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Its Deluxe Room is one of the best rooms we’ve reviewed on Sentosa and it’s got a massive swimming pool. We just wish its restaurant lived up to the hype.
After the suite- and villa-only hotels, the most expensive of the remaining four hotels in Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is the Equarius Hotel. We’re glad to confirm there’s some justification for its premium pricing. Its Deluxe Room is one of the best rooms we’ve reviewed on Sentosa, second only to the Premier Garden Room at the Capella Singapore but nowhere near the latter’s price. The Equarius Hotel also shares a massive swimming pool with the RWS Beach Villas, set against a relaxing backdrop of rainforest. It’s therefore a shame that shortfalls elsewhere keep it from being a more perfect experience. There’s no food and drink service at the pool and we were told to use the gym at the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore instead of the one on-site at ESPA. Worst of all, we felt its celebrity chef restaurant Forest森 — which also serves the breakfast buffet — was overhyped and overpriced. And while the Equarius Hotel is part of RWS, its location is actually a little removed from the main RWS area with all its many attractions and restaurants.
We review anonymously and pay for everything. All opinions expressed here are our own and all information is correct as of our last stay or visit and subject to change without notice.
At 51m2 , the Deluxe Room is one of the best and largest rooms we’ve reviewed on Sentosa, second only to the 77m2 Premier Garden Room at the Capella Singapore. The bedroom remained spacious and uncluttered even with additional furniture like the L-shaped settee sofa, coffee table, and work desk. There was still enough space left for a sizeable balcony with a chair and table to enjoy the fresh air.
Entertainment: 42-inch TV with 34 channels (HBO for English movies; no pay-per-view or movie rental options).
Sips and nibbles: The complimentary in-room coffee and tea selection was disappointingly basic: Nescafe classic instant coffee and TWG Tea.
The bathroom was also large and spacious, featuring double vanities and sinks, a bathtub, a toilet room, and a shower room with rain shower. One end of the bathroom counter serves as a dressing table with a TV screen on the wall. The glass walls of the toilet and shower rooms are mostly frosted for privacy, though they’re clear at the bottom; the bath tub is next to the sinks. There’s also a window between the bedroom and bathroom but this can be completely covered with a motorised privacy screen within the glass.
Toiletries: Vitamin Spa shower gel, conditioning shampoo, and body lotion.
See our in-depth review and pictures of this breakfast buffet.
The Equarius Hotel houses just one restaurant: Forest森 by celebrity chef Sam Leong, formerly adorned with one Michelin star. We’re not going to mince words: we felt it was overhyped and overpriced. The breakfast buffet was priced more reasonably in line with the other RWS hotels but wasn’t obviously better. The only sliver of celebrity chef magic that made it to our plates was the “Chef Sam selection”: Japanese thin somen noodles with shredded chicken and hon-shimeji mushroom in superior chicken broth. We would highlight this dish as one of the few worth second helpings in this breakfast buffet. It was tasty — so tasty that it reminded us of the “milky chicken broth” we felt we’d overpaid SGD35[2] for at lunch. Almost everything else in the buffet tasted perfunctory to us. Don’t expect fine-dining standards for the service either — we didn’t even get an offer of coffee or tea as we were seated. While we liked having the option of freshly-squeezed fruit juice, even this was self-service, though it wasn’t too hard to use the juicer at the buffet. Our advice: walk to Sessions at the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore for its equally-priced breakfast buffet, one of the best we’ve reviewed — second only to the Capella Singapore’s.
It’s hard to miss the Equarius Lounge: it’s the first thing you see when you step into the hotel lobby, beneath the large screen playing the loop of a waterfall. It’s just a shame no one seems to be interested in running the bar. There used to be more seating here but it’s been reduced to just five bar stools — not exactly a lounge anymore. It’s quiet, but we wouldn’t choose bar seating for a quiet conversation. Or maybe we’re overthinking it because the bar seemed deserted most of the time. No one showed up to man the bar even after we’d been sitting there for ten minutes on a Saturday night. A bartender only showed up from the Forest森 restaurant after we prodded the concierge. If you can get service, the drink selection is quite extensive — there’s even Chinese wine by the bottle. Flights of two or three Scotch whiskies or wines are also available. The cocktail list is limited and features just one unique drink: the signature Forest “SAM”sation, a refreshing concoction of Hendricks gin, crème de menthe, cucumber, and lime juice.
While large parts of the in-room dining menu were similar to those of other RWS hotels, we noticed the selection here was more extensive. Having been disappointed by in-room dining at the other RWS hotels, we were surprised to find ourselves enjoying the food at the Equarius Hotel. The braised boneless beef short ribs with wine stew turned out to be rich, tender, and intensely flavoured — a satisfying dish. We also loved the mushroom spaghetti with pesto sauce — the pasta was al dente and the pesto punchy. The chicken and bacon roulade wasn’t bad either, though we thought the chicken a little dry towards its centre. We also liked our dessert of New York cheesecake: light, not overly sweet, and garnished with big juicy strawberries. Unlike other RWS hotels, the breakfast section also included American, Asian, and healthy “continental” sets.
Drinks: Soft drinks, juices (fresh and chilled), water, milk shakes, coffee, and tea. The alcohol selection includes beer, red and white wines, and champagne.
There’s not especially much to see in the Equarius Hotel itself. There used to be more seating in the hotel lobby in front of the Equarius Lounge but this has since been reduced to just five bar stools. The hotel’s banquet rooms are on the second floor but there’s not much worth exploring and the lights are turned off unless there’s an event. Outside, there’s a lawn and pavilion for events, though it doesn’t look especially striking, unlike say the Glass Pavilion at the Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa. However, the RWS Beach Villas and their free-form swimming pool are but steps away and it can be quite relaxing to stroll down the tree-shaded paths to the villas. We spotted just three poolside cabanas scattered around — they tend to run out quickly.
The Equarius Hotel and Beach Villas also border the RWS Adventure Cove Waterpark and Dolphin Island. Eagle-eyed explorers will notice they can look into a large pool area from the hotel side. We were told this is a training area for the dolphins of Dolphin Island, though we couldn’t get a fixed schedule to come watch. You can buy tickets from the Equarius Hotel’s concierge — there’s a side entrance to the Adventure Cove Waterpark near the lobby.
The Equarius Hotel has its own lap swimming pool, but this appears to be exclusive for guests with poolside rooms. That’s fine as the Equarius Hotel also shares the free-form pool at the RWS Beach Villas. This is one of the biggest hotel swimming pools we’ve reviewed, with plenty of space to frolic, play, and swim laps without running into anyone. It’s also quite relaxing — there’s plenty of greenery around and you can watch the cable cars traverse the sky from the water. That said, guests of Equarius Hotels can only look in envy at the Beach Villas here, each with a jacuzzi pool reserved for its residents. Outside of the Beach Villas’ private timber sundecks and verandas, poolside seating for everyone else is also very limited. We spotted just three poolside cabanas scattered around which tended to run out quickly. And perhaps most disappointing of all for such a great pool: no food and drink service.
The Equarius Hotel doesn’t have its own gym. But despite the presence of a gym at ESPA just opposite the hotel, the hotel staff again redirected us to the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore — a five-minute unsheltered walk away. The Hard Rock Hotel’s 24-hour Body Rock gym is located on the lobby level and isn’t very big. The gym is bright and well-lit, helped by its big windows allowing natural light in. However, the glass wall on the other side of the room allows passers-by in the corridor — which leads to the Hard Rock Hotel’s swimming pool and Resorts World Sentosa — to gawk inside freely. While there was plenty of cardio equipment, there were only two selectorised weight machines for strength training.
TThe Equarius Hotel is just opposite the 10,000m2 ESPA at RWS, which was the Luxury Resort Spa country winner for Singapore in the 2017 World Luxury Spa Awards. A 60-minute personalised massage — aromatherapy, Chinese, Thai, Balinese, hot stone, or Swedish — costs SGD235[1]. A treatment of at least 60 minutes also provided access to its spa and wet facilities. These included rock saunas, crystal steam rooms, ice fountains, experience showers, vitality pools, outdoor plunge pools, and forest onsen-style pools. These weren’t complimentary even for RWS hotel guests without a treatment. Equarius Hotel guests have the exclusive option of purchasing a SGD35[2] day spa facility pass for three hours of access. That’s a huge discount as guests of Festive Hotel, Hotel Michael, and Hard Rock Hotel Singapore have to pay SGD118[3] for the same.
8 Sentosa Gateway, 098269
+65 6577 8899
