Hotel Bencoolen — Hotel in Singapore

We stayed in a family room in this hotel for 5 nights, 2 adults, and 2 kids. We would have moved out right after we came in the room, but unfortunately, we can no longer find an available room in another hotel, they are all fully booked, and we have 2 small children with us.

This hotel should lose their health certificate. The hotel room was filthy. The floor was dusty all over, and under the bed was a THICK LAYER OF DUST mixed with HAIR, random wrappers, paper wastes etc, it seems they have not cleaned under the bed for a year. The bathroom stinks so much, I think they used a dirty rug to wipe it. The shower hose and handle was terribly dirty and moldy, the bath water turned murky when it touched the shower hose. The tub and drain was disgusting, we had to clean it ourselves to use it. I complained to the front desk and asked to be transferred to a clean room, and she said they are fully booked so she cannot do anything. I asked our shower hose to be replaced because aside from the dirt, it was also leaking. A rude maintenance man came in, whom I asked come back with a mask on. When he came back, he started cursing in foreign language, slamming his things on the bathroom counter. It was scary. We asked him why is he acting that way but he did not respond, maybe he cannot speak English. We even went into our tub WITH HIS SHOES ON, and wiped his shoes on our floor rug when he came out. He was unable to fix the problem because the hose did not match the plumbing. Housekeeping also came in, we were shocked she came to pick only 2 pieces of rubbish on the floor and left. She did not even sweep or vacuum the floor. The bathroom exhaust was also covered in dirt, the fan hardly moves. We had to leave that afternoon due to a scheduled tour. When we came back during the night, there was a guy in the reception desk who connected us to the manager Vincent thru phone. I told him our complaints and he said he will have us transferred to a clean room and that he will meet me personally in the morning. The room we were transferred to on the 7th floor was still dirty, the receptionist went ahead to vacuum the floor himself. Though it was not as dirty as our previous room on the 9th floor, it was still unacceptable, we just didn't have a choice. We spent the whole night cleaning and disinfecting the room, scrubbing it down using our own supplies to have a clean space. It was so tiring, we were unable to leave early for our tours the following day. The next day, the manager was unavailable and did not even reach out to me, even when I asked the front desk to give my number to him. Clearly he doesn't give a damn.

We instruct the front desk everyday not to touch our room, no cleaning, no housekeeping. We no longer trust them, since they might use dirty stuff and rugs in the room. But we asked them to reserve our supplies for us to pick up - fresh towels, daily supply of bottled water and amenities, but even that, they were unable to comply.

There were other problems too --- the duvet on the bed was the wrong size, they use a double size duvet for a queen size bed, it is too small for 2 persons to share. And the fridge is not working properly, there was almost no cooling. There was also no bidet.

Out of the 6 days we had breakfast there, only 2 days there was ample food on the buffet service. The 4 other days, there was a dish already gone, and the other dishes were low to none. But on our last day, it was really terrible, what was there was only a bit of rice and noodles, all the dishes are gone! Other guests already complained to the front desk and they were asked to wait 10-15 minutes but food was not replenished. I went to complain again, and the manager said, we will have food in 10 minutes. We stayed 15 minutes, there was nothing, so we just left.

This hotel practically ruined...

Honestly, Hotel Bencoolen was one of the worst hotel experiences I've ever had and for AU$175 per night, the rooms should've been much better. I don't know how they're still legally allowed to operate the hotel with such poor room conditions. Read the other reviews to confirm how bad the experience of staying here is.

Where to start? Check-in was okay... The older male worker with glasses is a bit strange in his mannerisms (he doesn't greet you), but he did help when I asked about nearby coin laundry places and he fixed the issue I had with my room's safe not unlocking.

My room was 403 and I'd advise anyone else to avoid it if they can. My first impression when walking to the elevator and then down the hallway to my room, was that the hotel was extremely run-down. The elevators are so slow; I ended up taking the stairs during most of my 3-night stay. I was questioning why I cancelled my booking with Hotel Mi Bencoolen next door to stay here... I stayed at "Hotel Bencoolen Hong Kong Street" two years ago and had a nice experience. The same couldn't be said for this branch in Bencoolen.

Upon entering the room, the smell of dampness and mould was so disturbingly overwhelming that I had trouble sleeping all night. I knew I'd have health issues if I didn't address it with the staff, so the next morning, I asked the receptionist to check if there was another room available for me to move to. She checked and said the rooms were all completely booked out, but housekeeping would be able to put an air purifier in my room. So I went out for a bit then returned a while later... And waited for the air purifier to be placed into my room... And waited... Still not there in the afternoon. I went out again in the afternoon and the receptionist saw me and asked if I was the one who requested the air purifier... Yes... Turns out they'd placed it in the wrong room.

Anyway, the purifier did help a little, but the damage was done. It's been over a week since I checked out of the hotel and returned back home, and I was right... The mould has affected my health. I've had a really bad sore throat and have been coughing non-stop for the past few days. I even lost my voice a few days ago because of how sick I was. In fact, I'm typing this review at 4AM because I haven't been able to sleep for the past few hours due to incessant coughing.

How about the room itself? TV was so old and cheap that you could barely watch it. Bathroom is... Yuck. I didn't want to use the bathtub to take a bath, because I didn't want to get diseases from all the germs/bacteria that could be wedged between the cracks/peeling at the bottom of the bathtub. The side make-up mirror was so rusty. Also, there's a door in the room that opens to another wooden door, which can't be opened from the guest's end. I could hear the people next door singing in the middle of the night... Luckily I brought ear plugs. I don't have anything good to say about the room; just look at the photos (and video) I've attached.

One thing's for sure, I will never stay in this hotel again. Believe all the negative reviews for this hotel and avoid booking here!!! Instead, book Hotel Mi Bencoolen next door, or 30 Bencoolen across the road (I've stayed there before and it's excellent).

The only pros for this hotel were: Location is very close to Bencoolen MRT and walkable distance to Bugis. Breakfast was included, but basic. My receptionist friend from the Hong Kong Street branch (that I met 2 years ago) was here for two mornings during my stay, which was a lovely surprise. She's...

Our introduction to Singapore began after being dropped off at a 4-star hotel memorably located on Hong Kong Street.||Rated 4 stars, Hotel Bencoolen is modern and conveniently located near a big shopping centre and a couple of train stops. For our 4-night stay, we took a smallish room as we intended to mostly be out to drink in as much Singapore as possible before heading to Kuala Lumpur.||Despite expecting a smallish room, we still had a sofa, desk and chair plus an armchair to add to the comfort levels.||The only negative was the thin curtains so the city lights shone into the room and it was quite noisy on our second floor so sleep was inconsistent.||Storage||And this is another in an incredibly long line of hotel rooms with no hooks. It did have another hotel rarity, drawers; 3 of them. I still don’t know why hotels have stopped offering drawers (answers on a postcard).||Open double wardrobe with 5 wooden hotel hangers.||3 shelves below are ideal for shoes and one up above. That’s another trend, wardrobes without doors.||One bedside drawer and 2 at the good-sized desk/dressing table ||Ample storage along a slim shelf||Bathroom||For a standard room, the bathroom is spacious. It’s behind a frosted, wall which ensures the room stays light and airy.||They’ve provided a separate shower alongside the all-important bathtub. I love the separation as bathtubs can be dangerously slippy when also used for showers (as proved by beloved’s broken ribs when slipping in on in Krakow).||Both had an additional hand shower.||Generous sink. ||2 large towels and a bath mat. We were short on hand towels but there was a linen cupboard right outside so managed to access them from there.||Toiletries - shower gel, body lotion, shampoo and conditioner.||Toothbrush/paste||Shower cap||Vanity kit - cotton buds and cotton wool pad.||Facilities||TV - only had 4-5 channels although Netflix was available.||UK-style 3-pin plug sockets||Safe||Slippers||Iron/board||Hairdryer||Tissues||Food and drink||Kettle and tea/coffee ||2 bottles of water||Breakfast was included although we never partook. It was in the tiny lobby, we managed to get a seat once but there was no food left. It never looked particularly appetising but great if you can make it work and are prepared to wait for a seat.||Hot drinks and water are available in the lobby 24/7||Service was adequate although we weren’t able to safely store our luggage on the last day, other than in the open lobby right by the front door. Luckily check-out was at 12 so we decided to leave the cases in the room for one last exploration of the city before heading to the Changi airport early to enjoy its...