Two months ago, Baby and I celebrated our anniversary with a staycation at the Far East Orchard Parade Hotel and in this blog entry, we will share about our 2 days 1 night stay over there.
We drove to Orchard Parade Hotel, parked our car, and carried our barang barang to the front desk where we were supposed to check-in. The checking-in process was rather SOP [standard operating procedures] and nothing much to rave about. Our expectations of their service would have exceeded if they at least offered to carry our stuffs to our room; but well, that did not happen.
While walking to the lift, we passed by some retail stores and a bar at the lobby area of the hotel but it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Looking at the key card, we were allocated the Premier Room on the 16th level and yes, complimentary breakfast for 2 at Tung Lok Classics was included with our stay as well.
We entered our room and this is how the room looks like with a king-sized bed. The lightings were rather dim and shooting photographs of the room were quite difficult.
The amenities in the room are pretty standard and average. There’s a desk for you to do your work, a mini-bar fridge filled with some soft drinks and beer, an electric kettle, complimentary bottles of water, and coffee/tea packets.
We highly doubt we will ever consider staying at the Orchard Parade Hotel in future but honestly for the price of SGD$306.02 [including all taxes], I think going for a staycation with Boutique Hotels like Klapsons or Naumi Liora would be a much better idea.
Anyway, we will not be blogging about the complimentary buffet breakfast at Tung Lok Classics because there’s nothing really fabulous to blog about their breakfast. The variety of food offered was rather little and the service level was a disappointment.
With that being said, not all is bad about staying at the Orchard Parade Hotel. As a matter of fact, the only plus point about staying at Orchard Parade Hotel is its close proximity to Orchard Road. So, walking to the main shopping area from Orchard Parade Hotel takes about 5-7 minutes, depending on your walking speed.
Hello Everyone,
thanks to OMY and the team from Far East Hospitality, I am really privileged and honoured to have been invited to attend the Media Party that was hosted by Far East Hospitality on Tuesday at Oasia Hotel.
So, what was the whole Media Party about? Well, Far East Hospitality has revamped their entire website and they have launched a new site at a new domain known as www.stayfareast.com
Hence, if you’re planning your next staycation at one of Far East Hospitality Properties, remember; its www.stayfareast.com [rather easy/simple to remember actually]!
Ok, so much for the introduction. Let’s move on to the more interesting stuffs!
As I was there early, I went around snapping photos of the surroundings and when I actually [officially] arrived at the Media Party, I was absolutely blown away by the luxurious feel of the whole setup that I felt that my dressing [though was Smart Casual] was a bit wayward.
Reminds me of the Courtyard at Fullerton Hotel Singapore [probably because I miss working there]
The Courtyard at Oasia Hotel is a really perfect venue choice for this event because it looks so posh and sleek! It would definitely be a good venue to host a Bachelor/Bacherlorette’s Party.
Alcohol was served and I personally like their signature Oasia Cocktail. I don’t know what the concoction was but my guess is that it contained Cointreau, Vodka, maybe Gin, and Grenadine Syrup.
I still remember that the first event that I ever attended was the Amazing Race at GreenwichV [that was organised by OMY and Far East] and since then, I have always kept in touch with the blogger friends that I’ve made from that event and we’ll always bump into one another when we attend events like these. Kudos to OMY and Far East for bringing people together!
Here’s Mr. Raphael [Chief Operating Officer of Far East Hospitality] and Mr. Aaron [Director of Partnership APAC at TripAdvisor] respectively addressing the audience. Mr. Kiong [Chief Executive Officer of Far East Hospitality] also addressed the audience but I unfortunately do not have a photo of him.
In case you’re wondering why Tripadvisor was involved in the event too, its because Far East Hospitality and Tripadvisor are working hand-in-hand to integrate Tripadvisor‘s live reviews with Far East Hospitality‘s website. [screenshot of StayFarEast.com]
After all the formalities, all the guests were treated to a sumptuous dinner that consisted of cuisines from different regions of the world. By the way, the food was served at live buffet stations [where you have chefs preparing the food on the spot for guests]. This itself is perhaps the highest level of service for buffets.
Here’s a Chef skillfully carving the meat at the Italian station.
A Chef at the Italian Station preparing a dough-like food that contains cheese in it. I’m sorry I forgot the actual name for it but if you know, do pop me an email and I shall credit you for it.
After a rather filling dinner, we took a tour of the rooms at Oasia Hotel and I was pretty excited about it because the last time I went for the Far East Hospitality Properties Tour, I didn’t manage to get a glimpse of the rooms at Oasia Hotel [so it was a good opportunity].
We were shown four room types, namely, the Superior Room, the Deluxe Room, the Club Room, and the Club Suite. Prior to that, we also had a short tour of the Hotel’s facilities [such as the Gymnasium].
This was the Superior Room [Twin-Bedded] that we were shown to. Before I forget, all the rooms at Oasia Hotel are designed by a Japanese designer and I personally find the rooms to have a rather minimalist, simple zen-style design that many travellers will definitely love.
And here’s a photo of Chris [to prove that he was doing his job of explaining the room features] (just kidding), in fact, Chris went the extra mile to demonstrate how certain room features work.
Well, as I’ve said, I really like the Club Room a lot. This is because, the interior decoration and fixtures are made of pine wood. In fact, you could literally smell the scent of pine wood when you enter the room. I personally find the scent of pine wood to be rather calming and relaxing.
Then, the final room that we saw was the Club Suite that has a living area with sofa.
So anyways, the “desserts party” was held at The Living Room, otherwise known as Oasia’s Club Lounge where Club Guests could unwind and chill. There’s even a private swimming pool for Club Guests!
Honestly, The Living Room is a suitable venue for cocktail parties and the likes. I am not exactly sure whether these venues could be booked entirely for corporate functions, so you might just want to give Oasia Hotel a call and find out.
What really came as a sweet surprise for Grace and I was that we both won a 1-night weekend stay at Oasia Hotel and Orchard Parade Hotel respectively [yes, with Breakfasts for 2 included].
Every guest that attended the event also walked away with a thumb-drive and a luggage band [which will definitely come in handy for my trip to Taiwan]. Photo courtesy of Grace.
More than just winning a prize, getting goodies, and enjoying awesomlicious food, I also had the opportunity to make new friends and catch up with old friends; and I think this is what Far East Hospitality is all about; to provide guests the familiar warmth and comforts of home with a special touch of personalised service that goes the extra mile. [Please don’t be mistaken that it is the official tagline/motto of Far East Hospitality. It’s something that I personally came up with that describes how I feel about Far East Hospitality].
This Media Party organised by Far East Hospitality has definitely left a lasting impression for me and to end off this blog post, I really want to thank OMY and Far East Hospitality for this awesome invite and I will definitely look forward to my next staycation at Orchard Parade Hotel. I would also like to thank the following wonderful blogger friends that made the night a rather enjoyable one, they are, Grace, Dawn, Rui Ting, Amanda, and Manli. You can click on their names to check out their blogs too!
Far Easy Hospitality is offering 40% off its Best Available Rates with a minimum of 2 nights’ stayfrom 1 September 2012 to 3 March 2013. Bookings must be made between 28 August and 3 September 2012 on www.stayfareast.com . So, if you’re a foreigner and you’re planning to visit Singapore [either for Leisure or Business] from 1 September 2012 to 3 March 2013, and you have read all the exciting stuffs about the various hotels of Far East Hospitality, hurry and make your booking now! If you’re a local and you’re planning your next staycation, you might want to grab this offer too! Remember, you have to book the rooms by 3 September 2012 [which is next Monday]!
