[Hotel Review] - Equarius Hotel (Deluxe Room), Sentosa, Singapore (1 - 4 May 15)

Location

Equarius Hotel, one of the few hotels managed by Resorts World Sentosa is located on the island of Sentosa, famed for its sun and sea. It is also home to Universal Studios theme park as well as casino in Singapore. The hotel is located at near the theme park and casino, but in a more isolated corner as compared to other hotels like Hard Rock Hotel and Festive Hotel, which is closer to action. It will take around 15 mins walk to the theme park, luckily the hotel provides regular shuttle service connecting to the other parts of Resort World Sentosa. The hotel is situated right in front of Adventure Cove water theme park, where there is a direct access to the theme park from the hotel.

Hotel Signage in the car park

Hotel signage by the main entrance of the hotel

Facade of the main building

Hotel lobby with simulated waterfall

Hotel lobby and check-in area

The Room

The room that I checked in is the expansive 51 sq m deluxe room, located in the main building of the hotel. The decor of the room, as with most hotels, is rather contemporary.  To get to the rooms, guests would have to take a 3 mins hike through a maze of rooms to reach the lift that will ferry you to the floor that your room is located. Entering the room, the wardrobe area is located on the left of the main entrance. There is a ledge for guests to stow their luggages just before the wardrobe. The wardrobe is of a good size, allowing 2 to store about 5 days worth of clothings. There is an ironing board stowed away in the wardrobe and 2 bathrobes. The safe is located inside the wardrobe was well, placed on a 3-tiered drawer, providing more space for guests to stow away their clothings.

Storage space for luggages

Wardrobe

Opposite the wardrobe is the entrance to the bathroom. Decked in marble, the spacious bathroom has both a toilet cubicle and a walk-in shower, featuring both rain shower head and regular shower head. What I like about the bathroom is the ledge in walk-in shower, with sufficient storage space for guests to stow their bathing equipment. There is a quirky chair in the toilet cubicle, which seemed out of place. The bathroom has dual sinks and a lot of counter top space for guests to put their facial products on. At the far end of the bathroom, just next to the walk-in shower is the bathtub. The bathtub is large enough for 2 to comfortably enjoy a romantic soak. There is also a 14 inch TV in the bathroom, however the TV is tucked away into the wall of one corner of the bathroom that does not allow guests to have a good view of it whilst soaking in the tub. There is a glass panel right by the sinks that allows guests to peek into the sleeping area of the room. There is a switch by the TV that controls the blinds to this glass panel providing more privacy for guests who desires it.

Dual countertop sinks

Large Tub for 2

Toilet Cubicle with the quirky chair

Walk in shower with sufficient space for personal toiletries

High quality ESPA bath amenities

Switch to control the blinds in the bathroom

Oddly placed TV inside the bathroom

Further into the room, next to the wardrobe is the minibar area. There are complementary instant coffee (this room does not come with the Nespresso Machine which is common for hotel these days) and premium TWG tea bags. The bar fridge is located under the shelve where the electric kettle and the cups are located.  There is a L-shaped couch next to the minibar area, where guests can relax onto or simply entertain their friends who come visit them. The couch is large enough to seat 4 guests comfortably. Facing the TV in the room, the couch is a good place to relax into while watching TV on. There is a marble coffee table in front of the couch. I reckon the placement of this couch and the coffee table is excellent. Though sizeable, the couch is tucked into a corner of the room which does not obstruct or make the room feel cluttered. I particularly like the modern chandelier that hangs above the coffee table, providing more lighting to guests. 

In room fridge

Couch tucked in a corner of the room

Modern lighting perched above the couch area

The centrepiece of this room would be the King size bed. The bed is large enough to sleep 4 adults comfortably. Placed just right beneath the glass panel in the bathroom, the bed is very comfortable to sleep in. The mattress is of the right firmness, coupled with the comfortable sheets, guests are ensured to have a great night's rest in it. I do find the pillow a tad too soft for my liking. There are also a couple of bedside tables on either side of the bed, providing space for guests to put small items such as mobile phones. There are also a couple of powerpoint by the bedside tables for guests to charge their electronic gadgets. The room has no lack of powerpoints for guests to charge their electronic gadgets. 

Very comfortable King Size bed

King Size bed in the room

Tucked to the other corner of the room, opposite the couch is a decent sized work desk, where one can do their work. This area also has more powerpoint. A 42 inch TV can be found mounted on a swivel arm on the wall by the study desk. However the reception of the TV is rather bad for the room that I checked into. Opposite the bed is a floor to ceiling glass panel and a door leading to the balcony. The balcony overseas the Adventure Cove water theme park and can be rather noisy in the day. In the balcony there is only one chair and one table, guess the balcony can only allow one person to relax, while watching activities in the theme park. The flaw with this part of the room is that guests are not able to control the blinds electronically, to draw the blinds one would have to do it manually.

Work Desk and 42 inch TV

Balcony

View from the balcony

The Swimming Pool

The swimming pool in the hotel is located about 2 minutes walk from the hotel building. It is located where the pool villas are situated. The free form pool is rather large, but it felt more like a pond then a swimming pool. The pool is rather quiet at the time of my visit, which could be partly due to the distance from the hotel building. There are limited deck chairs by the pool, which means limited amount of guests can use the pool. What I dislike most about the pool is the grass patch where the deck chairs are placed on. To access the pool, one would have to step onto the grass patch, which can be thorny for those with sensitive skin. The saving grace for the pool is that guests staying in Equarius Hotel can use any of the pools under the management of Resorts World Sentosa. I had the chance to visit the pool at Hard Rock Hotel, which is a better pool, however with the amount of guests coming to this pool, it can get very crowded.

Pool at Equarius Hotel

Pool at Hard Rock Hotel

Gym

I walked pass the gym on my way to the swimming pool. Although I did not enter the gym, I did had a peek into the gym. The gym looks large and well equipped. As with most gyms in hotels, the gym at Equarius Hotel looked under utilised. The in-house spa - ESPA is located next to the gym.

Entrance to ESPA, located next to the gym

Forest Restuarant

Breakfast is served at Forest Restaurant. Ran by a celebrity chef in Singapore, the food offering for breakfast is rather limited in variety and the variation each day remains minimal.

Outdoor sitting at Forest Restaurant

Service

Checking into the hotel was not a good experience. The check-in is slow despite the queue being short and many counters around to help check-in guests. My checking in took around 15 mins, with staffs checking and checking and excused himself for around 5 mins into the office behind the check-in counter, processing some stuffs that seemed to be a mystery for guests checking in. I was left hanging for this period of time, wondering when will the staff get back to me. 

The room does not seemed to be ready for my checking in. Upon arriving at my room for a mere 30 minutes, a staff from the dining department knocked onto my door and came into the room to check if there are items missing from minibar. I thought this should be done before the room was ready for occupancy and not when the guest checked into the room. 

There seem to be other service lapses as well. I called reception to request for additional towels and bath amenities, it took them about 1 hour to have the items delivered to my room. I had to call several times to check on the status of my request.

The only saving grace was the chamber maids who was cleaning the rooms on the level I stayed. I approached the staff to get some bath amenities. Despite being disturbed whilst in the midst of getting another room ready, the chamber maid still smiled and asked if they are sufficient. I apologised to her for disturbing her work and the reply I gotten was that I was not disturbing her at all and the staff told me not to put it to heart.

Overall

The room in Equarius Hotel is large and comfortable, allowing guests to entertain their friends. The bathroom is large and the balcony provides a good spot for people watching and relaxing in. The bed was comfortable and large. However the other hardwares such as the swimming pool and the variety for breakfast in the restaurant is rather limited. There are more misses than hits in terms of service. Nonetheless the hotel room provides guests with a rather comfortable stay.