Jul 22, 2009 04:14 PM
1975 Views
(Updated Apr 23, 2012 11:02 AM)
I stayed at this sweet little hotel in May 2009, along with my wife and my in -laws. I was looking for a hotel which was
- budget category and offered good size comfortable rooms (a very hard to find combination in Singapore, according to many reviews!)
2.Centrally located (and close to Little India – for culinary reasons!)
Since I planned the entire trip, I spent quite some time reading Singapore hotel reviews on tripadvisor.com. This hotel stood out in their rankings because of its relatively high ranking and modest (by Singapore standards) price.
We booked one Superior room for S$ 110 a night and one Standard Triple room for S$118 a night. My room booking was confirmed by email with no advance/deposit or credit card details required.
After arriving in Singapore’s Changi Airport, we took the local train service(MRT) from Changi to the Bugis MRT station which is the closest station to the hotel.The Changi airport to the Bugis MRT probably took us about 25 minutes with a train change in between. Not to bother though, it was supremely easy, convenient and fast!
We found our way easily to the hotel after a 5 minute walk from the Bugis MRT. I was very pleased with the location! The first thing you realise is that the hotel is located in a pedestrianized zone - i.e. only people allowed on this paved street / street market. A perfect combination of bubbly life sans the traffic and vehicular movement.On one side is a Buddhist shrine and on the other a Buddhist artifacts cum gift shop. I loved the location, as did my family!
After paying upfront for the day (day to day payment , in cash, policy), all five of us first went to the ’Standard’ triple room (No.346) to help my in-laws settle down. The room was spacious, clean and comfortable with an attached bath which was also clean and spacious. I patted myself on the back. This room had three individual beds, window A/C, 21’ TV with about 6 channels, telephone, water boiler and coffee/ tea sachets (complimentary) and 24 hour hot water in the bath. It had a view of the side of the Buddhist shrine and was quiet. What more could you want?
Everybody was happy! My wife and I then went down to our ’Superior’ room’ no.204. We were of course made happy again! The following were the differences:The view was better....you could see out on to the front of the hotel and watch all the passersby and the activity on your street just like you would if you had a street facing balcony view from your home. Noise was not an issue as it was only people walking and with the sliding windows closed, no disturbance at all.A small refrigerator and a two seater sofa were part of the room. These were the only differences. Of course, one funny thing was that we got a 14 inch TV as opposed to the 21 inch in the Standard room. Not that it made a difference as we probably watched 5mins. of TV during the duration of the stay.
There was no drinking water readily available in the room, but not to worry as tap water in Singapore is pure enough to be consumed. We were quite happy with the tap water. Later, we regrouped downstairs to collect our coupons for the complimentary breakfast. You have a choice between Chinese and Continental.Chinese provides a rice preparation, a noodles preparation and approximately another 4 - 5 items. It is a buffet. The Continental fare entitles you to the following per plate: 2 slices of Toast cut into four triangle shaped pieces, butter, jam, tea/coffee and orange juice. The toast, butter and jam is ‘as much as you want’, but the other items I am not sure about as we never asked for more. We tried the Chinese the first day as it looked more filling and colourful. Anyway, we didn’t like the Chinese spread, so from the next day onwards we stuck to Continental which was simple and filling.
When we left the hotel, we dropped our keys in the key slots as requested by a notice on the wall. I was already aware of this ’request’ through the reviews on tripadvisor.com and I had no qualms. We never left anything of value in the rooms anyway. We used to drop our keys and leave for the day’s sight seeing. In the evening we used to return anywhere between 9:30 and10:30 pm, make the night’s payment, take our keys and go to sleep in our cleaned and done up rooms.
On the day of our departure i.e. the 10th of May, we checked out at 12 noon and brought down our entire luggage. All the pieces of luggage were tied together with a string provided by the staff, and kept along with other peoples’ luggage in the dining hall. Looked like the storage space they have under their staircase was full. After this we were off for our last day’s sight seeing. We returned at around 4:30 pm and the reception called for a ‘Maxi Cab’ for our trip to the Airport. We waited in the dining room till it arrived and did a bit of packing as well. Our Cab arrived and we were given a very warm and friendly send off by the middle aged ladies who run the show. I thanked them for their hospitality and promised to write good things about them when I got back. When asked, I was told that the Hotel was approximately 50 years old! It never gave us that impression!
That’s that! To sum up, if you are not looking for luxury and/or a swimming pool in the hotel, SEAH represents unbeatable value. Has everything going for it ! Only after coming back did I realise that they probably have no room service and people to help you with your luggage up and down your room( a lift is available). I can’t be sure because, food wise, we ate out for lunch and dinner and none of us ever felt the need to have food brought up to us. As far as the luggage help theory goes, we carried a small bag each and there was no need for help. Though, I bet, that if there had been help required, it would have been provided.
Last Word: A wise choice - If you prefer saving money on accomodation and spending that money on sight seeing and shopping while ensuring comfortable accomodation, this is it.Kudos, South East Asia Hotel!
And thank you Mouthshut.com, for this wonderfully helpful forum. I have also written about how I got to Singapore and the expenses incurred on the entire trip. Check them out ! I wasn't aware of no. 1 when I travelled to Singapore unfortunately.My expenditure on accomodation could have been reduced by almost 50%!!
