Hotel Review: Presidential Suite at InterContinental Singapore
Keywords: Hotel - Room review - Heritage hotel - Presidential Suite - Luxury - IHG
Month of visit: November 2020
Youtube video review: Presidential Suite Surprise at InterContinental Singapore | Hotel Review
Strategically located in the heart of a historic precinct in central Singapore, InterContinental Singapore is the flagship hotel of the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) in this city-state. InterContinental Singapore is a luxury 5-star hotel that has a rich heritage theme which transcends to every part of the hotel from interior designs to food menus.
The Presidential Suite at this property is the highest room category offered and is the epitome of luxury one will find anywhere in the city. With a floor size of 259 squared metres, this is one of the largest suites in Singapore. The high floor to ceiling windows of this suite allowed abundant sunlight during the day. At night, the suite had a warm glow which made every part of the suite appear extremely posh.
Double door entrance to the Presidential Suite.
Presidential Suite
We had the privilege of staying at this amazing suite courtesy of a "Suite Surprise" package where at a fixed rate of $388, a random suite can be assigned during check-in. The suite is located on the top floor which was on level 16 and although the room number written on our key card sleeve was 1602, the Presidential Suite was numberless. Upon making a turn at the lift lobby, the double door of the Presidential Suite greeted us. While there are two doors, only one of the door could be opened.
Foyer of the Presidential Suite.
Immediately upon entering the suite, a relatively large foyer greeted us. In this area, there is a wooden coat stand rack and ample space to store shoes. A few more steps into the room is the entrance to the palatial living room. The living room had three sofas, each comfortably accommodating three adults and two arm chairs. The walls and ceiling had a consistent white and gold theme, with paintings and vases selection giving a Peranakan ambiance to the room. Almost unmissable is an elegant chandelier right in the middle of the living space and the high ceiling makes the room feel extremely spacious. In the day, the natural sunlight filled the room while at night, the room looked majestic with the lights and gold trims.
Living room by day and night.
By the window, there is another seating area and an antique minibar cabinet. The net and deep green curtains throughout the room could be adjusted manually. Every window in this suite faces the harbour and the central business district of Singapore, some distance away. There were two main corridors from this position, one leading to the study area and dining room, the other leading into the bedroom.
Area behind the living room with views of the harbour and CBD.
The antique minibar cabinet with a traditional Chinese design had two doors on either side which could be opened. Here, guests can find an electric kettle, some cups and glasses. The middle two doors opened up to a small sized refrigerator which was empty. On top, there were wine glasses, complimentary water bottles, instant coffee, tea bags and a Nespresso machine.
Minibar area with coffee and tea provided.
Heading towards the dining area, a long corridor separates this room from the living space. In the middle of this long corridor is a work desk with an extremely comfortable armchair and another chair. The elegant wooden table had a telephone and a guest directory book. A decent sized television was mounted onto a wooden built-in shelf, furnished with antiques and some books. There were power sockets to charge your devices and if you would like to project your work on the television, that is also a possibility. On the other side by the window, there is a long leather sofa which can comfortably accommodate four guests making this area ideal for a small meeting.
A long corridor with a work and study area.
Adjacent to the work area but still within the long corridor is a guest bathroom. This relatively small but fully functional half bathroom consists of a toilet bowl and a sink and is well decorated. Standard amenities like hand gel, tissue and hand towels were provided.
Guest bathroom that is small but fully functional.
Continuing past the guest bathroom leads to another impressive room. This room is the dining room which can double up as a boardroom and is ridiculously large. The main wooden table can comfortably seat ten guests and many power sockets can be found in the compartment in the middle of this table. Guests can also project their presentation on a television which is hidden behind a lovely floral painting. The ten chairs each come with a cushion wrapped with a traditional batik case matching the royal colours of this room. Directly above is a dramatic rectangular chandelier that amplifies the elegance of this room. By the window, there are more chairs to accommodate even more guests and the large and empty floor space in this room makes it possible for a very large gathering. There is a double door which leads to a guest bedroom so expanding this Presidential Suite into a two bedroom residence is thus possible.
The majestic dining room which can function as a boardroom.
Adjacent to this dining room is a kitchenette for the butler to prepare meal services for guests. This area comes with a sink, an ice machine, an electric stove and lots of storage spaces. The butler can enter or leave the suite from a back door in this area so as not to disturb guests in the room.
A kitchenette for the butlers to prepare meal services and a dedicated entrance for them.
Heading back out, past the long corridor and living room is another entrance. This entrance leads into the bedroom which is at least two times the size of a regular bedroom in this property. The grandeur of this bedroom is exemplified by the attention to detail decors such as the antique furnitures, a hand sewn contour map wallpaper, paintings and the posh white-gold finishings. The bed is a king sized bed mounted on a wooden bed frame positioned behind a sofa, both facing the television. This television can be raised or lowered using an elevator which we thought to be a little unnecessary but... why not? To the right of the bed is a lounge chair.
The relatively large bedroom with luxurious decors.
A dressing table and a stool could be found in the area behind the bedroom. Here, guests can find a hairdryer and a powerpoint. A jacket rack was placed near this table. Further in, guests can find a built-in wardrobe with standard amenities such as a safe, ironing board, iron, laundry bags as well as bedroom slippers. There were shelves decorated with porcelain antiques on either side.
Dressing table and built-in cabinet.
The en-suite bathroom was nothing short of spectacular, with an expansive floor size and a slick monochromatic theme. The bathroom comes with an oversized bathtub easily fitting two people. This bathtub functions as a jacuzzi with one push of a button. There were plenty of towels made available in this room.
The slick monochrome designed bathroom and a bathtub/ jacuzzi.
The dual sink positioned opposite to each other give guests their own personal space when using the bathroom concurrently. Standard amenities like dental kit, hand gel, moisturiser and mouth wash were provided. All the gels come in a large bottle, untypical of regular hotel room amenities. During the pandemic, surgical masks and antiseptic wipes were provided which was a nice gesture.
Dual sink with standard amenities provided.
Normally, the bathroom review would end here. However, there is one unique part that's present in this bathroom that isn't in other hotel bathrooms and that is a sauna room! The sauna room was generously sized, comfortably accommodating three adults. Importabtly, it was clean and functional.
In-suite sauna room within the bathroom.
Dining Highlights
Suite and club room guests are entitled to access to the Club InterContinental. During our stay, the club lounge was closed and so the afternoon tea and evening cocktail services were shifted to the Ash and Elm restaurant and Lobby Lounge respectively. We had opted to have our breakfast in-suite.
Afternoon Tea at Ash and Elm
Afternoon tea service was held between 3PM-5PM while the evening cocktail hours were 6PM-8PM.
Afternoon tea service at the Ash & Elm.
Drinks such as coffee, tea and hot chocolate were available and finger bites were served in a three tier cage. The finger bites were free-flow and can be refilled upon request. The sandwiches served were ciabatta with chicken and Chinese mantau with salmon mousse as topping. There were also salted egg custard bun which we found delicious and beancurd prawn roll. For dessert, there were their signature carrot cake and a strawberry cake. Overall, the afternoon tea service was very pleasant.
Sweets and savouries during the afternoon tea service.
Evening Cocktails and Canapés at Lobby Lounge
Soon after, we migrated to the Lobby Lounge for the Evening cocktails and canapés service. Likewise, the food and beverage here were bottomless and we couldn't resist ordering second and third helpings. An extensive range of spirits, sparking, red & white wine and beer were available for selection. In addition, handcrafted cocktails and mocktails could be ordered. The food selection were exciting and relatively tasty and the menu changes from day to day so guests would not have to eat the same food if they're staying for two or more nights.
The dishes were largely locally inspired like the Indian butter chicken on naan as well as vegetable spring roll. Food from other regions include chilled soba, mushroom veloute (mushroom soup) and crab cake. For desserts, their signature carrot cake was repeated from the afternoon tea menu and comes together with lemon meringue and milk chocolate praline.
Evening cocktails and canapés service.
For breakfast, we were given a choice of having it in the Ash & Elm restaurant or in our suite. We had chosen the latter and had placed our order the night before. In truth, the selection was limited and the portion was small. It did however arrive punctual contradicting reviews from other guests. There was a choice of one breakfast set per person, one hot beverage and one cold beverage. We had ordered an American breakfast set with omelette as the choice of egg and an Eggs Benedict set which came with only one poached egg. For the beverages, we called for a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a detox juice consisting of celery.
Breakfast served in our suite.
Concluding remarks: Having paid only a small fraction of the retail price of the suite, we really should not be complaining about anything. However in truth, there were little to complain about. The room was not only ridiculously large but extremely posh. While it was difficult to fully utilise the room by only two people, this suite would be perfect for a special occasion or a business event with a large number of guests. The club lounge services were really good and the hotel staff were generally polite and professional. Overall, we would highly recommend this room if you're trying to impress or pamper.
