Business Times – 26 Apr 2008
By CORINNE KERK
IF YOU’RE really, really too time-strapped to spare a three or four-hour flight out of Singapore, there’s the St Regis: for the waited-on-hand-and-foot experience.
St Regis is the only hotel in Singapore to offer butler services to all guests now that it’s open.
For some folks, this service takes some getting used to. For example, even though your butler says to call him if you need anything at all, should you do so if you can’t find sanitary bags in the impressive marble sanctuary that is the loo? What about calling him for a different pillow when the one on your bed gives you a neck ache in the middle of the night?
For others, however, the butler is a dream come true. Hate packing and unpacking whenever you travel? No problem, buzz the butler. Want to read international newspapers? Sure thing, the chap will get them for you.
Heck, your plush room doesn’t even come with a coffee/tea maker because the butler will make your cuppa, 24/7.
So yes, it is a charmed life when you check into the St Regis, where you’ll find little need to raise a finger unless it is to press the butler call button. That leaves you with plenty of energy to enjoy your surroundings.
At the posh hotel, a collection of over 40 original art pieces by such familiar names as Fernando Botero, Marc Chagall and Frank Gehry dot the public areas, while its 299 rooms and suites ooze quiet opulence through tasteful, stately decor.
For a room with a nice, unblocked view, ask for a Tanglin Road facing one on a high floor. But if you want to check out the apartments in the posh St Regis Residences, the Cuscaden Road facing rooms will give you a pretty good peek.
Facilities-wise, there is a rather narrow swimming pool, a top-class fitness centre and an air-conditioned tennis court. But nothing beats the hotel’s much-talked about Remede Spa. Sure, its treatments are wonderful, but it is Remede’s luxurious wet lounge that really raises the bar as far as exceeding guest expectations goes. Suffice to say you will find yourself wanting to try every heated marble surface, dip into every body of water and pop into every steamy chamber.
Filling your tummy, however, is just as pleasurable. Theoretically, you could work your way through the all-day dining restaurant, Les Saveurs, for breakfast; the poolside Mediterranean eatery, LaBrezza, for lunch; then tuck into afternoon tea at the Drawing Room before finishing up with dinner at the Cantonese restaurant, Yan Ting.
But if that doesn’t work out, then at the very least, make sure you go for the wine tasting at the Decanter wine bar in the evening. Staying guests are invited to taste four wines – compliments of the hotel’s chief sommelier – but the bonus is the sommeliers’ personable company in a very chic atmosphere.
For a spot to wind down the evening – and feel smug as you look out at the hoi polloi on Tanglin Road – head to Astor Bar for a Chilli Padi Mary. If the concoction doesn’t knock you senseless, it will at least make you happy to be alive – and staying at the St Regis.
The St Regis Singapore is at 29 Tanglin Road.
Tel: 6506 6888, website: StRegis.com/Singapore