JEN Singapore Orchardgateway by Shangri-La — Hotel in Singapore

Good-value luxury escape in the heart of Orchard Rd; very clean rooms; special rooftop infinity pool; convenient base to explore Singapore.

ROOM: Stayed 3 nights on 18th floor in a Superior City View Room Twin facing north. Good views of the city tho not quite able to catch the sunrise. Easy enough to go to the rooftop pool area to watch the sunrise which is something everyone should do.

Room was light filled with large windows and high ceilings; quality build and furnishings. Garrett popcorn upon entry delicious and great way to kick off stay.

Room was spotless. Linen and towels scentless. Cleaning staff always smiling and attentive. Room size reasonable but a little cramp for 2 x large luggages.

There were 2 chairs: small armchair for phone staring and quality office chair with long shallow table fixed against wall which we used for late night snacks.

‘Smart’ aircon operating minimally while room empty but quickly cools when occupied. Easily controlled via the panel on the wall.

Lighting in the room was varied and configurable with dedicated spot/reading lights for each bed.

Amazing high-pressure shower. Was bliss given Singapore’s humidity after city adventures.

Highly appreciated in-room water filter for easy access to drinking water which tasted amazing (i.e. no taste at all). Beds were comfortable 8.5/10 though not the absolute best experienced at higher-end hotels. Toilet had a basic bidet though manually operated with no warm water.

TV bit outdated and tad small ~40” with subpar sound quality. No Netflix or any modern streaming services. Some traditional channels including HBO, CNN, Asian news channels, etc. Can stream via android but not Apple. Outlets for HDMI available for game consoles etc. Fast mesh Wi-Fi in room and throughout the hotel which was very cool.

Noise-wise, room was overall quiet though some perceptible humming from nightclubs. No perceptible sound or vibrations from adjacent rooms or above. Faint hallway noises but acceptable.

ROOFTOP POOL: Rooftop pool marquee hotel feature and rightfully so. Pool temperature was amazing. City views fantastic. Convenient towels available. Overall facility felt modern and clean. We were there weekday afternoons with no crows at all; ~60% occupancy.

The major letdown was the bar. Cocktails were expensive at SGD 24 and extremely diluted. Note for tourists: menu states SGD 20 they’re actually SGD 24 taking into account tax / service fee which was an unpleasant surprise. This misleading pricing wasn’t the case at any of the different places we visited in Singapore and felt petty and antithetical to the vibe and hospitality of the hotel.

CHECK IN / CHECK OUT / LOBBY: As hotel is situated on top of Orchardgateway mall, can access via 2 ways: (1) via the ground floor lobby and taking the elevators there to floor 10 reception, or (2) via Orchardgateway mall elevators. Both are pretty quick and it’s great to have the option to easily access the metro and mall straight from the floor 10 hotel reception though slightly inconvenient to have to take 2 at least sets of elevators to enter/leave hotel.

Both checking in and out was swift. Self-service kiosk options available (which we didn’t use given the lines were short).

Lobby coffee/tea machines require an extra charge which was unfortunate. Would’ve been amazing if hotel guests were afforded some credit/allowance via swiping their card on the machines, rather than having to pay extra.

BREAKFAST: Great breakfast at Makan. Varied range and good quality. Stand outs: pandan desserts and fresh dragon fruit. Grateful to have option of fried donut/congee and then sausages/eggs. Unfortunately no included barista coffee tho coffee machines were reasonable.

LOCATION / TRANSPORTATION: While located conveniently (20 min public transport to CBD), getting to/from airport is a bit of a trek via public transport. Metro takes 1hr and 2 transfers and can get busy with very limited seating so expect to mostly stand. Suggest taking taxis 25 min costing SGD 35 via Grab. Tip: check Grab app...

Firstly I would like to say Im not someone who comes on here and complains about hotels. If you see my other reviews I always have very nice things to say. That being said, I like to make honest reveiws as I know people like myself use these reviews to help book for holidays. ||Unfortunately, I dont have a lot of nice things to say about the JEN.||I was so looking forward to staying here after our 6 nights in Da Nang. It online looks like an awesome hotel with a great infinity pool on the roof with views of Singpaore. Yes it did have that and yes it was nice. The hotel is above an MRT station and a shopping mall which is handy, the staff were friendly. Its clean and quiet. But thats about where my good commments end.||We mistakenly (were mislead in my opinion) booked a Superier City View Room with Breakfast on the direct website. Cost us $441SGD per night which I thought was expensive but it was Singapore so it was expected. Apparently our breakfast was NOT included and I of course couldnt show evidence of it, but I damn sure know I booked it. The room was the smallest dog box I'd ever seen. Walk in the door, trip over the bed and smack your head into the window, thats how small it was. I was not impressed and went back downstairs to change rooms and upgrade. Was told I had to pay an additional $270SGD per night to upgrade rooms. Meanwhile I had a screenshot on the online prices for the room they were now trying to sell me for $710 ($440 + 270) showing $520SGD, I refused and said I would only pay the additional $80p/n as clearly they had rooms available.|The room I had booked was showing as $228SGD, I heard a man beside me speaking to the staff that he had paid $160SGD and $220SGD from Europe! Why was I, in Australia, booking directly charged so much extra? While I was standing in line disputing the additional charges an older couple came in and were given a complimentry upgrade because the hotel was quiet!! I WAS FURIOUS, giving out updgades to others but slugging me to pay for an upgrade. I never asked for a free upgrade, I was happy to pay the difference. I kept my calm though, I never speak poorly to staff, they are only trying to follow the rules. I mentioned what as being spoken about on either said of me about the prices and after a lenghty call to the Manager we got an upgrade at $120SGD per night with club acess which I agreed to as I was so done arguing at this point. ||The new room was lovely, so I was happy. The club access was good and what I had also thought had been booked for us (hence the exorbitant prices!).||Problems with the room, the hotel has sensors so when you leave the room the A/C shuts off in your room! Not real helfpul when out in the heat all day. We had random lights swtiching on during the night for no reason waking us up and the hot water took a long time to kick in. I reported the lights after we left because we could deal with the bathroom one by closing the door, but the desk light that decided to start turning on at 10pm was the night we had to get up at 4am to catch a flight so didnt report until after which of course is too late to fix. I had a response of course offering my a free room upgrade when I come to stay again (Seriously!!)||The Infinity pool on the roof. Lacked space and day beds, good luck getting a spot to sit. But the most frustrating part was on Friday night they closed off the viewing deck where all the dinner seating is from 3pm to 10pm for a "private party". At 7.30pm we went up to eat and couldnt get a seat, the viewing deck had 5 people at the 'private party' ....FIVE....taking up the whole seating area, we and others asked if they could release the seating back but no they wouldnt. We then overheard that Saturday night also had a private party with DJ etc and was not impressed.||Honestly I would have to say avoid this hotel, you will be very...

Let’s start with the good The location Baywatch@Jen (pool with bar) The room The Club Lounge We stayed for 2 nights. We booked a luxury escapes package in a club king room. This included early check in, subject to availability and also complimentary drinks per adult. We caught the MRT from the airport and it was easy to find. Check in was very abrupt. We arrived around 1.45 to be told too early for check in, when I politely enquired about early check in I got glared at and told they don’t have any rooms available and it’s subject to availability, we were then begrudgingly checked in so we could make use of the facilities, while they would try to have our rooms ready for 3pm and call us when they were. We went and sat by the pool and ordered several rounds of drinks and food. The pool and drinks and food were good. The service at the bar was very minimal and we were told to go take a seat and use the QR code. Around 3.30 we decided we wanted to check in and freshen up so went to reception. We were given our bags and our room keys. No offer to have our bags taken to our rooms! Our room was fine and a decent size for a Singapore hotel however there is no exhaust in the toilet or bathroom so can get a bit musky. We made use of the club lounge for evening drinks and snacks and breakfast and there was sufficient selection. All the staff looked miserable and were very curt in their service though. On our second day I remembered we had complimentary drinks, so I asked reception. I was told it’s the drink you are given on check in. I said we weren’t given anything on check in, she said you get two drinks on check in, and I said well we weren’t given anything so she asked what I wanted and went and got it. Our friends who also had the same package missed out on getting their drinks. On our second day we again decided to use the pool and bar facilities. We enjoyed several rounds of drinks. We then used the lounge again for evening drinks and snacks. On departure of the lounge that night, we noticed on the board that they had chilling hours (between 8am and 5pm) , 2 beers for $20SGD. Well we had ordered probably at least 12 beers over our party of 4 over our two visits to the pool bar and paid full rate. So I went and asked the staff at the pool bar when one would finally serve me (there were 3 that walked away on my approach) and I was told it’s only if you order at the bar and not use the QR code and he turned around and walked away, no apology, no engaging in conversation just abruptly walked off. So if I had wanted to order something else who knew. I had politely asked, if I was rude I could understand, however that was not the case here. The overall service was an extreme let down for this hotel and it was very disappointing. For the price you pay you are better off staying...