Orchid Hotel

The Orchid isn’t the most modern of hotels, but it manages to attract both business travelers and tourists who are willing to look past its decor in favor of its great Chinatown location. The lobby has white marble floors with gray square tiles, gray leather couches that have seen better days, and gaudy chandeliers hanging from the room’s low ceiling. The all-day eatery is also outdated, with busy patterned carpet and rattan chairs. Far more attractive is a wooden terrace on the third floor with a large lap pool and views of Singapore’s skyscrapers. 

The Orchid is ideally located both for tourists looking to explore Singapore’s Chinatown, and business travelers working in the Tanjong Pagar neighborhood in the city’s Central Business District. The Chinatown subway station is a 10-minute walk away, while the Marina and the Gardens By The Bay are a 20-minute journey away by MRT. The nearest MRT station, Tanjong Pagar, is a five-minute walk away. Guests looking for good food and shopping don’t have to travel far, as there are numerous restaurants and shops in Chinatown. Additionally, Clarke Quay is 15 minutes away by public transit, and the Orchard shopping district is just a few minutes’ walk farther. Expect transfers to Changi Airport to take roughly 30 minutes by car, or an hour via public transport.

The hotel’s 272 rooms are sizable, but dated and decorated in a drab neutral palette. Tan patterned carpet, beige bed runners and curtains, walls painted cream, and old-fashioned dark-wood furniture is mostly well-kept, but some wear and tear is visible. Deluxe Rooms have space for two reading chairs and a table, plus a desk. Executive Rooms are more modern, with a salt-and-pepper carpet, brown-leather headboard, leather chaise lounge, and a glass desk with a leather office chair. 

Suites, meanwhile, have a separate bedroom and lounge, but the latter is sometimes in a narrow room that feels tiny. Bathrooms are more contemporary across the board, with a non-slip leatherette floor, a walk-in shower cubicle, and bidet. All rooms have free Wi-Fi, a safe, kettle alongside coffee and tea, lightly stocked mini-fridge, and a flatscreen TV, as well as a city mobile phone with unlimited data and minutes for certain countries.

The Orchid has a decent amount of amenities for its mix of business and leisure travelers. An all-day restaurant offers buffet and a la carte fare from a wide-ranging menu of Western and Singaporean food. Breakfast leans more toward Asian cuisine, though. There is a small but well-equipped gym with a cycle, treadmill, cross-trainer, resistance machine, and a rack of dumbbells, as well as a sauna. The gym leads out to the pool terrace, which has a large lap pool and views of some dramatic skyscrapers. There's little in the way of seating, however. The hotel has free Wi-Fi throughout and provides guests with a city mobile phone, which has unlimited data and minutes to some countries, as well as offering a portal through which guests can book discounted tickets to events and museums.