Singapore - Shangri La Hotel
Autumn 2007
Frank's view 
'Don't expect to walk to the shops.'
The world’s first Shangri La is more of a small town than a hotel, with 750 rooms spread throughout three wings. The best of these is the Valley Wing, and that’s where this camel stayed.
They have tried to create some sort of intimacy by breaking the hotel up, but even the Valley Wing, which is the most personal of the three, still has 131 rooms. The Tower Wing, which has the Horizon Club, is targeted at the business traveller, whereas the Valley Wing is, to use the hotel’s own words…
“the accommodation of choice for leaders in government, business and entertainment.”
The service is exceptional, as you would expect. The Valley Wing has its own entrance and does effectively operate as a separate hotel. The complimentary service goes one better than the Horizon Club, to include champagne, and it really is an excellent place to invite local business contacts for meetings. I find this important. If one is in a city for only a day or two, with a number of people to see, it is much more advantageous to entice them to you rather than having to spend most of your day moving around from meeting to meeting. On this level the Valley Wing works well.
It does come as a bit of a shock when you do venture across to the main hotel lobby. Suddenly the scale of the place becomes apparent, and I quickly felt the urge to retreat, back to the Valley.
The Spa is excellent but also vast, and unsurprisingly is open to residents of Singapore. It’s not your average hotel spa. It’s a full blown Health and Leisure Club and probably the number one in Singapore.
In summary, the Shangri La is undoubtedly one of the best hotels in Singapore and hard to fault. The two factors to consider before you book are, firstly, do you want to be in something so large and impersonal, and secondly, the location.
The hotel web site claims that the hotel is near Orchard Road, which is strictly true, but in reality it is at the top of Orchard Road and not a particularly convenient walk to the shops. The Four Seasons is conveniently beside the buzz of Orchard Road. The Shangri La is realistically a short cab ride away, particularly in “sticky Singapore”.
Shangri La Hotel
22 Orange Grove Road
Singapore
+65 6737 3644
Be Frank: agree or disagree? What do you think?
