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It’s visually striking, though not everyone likes that. Its Deluxe Room isn’t especially impressive and its facilities are lacking. Still, its proximity to Resorts World Sentosa is hard to beat.
It’s hard to beat Hotel Michael for its location in Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). We also preferred its Deluxe Room to the Classic Room at Le Méridien Singapore, Sentosa, just minutes away, though it was not by much. And it’s a visually striking hotel: Hotel Michael is named after architect Michael Graves[2] who designed it to be “art gallery-like”[3]. But not everyone is a fan of Michael Graves’s designs and, beyond that, we couldn’t find much else to recommend it for. We felt its Deluxe Room was decent but not great, the hotel grounds too limited for much exploration, the pool basic, the gym dark, and the breakfast buffet unimpressive.
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.
Whether you agree that the “maple-accented room” with “mural-adorned walls” create an “art gallery-like atmosphere”[1], we think it’s safe to say the Deluxe Room is quite striking visually. Whether you think it’s beautiful is another matter: not everyone is a fan of Michael Graves’s designs. Beyond its aesthetics, we couldn’t find much else to recommend it for. At 37m2, the room size wan’t particularly large. Its furnishings also didn’t go beyond the standard — just the bed, a TV bench, and a connecting work desk and chair — though that did leave the bedroom feeling spacious.
The 43-inch TV offered 34 channels[2], with only HBO for English movies. There were no pay-per-view or movie rental options.
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 by the bottle.
Again, we’ll let you decide if the bathrooms’ “flower-motif mosaic wall”, “classic black and white marble flooring” and “unusual blue mosaic-tiled circular shower” make them “works of art”[1]. However, we thought it odd that the glass partition between the sink and the toilet — obscuring the flower-motif mosaic wall — lacked a door for privacy. There was also no bath tub, just the circular shower, and the toiletries — body wash, shampoo, and hand wash — were in-house Resorts World Sentosa products.
See our in-depth review and pictures of this breakfast buffet.
The breakfast buffet at the Fratelli restaurant wasn’t great by our standards. We did like its deep-fried yam cakes drizzled with sweet dark sauce and thought the frittata, chicken char siew baos, croissants, and bread and butter pudding weren’t bad. But that didn’t seem enough to justify its relatively high price which was just a few dollars shy of the far superior SGD56[2] breakfast buffet at the Capella Singapore. Alternatively, we felt the SGD33[3] breakfast buffet at the Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa was not only cheaper but better.
The hotel’s bar, run by the Fratelli restaurant, also gave us little reason to come back. The bar itself sat at the intersection between the hotel’s entrance and the corridor from the lobby to the elevators — front row seats to heavy foot traffic. With no music playing either, we struggled to feel any ambience in this bar. We’d recommend getting a table in the exclusive sitting area by the window son the opposite side of the lobby. However, that might make it impossible to get any service which already seemed uninterested when we sat right in front of the bar. The staff seemed to come and go as they pleased when we visited, leaving the bar unattended. Drinks were however relatively cheap compared to other hotel bars we’ve reviewed. The selection of beers, wines, and spirits were relatively limited, but the breadth of the extensive cocktail menu did surprise us. This included a section focused on Italian cocktails, which we felt was only appropriate as Fratelli is an Italian restaurant. But there didn’t seem to be much creativity. Only one Italian cocktail on the menu seemed unique: the Popes Hat which we couldn’t order as the bar had run out of whipped cream when we visited.
We were unimpressed by the in-room dining and its limited options. It was called the RWS broiled beef burger and even came with a little red flag with the RWS logo and name, but we found its patty dry and overcooked. Our spaghetti alla carbonara, topped with an egg yolk to burst for an extra coat of sauce, felt like a more decent choice.
Breakfast options were also limited, with no breakfast sets and just a small a la carte selection. We weren’t impressed by our order of eggs[1], which seemed more congealed than scrambled. Instead, we preferred our pancakes which were decently fluffy, served with a side of maple syrup and topped with blueberries, strawberries, and powdered sugar.
Hotel Michael’s aspirations to be “art gallery-like” extended beyond the rooms. The Botero sculptures “Adam and Eve” greeted us as we arrived at the foyer, followed by the glass sculpture hanging from the lobby ceiling just past the hotel entrance. But the art gallery didn’t seem to extend beyond the lobby. The long corridor from the lobby to the elevators felt drab and bare except for some art prints hanging on the wall. There were just eight prints — not enough to be art gallery-like to us — which weren’t even labelled. Hotel Michael just didn’t seem nearly as serious about art as the Capella Singapore — which even offered an art tour — or the W Singapore – Sentosa Cove.
Apart from that, we couldn’t find much to see in the hotel[1]. There were two sitting areas in the lobby: one for members of the Crockfords’ Club and Maxims Platinum Club — the RWS casino’s exclusive clubs — and another for paying customers of the hotel’s bar run by Fratelli. We wouldn’t worry about not qualifying for entry — there didn’t seem to be much there that anyone was missing out on.
The swimming pool on its third floor was one of the smaller hotel pools we’ve reviewed, though it did have an unheated jacuzzi pool by its side. However, we did notice on our morning visits that we sometimes found people sleeping fully-clothed in the lounge chairs around the pool and in the corridor outside the poolside bathrooms. The pool also overlooked the Resorts World Sentosa’s Festive Walk, which can get a little noisy. While we’ve seen pictures on the hotel website of food being served by the pool, that was not our experience during our stay. Neither was there a poolside bar nor did we encounter any staff during our visit who could have served us.
Hotel Michael offered its guests access to the 24-hour Body Rock gym at the Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, but it wasn’t exactly next door — it’s about five minutes away on foot. Still, we think it’s better to walk there than to work out in the gym that’s in Hotel Michael itself next to the swimming pool on the third floor. Thanks to the heavy tinting on the windows facing the swimming pool, the gym was dark while the placement of its interior walls also left us feeling stifled. The equipment, especially for strength training, was limited.
There was no spa at Hotel Michael. 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 11 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, Sentosa Island Singapore 098269
+65 6577 8899
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