This is my 2nd review for Amara Sanctuary Resort on Sentosa Island. This time I stayed in their Larkhill Terrace. The resort is sandwiched between the Integrated Resorts where one can find the casino and theme park and the beach area. The central location of the resort makes heading towards the beach or the integrated resorts a breeze. However as with the other hotels on Sentosa, to access to mainland Singapore, one will have to take the island's subway system out of the island and change to the transport on Singapore. It is rather far away from the main shopping district in Singapore.
Hardware
Upon entering the room, it looked smallish (Well at least for the air-conned part of the room) compared to other hotels. However if one were to take into consideration the outdoor parts of the room, it is rather huge. As the weather was rather hot, my friend and I spent most of the time in the air con part of the room.
Upon entering the room, a huge king-sized bed greeted patrons staying in this class of the room. The centre of attraction in this part of the room gotta be the bed. Everything in this suite looks functional, there are little deco or unnecessary stuffs inside the room. The bed is very comfortable and large enough to sleep 3 comfortably. The air con inside the room is just nice, not too hot and not too cold. There is a small study table by the side of the main door. Opposite the bed is a LED TV. The down side is there isn't any direct connection for ipods, HDMI Cables for the TV. Connection to the TV has to be made directly onto the TV, unlike some other 5 star hotels. Having said that, there are alot of power point outlets for patrons to power up their electronic devices around the room. 2 Wardrobes are available in the room, however only one can be used to store clothings, the other one houses the nesspresso machine, mini bar and the glasses, hot water flask. Well hidden and interesting way of making the room less cluttered.
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| Bedroom of the suite |
After the 2 wardrobes is the toilet and walk in shower. The walk in shower feature a rainshower a normal shower head. The walk-in shower is rather large. Opposite the walk in shower is the toilet, which has a small sink in it. At first I thought this is the rather weird, as my time inside the room progresses, I found to cater another sink inside the toilet does make functional sense. As the other sinks are outside, having a sink here means patrons do not need to go outdoors just to wash hands.
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| Walk in shower |
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| Toilet in the suite |
After the toilet and the walk in shower, one would find another set of glass doors leading to the outdoor area. Here is where one would find a huge bathtub as the centrepiece of the area. At the sides are 2 sinks, so people would not resort to fighting over the sink. Rather thoughtful design. After the bathtub is a day bed, under a retractable canvas where one can laze the day away. The day bed faces the back door, where patrons can access to a jacuzzi and a infinite pool.
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| Outdoor bathtub |
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| Outdoor Bathtub |
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| Outdoor Sink |
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| Outdoor daybed |
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| Outdoor Daybed |
The room is designed with thoughtfulness and functionality. it is very comfortable on both the indoor bed and the day bed, perfect for one to snooze on both beds. However as with any other outdoor rooms in this part of the world, insects would be invited at night due to the warmth from the lighting outdoors. I thought the hotel should have foresaw this and perhaps provide some electronic devices to get rid of the bugs and lizards. The rear of the suite opens up to a swimming pool that is for the exclusive use of guests staying at the Larkhill Terrace. The pool is fantastics and does feel exclusive.
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| Swimming pool |
Heartware
Check in was prompt with the staff at the reception recognising me as a returning patron. Very personalised and warm service. I was taken aback despite the last time i stayed here was some 7 months back in their 2 bedroom villa. Check in was very fast and we were finding our way in very short time.
I stayed at this property for my birthday. My friend called earlier to arrange for a birthday surprise for me (my birthday falls on the 3rd day of our stay), upon check in at around 7 pm, a cake was delivered to our room. Puzzled my friend told the staff the cake is delivered 2 days in advance. Apologetically, he called his manager about the situation. After 5 mins, the staff rang on our door and insisted that we accept the cake. I guess he was merely following orders from his manager. We took the cake. We went to the reception about the issue as we were heading out for dinner. The staff at the reception told us there was some mistake on the system and the date was keyed in wrongly. There wasn't any arrangements from the receptionist to have another one delivered on the actual day, she merely brushed us off saying there is nothing she can do about the mistake. Angered and disappointed regarding the attitude of this staff, we left for our dinner.
The next day my friend called the customer service manager (which was diverted to the reception) about the issue. Apologetically, she arranged for another cake to be delivered on the actual day. This time round cake was delivered on the correct date and right on the dot as per arrangement. Service recovery should be done on the spot and not to wait for customers to make noise again before doing anything right.
Other then that the service provided by the staffs were excellent, from the staffs at shutters restaurant, where we had rather sumptuous breakfasts, to the gardener watering the plants near the terrace. The housekeeping staff, Noor, was exceptionally good. On the first day we requested for housekeeping at 1 pm, and returned at 4 pm to see that our room had not been tidied. When we were about to call housekeeping to get them to have our room made up, Noor rang on our doorbell and apologised for being late. As we had bought food back and told her that we planned to dine in our room, she offered to come back later after we had our food. However we told her to proceed with our room and we will walk around and return at a later timing. We spent around 45 mins walking around, and thought that our room might not be ready. To our pleasant surprised our room was perfect. Despite the short timing, Noor did not cut corners and kept our room clean! We called up housekeeping to request for extra bathing amenities, Noor came with the amount we requested. The next day when she made up our room, we found additional bathing amenities as we requested the day before! Such thoughtfulness and attention in details was displayed by Noor! Well done Noor!
Overall
Overall the stay was pleasant, though some areas in terms of service could be done better. The hotel did deliver tranquility and exclusivity regarding the pool at the Larkhill Terrace, and the star throughout our stay gotta be Noor! The rest of the staff should look up to her and display the same attention to details and thoughtfulness as she had.
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