Overall Rank
Room Price (SGD)
Loyalty Programme
Room Size (m2)
Bedroom Rank
Bathroom Rank
Bath
TV size (inches)
Hotel Grounds Rank
Pool Rank
Gym Rank
Spa Facilities
Breakfast Rank
Breakfast Price (SGD)
Bar Rank
Hotel Surroundings Rank
Gym Rank
Treadmills (no)
Bikes (no)
Ellipticals (no)
Rowings (no)
Strength (no)
Flexibility (no)
Others (no)
It claims to be a temple to music, but it’s not just for fans — it’s got multiple swimming pools, including an artificial beach, and located in Resorts World Sentosa.
If you weren’t familiar with the Hard Rock brand, the giant twin guitars in the Hard Rock Hotel’s driveway should be clue enough: it’s all about the music. Actual costumes and instruments touched by gods of music are scattered throughout the hotel. The hotel’s unique and free Sound of Your Stay programme offers streaming playlists and can lend you a Fender electric guitar or Crosley turntable for use in your room. There’s space for that in its Deluxe Room — partly because it’s not especially well-furnished for its size. Even if you don’t love music that much, there’s still reason to consider the Hard Rock Hotel: its sprawling swimming pool area has something for everyone, including an artificial beach. It’s also located in Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) and therefore within easy reach of 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.
Despite the music theme and Hard Rock brand, we found the design aesthetic in our Deluxe Room quite restrained despite its “sleek urban design details and a bold colour palette”[1]. The hotel website states its size as being “up to 40m2” — it’s possible to get pool-facing Deluxe Rooms, some of which come with balconies, though these would incur additional charges. Our room wasn’t pool-facing but still felt “airy” — a term we’ve found corresponds with spaciousness. However, you can make a room feel more spacious by removing furniture and that seemed to be the case here. There was less furniture here than other hotel rooms we’ve reviewed that had a similar size. We did like the wardrobe in the bedroom which also featured a door in the back for direct access from the bathroom.
However, that extra space might come in useful if you borrow a Fender electric guitar or Crosley turntable from the hotel under its Sound of Your Stay programme. We must point out here that you need to request for these from the front desk — something we only discovered by emailing the hotel after our stay. We weren’t told of the programme when we checked in and couldn’t find any information in our room either. Even knowing the existence of the programme beforehand, we had no idea how we could borrow them during our stay. Our calls to housekeeping were met with confused responses and a promised follow-up phone call never arrived. Our experience spoke much of the hotel’s service standards.
As a result, the only feature of the Sound of Your Stay programme we could use was its streaming playlist. We wouldn’t get too excited over this. First, you just access this on your phone and it’s actually free. Second, there are only ten songs on this playlist. And last and most disappointing of all for a music-themed hotel, there’s no sound system in the room to play your music. The 42-inch TV did have access to 15 radio stations and a limited 29 TV channels[2], including the Hard Rock music video channel. HBO was available for English movies — there were no pay movies available.
The complimentary in-room coffee and tea selection was basic: Nescafe classic instant coffee and TWG Tea. The beverage selection in the (non-complimentary) in-room dining menu included wines and champagne by the bottle.
Other hotel rooms we’ve reviewed of a similar size to the Deluxe Room featured a bath tub. There’s no bath tub in the Deluxe Room, just a shower room, though there was also a separate toilet room. The toiletries were from the Hard Rock-branded Rock Spa: jasmine mandarin shower gel, conditioning shampoo, hand and body lotion, and liquid hand soap.
See our in-depth review and pictures of this breakfast buffet.
We felt the breakfast buffet at the hotel’s Sessions restaurant was good overall. While we felt the variety of food was limited compared to other hotel breakfast buffets in this price range, we were pleasantly surprised by how good most items were. The live egg station produced one of the best omelettes we’ve tasted in a buffet. We also enjoyed the bah kut teh herbal pork rib soup which came with vermicelli (bee hoon). These, and other highlights like the congee, nasi lemak, and fried vegetarian vermicelli (bee hoon), make this one of the best breakfast buffets we’ve reviewed, second only to the Capella Singapore’s.
While the Rock Bar is also located in the lobby like its neighbour Hotel Michael, it is far enough from the path of most passers-by to avoid their stares. If sitting at the circular bar doesn’t strike your fancy, you can take the party to the pool table or dart machine in the bar area. A door on the wall next to the bar leads to the Terrace lounge, separated from the lobby and featuring views of the swimming pool. The drink selection here is massive and includes a music-themed cocktail menu featuring unique concoctions.
We were unimpressed by the in-room dining and its limited options. The Hard Rock legendary beef burger was one of the three highlighted Hard Rock specialties in the menu. Topped with cheese, pork bacon, onion rings, and guacamole, it was a safe if unexceptional choice. We can’t say the same of the second specialty: the Tupelo chicken tenders. The breading was soggy, the chicken thin and not tender, and its flavour lacking were it not for the honey mustard and hickory barbecue sauces on the side. We also felt it was overpriced: just four pieces and a side of chips for SGD38[1] — the same as the burger. We were happier with the Oreo cheesecake — the third specialty — which we liked for its lightness and restraint on the sugar.
The Hard Rock Hotel expresses its music theme by filling its walls with the imagery of musicians and filling the hotel with memorabilia. Not all of it is well labelled and it’s easy to walk past pieces of clothing and music instruments on display without recognising their significance. The hotel does offer a personalised property memorabilia tour but only as part of its three-day two-night Amplified Package. If all that memorabilia inspires some souvenir shopping, there’s a Hard Rock-branded Rock Shop in the lobby. The lobby also has some seats though we’d suggest checking out the Terrace lounge via the Rock Bar, offering greater privacy, quiet, and views of the swimming pool. But if you’ve got your shades and swimwear on, it’s clear the swimming pool area is the place to be, with an artificial beach and a beach volleyball court. If you’ve got a large entourage, you can also rent poolside cabanas with catering and their own private little pools to soak, though this requires seven days’ notice.
The Hard Rock Hotel’s swimming pool area is massive and rivals the W Singapore – Sentosa Cove’s single sprawling 1,338m2 WET pool. Like the W, there’s music in the pool area here, though it leans towards pop music rather than the W’s lounge vibe. Instead of one pool, there are also multiple swimming pools here. The highlight is the artificial beach with a shallow pool filled with sand — superb for the kids who will also appreciate the nearby water slide and splash pad. For the adults, there’s a lap pool on the far side of the swimming pool area where you can get a workout in. For something more relaxing, there’s a sheltered jacuzzi pool with water jets that we finally found strong enough to pound our aching backs into submission. Alternatively, dip into the separate shallower pool where you can grab food and drink from the Rock Pool Bar without leaving the water.
The Rock Pool Bar also serves food and drink out of the water poolside. The menu was limited but some of its options like the okonomiyaki-style waffles — made with okonomiyaki-like batter and topped with bonito flakes and seaweed — were intriguing and, more importantly, tasty. For something less exotic and down to earth, mini buckets of fries, onion rings, potato wedges, and spicy chicken wings were available. There were no desserts, though the kids’ menu included a scoop of ice cream. The drink menu was also limited: beer, wines and champagnes, and a small selection of cocktails.
If you’ve got a large entourage, you can also rent poolside cabanas with their own private little pools to soak in, though this requires seven days’ notice. The single cabana can fit up to ten people and requires catering of at least SGD450++.
The 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 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.
There was no spa at Hard Rock Hotel, not even the Hard Rock-branded Rock Spa. Instead, guests were directed to the 10,000m2 ESPA at RWS, which was the Luxury Resort Spa country winner for Singapore in the 2017 World Luxury Spa Awards. Located near Equarius Hotel and the Beach Villas, it’s quite a distance away — about 6 minutes on foot without shelter — though there’s a shuttle bus. A 60-minute personalised massage — aromatherapy, Chinese, Thai, Balinese, hot stone, or Swedish — costs SGD235[2]. 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, though they had the exclusive option of purchasing a SGD118[3] day spa facility pass for three hours of access.
8 Sentosa Gateway, 098269
+65 6577 8899
https://www.rwsentosa.com/en/hotels/hard-rock-hotel-singapore/overview
