have been solved fast and accurate. Housekeeping did a very good job as well. The hotel internet connection (WiFi) was very speedy and reliable.

The hotel offers a Fitness Center on the first floor. The size is not that overwhelming, though. The pool on the top of the hotel is quite nice, regarding the size of the hotel. This area also features a nice bar, where I had a lovely evening. You may feel that the view cannot be that cool, regarding you are just on the sixth floor there and most of the buildings around easily have 30 of them – but it is really beautiful!

On the day before I left, the hotel surprised me with a lovely farewell present – thanks a lot for that! As a welcome present, you could choose between different options. I went for the macaroons (see picture above).

 

SO/ Sofitel Singapore – My View

I was shaken about the place. Not a too big deal – but there were good reasons to call it a Top Pick! as well as few ones to rate it to 4/5 stars. The key driver would have been the layout of the room, which is really unfortunate. Though it is so spacious, the living area could become problematic for a couple with luggage. The breakfast is good quality, but limited. That’s it on the down side. Great location, lovely to have the satay place in front of it, fantastic staff, great housekeeping, great rooftop nice design, superb internet – there is just so much, where this place is doing a really great job that four stars would not be sufficient. Enjoyed my stay here definitely!

 

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As mentioned in the article, this review happened during a business trip. Thus, my employee SCOR paid for this stay. This did not influence my judgement on the hotel.