Property: Conrad Centennial Singapore
Status: Diamond
Room booked: Premium King
Rate: Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts (rate was SGD$50 more than booking direct, but included USD$100/SGD$128 property credit)
Received: Centennial Suite
Good Friday was my first time staying at the Conrad Singapore and also my first stay at a Hilton property since becoming Diamond after several years as Gold. The one-night stay was booked via Amex FHR's US portal so my HH number could be attached during booking, rather than needing to involve the Platinum Travel team. The booking showed up in my Hilton app within minutes of booking.
Two days before arrival, the front desk contacted me through the app asking whether they "could do anything to make [my] stay amazing". I half-jokingly (..ok maybe 1% jokingly) responded that a suite upgrade would make the stay amazing, this was met with a response that all suites were booked but they would happily upgrade me if one becomes available. I also confirmed through chat that spa treatments could be charged to the room and the FHR property credit used to offset the charges, then made a spa booking.
The night prior I noticed that a Centennial Suite had opened up for booking, so I sent a message referencing the previous discussion and asked politely whether an upgrade would be possible. The answer was yes (!) however the suite was on a lower floor and would not be ready until 3-4pm. This wasn't an issue as I'd already arranged 4pm check-out from the SO/.
At this point I also used the Hilton app to swap the payment method from my pre-filled Platinum Charge across to the Hilton Aspire Amex in the hopes of earning 14X HH points on the transaction and avoiding a 3% forex surcharge.
I arrived at about 3:15pm and there was no queue at the front desk. Reception confirmed the upgrade and mentioned some of my included benefits through FHR. They didn't request to see/swipe the Plat card and I gave my Aspire for the security deposit with no issues. I was given two pages explaining benefits, one for FHR and the other Exec/Suite entitlements. There was no mention of my status I wasn't entirely sure whether the upgrade was due to booking through FHR, but I was more concerned about whether the stay would earn points as there are mixed reports online about this.
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Exec & suites receiving 20% off spa treatments was a nice bonus I wasn't expecting.
At 63sqm the Centennial Suite is not gigantic but still a decent step up from a guest room and has a functional layout. The bedding was very comfortable and the suite had two discrete air conditioning zones in the bedroom & living room with separate thermostats and fan levels. The aircon was strong at the highest fan level (important in Singapore!) and quiet at the lowest level.
The living room TV was about 70" and the bedroom TV about 55". There was an abundance of international power sockets throughout the suite in useful locations such as both bedside tables, multiple at the work desk, etc. The bathroom (not pictured) was quite large with a separate toilet connected off the bathroom, double basins, and separate shower & bath. Bathroom amenities were Shanghai Tang, the shampoo, conditioner, body gel and lotion were in fixed refillable bottles. Body soap and face soap bars, a comb, toothbrushes, and various other amenities were in a drawer under the basins.
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I was also relieved to see a Diamond welcome card and gifts of fruit, chilli crab tempura crackers, cookies, dried fruit, and two soft drinks - the first absolute indicator of status recognition and eligibility to earn points!
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When checking in the front desk asked if I'd like to join the 3:30pm afternoon tea session. While I'm not usually that keen on afternoon/high tea, the timing worked well and I was keen to check out the exec lounge. So I agreed and headed up with my laptop in hand to fire off a couple of emails. The selection was fine, exactly what I'd expect at an exec lounge afternoon tea. (side note - the EL afternoon tea & evening canapes menu
can be found here)
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There was some free entertainment in the form of a gentleman (dining with an older couple who appeared to be his parents) having an obnoxiously loud work phone call for a good 20 minutes. Another couple seated between us continually whinged to each other in Japanese about how loud he was, how terrible a son he was, whether they should say something to the staff, etc. They never did raise it with the staff, but it was bad enough that I was surprised the wait staff didn't tell him to STFU.
The following morning I went down to Oscars shortly after 9am to find a 30+ person queue snaking out of the restaurant and into the reception area. The below photo was taken about 10 minutes after I queued up with another 10-15 people behind me.
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The queue hadn't moved at all in the ~10 minutes I waited, so I approached the front desk (a few metres to my left) to ask if there was any chance of using my breakfast benefit as takeaway or in-room dining - the answer was a big fat NO with zero apology or empathy shown. I double checked the exec lounge was also not open for breakfast - NOPE. I'm told the queue is because the hotel has high occupancy due to the public holiday... so why not open the exec lounge
So I missed breakfast and went straight to my spa booking at 11am. Given the 20% off spa suite benefit and the SGD$128 FHR credit, I opted for the $160SGD 60 min Yuan Qi massage. The spa facility was very nice, the massage table comfortable and slightly warmed, the massage itself was decent but not worth paying full price for IMO. (the going rate for a 60 min massage at a higher-end place less than 5 min away is $70-80)
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I thought the $128 credit would perfectly cover the $160 minus 20%, but I neglected to consider GST so was about $9 out of pocket.
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Checked out just before 4pm, no issues paying with the "card on file" (Aspire) and received the 14X meaning a total 16766 HH points earned - 3609 x 2 (base & diamond bonus) + 1000 (myway) + 2500 (2022 points unltd promo) + 6048 (aspire 14x)
I received an automated survey email yesterday and left feedback about the breakfast situation, received an email from the guest experience manager apologising and asking me to contact them directly for future bookings to be looked after.
If anyone's planning to stay over the next few months, Conrad has a
standalone website clearly explaining what facilities are open, if bookings are needed, etc.
That's awesome news.
