Mercure ICON Singapore City Centre — Hotel in Singapore

Had a nightmare with this hotel to start with. Booked a non-refundable room, however a family member was suddenly unwell which meant we could not take the flights initially planned, and therefore were no longer visiting Singapore. Every other hotel/ticket I had booked politely refunded my booking with no questions asked, given the situation. However this hotel kept declining my request, then requested medical documents (which is fine) but still declined to cancel despite accepting to cancel once they had documents. At this point I was just going to let it be. They then miraculously decided a few days later they were happy to cancel my booking, and I kept getting constant emails/messages/calls asking me if I'm happy to go ahead with cancelling. I did not understand why they profusely kept refusing initially but suddenly changed up. At this point, my family member had recovered and I managed to reschedule my flights so I was able to make it to Singapore and therefore was going to go ahead with the booking. I understand until this point, I can't complain as it was a non-refundable booking to start with and depending on the grace of the hotel. However prior to the above incident, I requested if an additional guest can stay in the room with me for one night only and was told I will need to pay extra for a triple room, which I was fine with. So closer to the booking, I emailed to ask about this, only to be told the triple room initially quoted is no longer available and only the premium triple room was available. Although I can see that exact room was bookable on various platform and was just told the inventory wasnt updated, which personally didn't sound believable. I felt I was getting ripped off by this place, on top of the stress already incurred, but had no choice but to go ahead. This was the most stressful hotel booking experience I have ever had. Other than that, the location was great. For a 4 star hotel, I would expect more facilities such as someone bringing your suitcase to the rooms (especially since they have carpet and it was very difficult to roll your suitcase on that floor), no scales. There's tap water to refill bottles as they do not use plastic, which is fine, but would have preferred bottled water in recyclable packing. The triple room with balcony given to us had a previous guests left over bag in the corner below the table. Despite the room being small, it was a decent stay, however I would personally never book again due to the stress I felt throughout this booking process. This was all a special circumstance though and may not apply to a...

Prior to check in, expectations were well managed after last 100 reviews here all mentioned how tiny the room size is (15 sqm for a classic double) Yes, i have to agree it IS small (but not uncommon across 4 star properties like this in the costly central district of SG, having stayed a few before) I also didn't like the design of sink placement outside the bathroom (only for the lowest category room)

However I feel compelled to highlight the many plus points of the room also that wasn't mentioned. Because this is a newly built hotel in 2024, hardware all very new, eye pleasing color scheme, and functional design - wall sockets in right places where u need them, bedsheets clean crisp, bed very comfy, shower that drains well, full length mirror, clean, flat space to layout bags etc. I'm saying these in the context of some similarly priced hotels I've stayed in around the world, cos sometimes style focused, or trying to appear fancy, sacrifice a.... full length mirror for example.

Also the view when u wake up in the morning is lovely. The room has ceiling to floor whole glass window pane, so we're greeted by extensive lush green landscaping, leading to the Olympic length swimming pool, flanked by shiny skyscrapers overlooking the red brick roofs of heritage shophouses. It really does feel like a nice oasis for a short getaway.

Pictures included.

Other plus points: excellent location. crossroads of a heritage district - telok Ayer, club street, amoy Street, boon tat street, with all the charming shophouse architecture (not many left in SG) & great dining options housed inside them. Then you have Chinatown a stones throw away. And if you're here on a weekday, beyond the heritage shophouses is our financial district (CBD) people watch white collared locals going about their daily working lives (12-2pm & 5-7pm are where they emerge from the skyscrapers for lunch/getting home) accessible public transportation 3min walk to the blue line train, 7min walk to the green line train route, 10min walk to a purple line train

The small rooms won't be suitable for travellers on a long trip with large suitcases as definitely won't have space to open it up fully. It'll suit those on short 2-4 days getaways (who are focused on getting out and exploring rather than hang out in the room) and having with them at most bagpacks & cabin sized luggage. At below $200 a night in a high cost of living country, for the excellent location, and new-ness, somethings gotta go and room size is a...

Mercure Icon was one of my three shortlisted locations besides Mount Faber and IBIS Macpherson for a maiden stay. The less than a year old was the catch given all three charged a fee of $180 + per night. Impression remains positive at both check in reception and lift lobby. After entering unit #17-11, impression and reality of space took a change. Mobility within toilet and shower was really challenging without room for movement. The number of 8 lifts served us well and we had a tour of facilities on second floor. Both the gym and swimming pool were overwhelmed with hotel guests at 4pm. so was the cafe and the common area at the ground floor. A brief use of pool at 830pm before closing time and there were no shower / bathing facilities to be found after gym or swim usage on 2nd floor. The male toilet was equipped with three standing urinals and no available items to do a change of attire. The bail out was back to hotel room for shower. During the swim usage, I could see the non stop lighting flashing non stop on the left building from #10 above and it must be hurting those units with balcony to remain indoor. After returning to room, I used the room service and replacement of request via QR code. I used it and regretted that it only allows two items/quantity to be selected when I needed shower cap, shaver, comb, slippers, floor mat. The request must be in "completed' status before filing a new request. It was not a pleasure to lodge any more request after seeing the same staff delivered the request as per the limitation of 2 quantity at one time. The request seems to limit per request to two quantity or two items. The following noise was heard when the room was completely quiet. While lying down to sleep, the sound of water filling up the flush could be heard. Around 6am the next day, I heard someone knocking on the main door and I woke up to check via door viewer.No one was knocking on my door and I opened to check. The verdict was someone from 1709 walked down to 1713 to knock and tie down for breakfast. This shows that the sound of movement along the corridor could be heard very clearly within the room and from bed. after checking out, my verdict is dropped from a 8 to a 6. Given the small room size for classic two single beds, I will say $185 per night is 30% higher for an off peak, weekday. If there is a recommendation, please consider configuring the balcony room to include two single beds. I noticed that all the bed configuration for balcony unit are in one...