Singapore to Add Assortment of New Hotels This Year

Singapore to Add Assortment of New Hotels This Year

A slew of new hotel openings, from the quirky to the ultra-luxe, are primed to burnish Singapore’s reputation as a destination in Asia for a diverse selection of properties. New restaurants by chefs including Daniel Boulud and Mario Batali, and new clubs like Avalon and Pangaea are also set to be unveiled soon. The following are hotels that have just thrown open their doors and properties slated to open in the second half of this year:

Park Regis Singapore -- The Australian-based StayWell Hospitality Group (SWHG), one of Asia Pacific’s largest independently owned hotel management companies, is set to bring its Park Regis brand to Southeast Asia with its first property in the region to open in Singapore. Scheduled to open before the end of this year, Park Regis Singapore will be located in the main banking and corporate district of Raffles Place, alongside the Singapore River with views of the nightlife of Clarke Quay.

The Fullerton Bay Hotel, which opened on July 8, is Marina Bay’s first and only waterfront hotel. Comprising 100 rooms, five individually themed suites and a luxurious Presidential Suite, each with marina views, balconies and sundecks, the hotel offers bespoke design elements. The hotel’s interior designs are steeped in Singapore’s history with vintage nautical maps and commissioned contemporary art reflecting the heritage and modernity in the Lion City.

The Wanderlust Hotel opened on Aug. 26 in Little India in a history-laden building at No. 2 Dickson Road. The four-story boutique hotel has 29 rooms, none of them identical. The same can be said for each floor in the hotel. Each of four design agencies was given full creative freedom to design an entire level in the hotel, resulting in four, different themes -- “Industrial Glam,” “Eccentricity,” “Is It Just Black and White?” and “Creature Comforts.”

Hotel Fort Canning will open this fall in the Fort Canning area. The new 86-room hotel in what was once the home to the British Far East Command Headquarters during World War II, a colonial building which dates back to 1926. Surrounded by greenery at Fort Canning Park, the hotel’s park setting straddles not only the Orchard Road shopping belt and the Clarke Quay entertainment hub, but the Central Business District, and the Civic District.

The Saff, opening in late September, is located in the district of Keong Saik Road, home to trendy architecture, design and advertising agencies. The Saff is housed in authentic, restored shophouses and the name and theme of the hotel takes its inspiration from the spice saffron, incorporating cultural elements from countries such as Morocco, Persia, Thailand, Spain and Turkey.

Studio M, the newest hotel by Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, opened in the entertainment precinct of Robertson Quay. Studio M is Singapore’s first loft concept hotel which has designer chic and contemporary functionality for trendy and savvy travelers. Studio M comprises 360 rooms with four categories of Loft Rooms -- Studio, Premier, Executive and Patio.

The Grand Park Orchard Singapore, a member of the Park Hotel Group, has re-opened this summer after a $59 million makeover of the former Park Hotel Orchard. The 308-room hotel located along Orchard Road offers guestrooms with floor-to-ceiling windows, 40-inch Bang & Olufsen LCD TVs, Herman Miller desk chairs and personal PCs with all-in-one printer, scanner and fax.

Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort is currently closed for a complete makeover of its guestrooms and facilities including the swimming pool, gym, spa, children’s club, food and beverage outlets and function rooms. The hotel’s renovation is expected to be complete by early 2011 and it will re-open then. Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort will be the only resort in Singapore with a beachfront location on Sentosa Island overlooking the South China Sea.

Klapsons, the 17-room boutique hotel which opened at the end of 2009, has partnered Chivas Regal, to open fabrika by Chivas 18, an al fresco sky terrace bar, this summer. Perched on the 17th floor of the design-driven hotel, the bar offers views of Singapore’s skyline framed by touches of Turkish, Moroccan and Oriental décor.

A new boutique hotel called mOOn will open in October in the Little India enclave, close to the Bugis MRT (train) station. The hotel will feature elegant fusion-themed interior décor meant to signify warmth and tranquility as suggested by its namesake.

At The Swissôtel The Stamford’s JAAN Restaurant, a celebrated chef has arrived to debut a new culinary perspective in Singapore. Presenting Modern Scandinavian cuisine driven by a philosophy of essentialism, Chef Ebbe Vollmer hails from one of Sweden’s most prodigious restaurateur families. The 36-year-old arrives at JAAN this summer with a resume that includes experiences as sous chef at the three-Michelin-starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London, and as chef-owner of his own acclaimed establishment in Malmo, Sweden.