The Mandarin Orchard

I must admit that I have a soft spot for old hotels. In Malaysia, we do not have many of those, and if there were, they were all still relatively new. That was why I was always keen on E&O, Smokehouse and similar colonial-like establishment.

In KL, there were not that many of those. So, I tended to gravitate toward hotels established since the 70s. Shangri-La in KL, Hilton PJ to name a few. The service tended to be more established although I was detecting a decline in the service at the PJ hotel mentioned.

The rather understated main lobby, located on the fifth floorAdorning the ceiling of the lobby was this rather unique detailWhen I was in Singapore recently, I stayed at Mandarin Orchard. Not exactly a new hotel, but certainly they offered modern amenities. The hotel was originally opened in 1971, and since then, they have added new wings. I stayed at one of the newer wing during my overnight stay and the service was excellent. Food was nice as well.

Only before I left that I realised that there was a boutique mall at the ground floor of the hotel, which included outlet from Tumi, Bell and Ross as well as a Leica. I asked for a grip for my Q, but they didn’t have it in stock ….

The hotel was located near a few of the major shopping outlets in Orchard Road, and an Apple outlet was only 5 minutes away. Managed to get a nice case for Anita’s phone during that trip. There was a couple of MRT stations right around the corner and a McDonald’s outlet behind my block. Certainly was a great location.

The Leica store at the hotel lobbyOne of the exit from my hotel. Straight from the lift from my floor.All the guests also had access to a mobile phone for them to take around from the room. It allowed me to make free phone calls to Malaysia in fact to 15 countries. A neat system and it had a free internet SIM at LTE speed. All free, unlimited internet. Shame that you couldn’t use it to tether!

The hotel also has free wifi, which is quite fast and all the things you would expect in a modern hotel ….

The hotel official website is here.

Colmar Weekend - The Bad

Unfortunately the place was not prefect and on the whole, there was more bad than the good. The main problem then was the fact that the Japanese and Tropical Garden complexes were both closed for renovation. During my conversation with the receptionist beforehand, that piece of crucial information was not mentioned. Because if so, we might have delayed our stay there. Apparently, to compensate, the entrance fees were halved, but that was hardly a consolation.

I brought my camera specifically for the gardens and as you can tell, I was left disappointed. It was a good thing that the weather was nice that we could spend the time in the pool instead.

The next issue I had was the rooms. They were in a desperate need for a renovation. The decorations were still unique as the furnitures still retained the European Alpine feel to the place. The room smelt moldy. The bathroom floor looked used and the drapes look destined for the bin. Rather than just closing the garden for a facelift, they could do with closing the whole resort for a while. The carpark and the lift needed a bit if work as well. Certainly the feel the feel of the whole place did not fit the 4 star status it carries. At least for the moment.

And now let's talk about the food, or the lack of it. The resort fees included breakfast for the family, and apart from the breakfast, we also had a buffet dinner at the main restaurant on the Saturday evening. We were amongst the earliest to arrive as to avoid the crowd, but we were made to wait even though we arrived 30 minutes after the advertised start of the buffet.

The excuse - the barbecue grill needed heating up. I left 45 minutes later, and the food were still scarce. Not only that the spread was very basic - for rice, the were only a couple of gravy - the buffet was slow to be replaced when it ran out. The restaurant were also not really designed for buffet as the seats we're rather too big, and it was not very easy to get in and out to the spread. It was more obvious during the breakfast the next morning, the crowd were much bigger.

During the buffet dinner, we were also surprised that there were not much choice for the kids. We asked for an ala cart menu, but there'd weren't any, despite room device orders going through the same restaurant. Hence, we ended up picking a few things up to fill the tummy before retiring to the room to order for room service. Room service also arrived late as they claimed that there were not enough staff. Frankly, that should not have been our problem. It was the resort's problem to sort out. They should be able to sort their staffing issue out as the place was established close to 10 years now.

To be honest, the place had so much potential if only the management were thinking it 'big'. Consistent with most Malaysian resorts, maintenance was an issue. There seemed to be lack of investment into infrastructures. It was all about making an easy buck, and lay low when the place starters to beak down. Looking around the place, they could have more activities for family and children. A proper bicycle track for a start, horse-riding maybe. But for God's sake, be honest about what you have to offer. If only I was told that the gardens were closed, we may have delayed our stay .....