Review: Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore (One-Bedroom Premier Apartment)

After our stay at the St Regis Singapore, we made a last-minute decision to stay at the Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore for three nights a week later. Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore is a luxury serviced apartment with a hotel license that allows the property to accept short stay guests. Since we had not stayed at a serviced apartment in Singapore before and the property had generally positive reviews, we decided to give it a try to find out how it compares with a hotel stay.

Background and Information

Opened in 2017, the luxury serviced apartment originally opened as Oakwood Premier OUE Singapore before being renamed to its current name after the property was sold to AMTD group in 2019. OUE downtown, the building which houses Oakwood Premier, used to be known as DBS Building Towers (former headquarters of DBS bank). It is a brutalist style building that was the tallest in Singapore when it was completed in 1975.

The serviced apartment has 268 rooms, with the breakdown of the room types as follows:

Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore is located on Shenton Way which is in the central business district of Singapore. The area near the service apartment is pretty much deserted on weekends, which can be a plus point for those looking to stay in a quiet area over the weekends.

Despite Oakwood Premier’s business district location, the property is very much accessible to major attractions in Singapore, in addition to being near numerous food options, with cafes and restaurants galore.

Metro stations that are near the serviced apartment:

1. Tanjong Pagar (3 mins) – East West line (EW15)
2. Downtown (9 mins) – Downtown line (DT17)
3. Telok Ayer (10 mins) – Downtown line (DT18)
4. Marina Bay (10 mins) – North South line (NS27)/ Circle line (CE2)

For non-locals, tourist attractions that are near the serviced apartment:

1. Marina Bay (12 mins walk)
2. Chinatown Street Market (13 mins walk)
3. Marina Bay Sands Mall & Art Science Museum (9 mins by Bus 106/ 133/ 502)
4. Asian Civilisations Museum (14 mins by Bus 100/ 131)
5. Gardens by the Bay (14 mins by Bus 502/ 97)

Nearby Malls:

1. Downtown Gallery (attached to the property) – Mall with mostly cafes, restaurants, and a couple of gyms.
2. Icon Village (9 mins walk) – Small mall with many restaurants and a supermarket.
3. 100 AM (11 mins walk) – Typical mall with two supermarkets, one of which is the Japanese retail chain Don Don Donki.
4. Far East Square (11 mins walk) – Covered shopping arcade with shops and restaurants.

Nearby food options (in addition to food options found in malls):

1. Maxwell Chambers (4 mins walk) – Historical building that serves as an integrated alternative dispute resolution complex. An Italian, Russian and Korean restaurant can be found here.
2. Guoco Tower (5 mins walk) – Mixed use skyscraper with many food outlets, including a Japan Rail Café which sells rail passes for trains in Japan.
3. Lau Pa Sat (6 mins walk) – Victorian style hawker centre with satay street
4. Amoy Street food Centre (6 mins walk) – Typical hawker centre offering local food
5. Maxwell Food Centre (9 mins walk) – Hawker centre with a couple of famous hawker stores
6. Shophouses along Tanjong Pagar Road/ Craig Road/ Neil Road/ Keong Saik Road (10 – 15 mins walk) – A food haven with restaurants, bars, cafes aplenty.

Booking Process and Pricing

As we had originally planned to travel but had a change of plans, our One-Bedroom Premier apartment was booked directly on Oakwood Premier’s website just two days before our stay. The property was offering several packages at that time, ranging from a room only rate to a rate that includes having a mobile bar visit your room in the evenings during your stay.

After weighing the options, we decided to choose the Family Together package with the following inclusions:

The packages we chose were basically half board packages, including lunch or dinner. We felt that it was a better deal at the point of booking since it only cost marginally more than the flexible rate with breakfast. In hindsight, the room only rate might have been the better choice as breakfast was not great and dinner was a mixed bag (more about that later).

Check-in & Lobby

As it is common in newer hotels, Oakwood Premier’s main lobby is located on the 7^th floor of the building. There is a reception on the ground floor beside the driveway but it is not staffed, so upon arrival, we made our own way up to the main lobby.

We arrived at the property at around half past eleven on a weekday morning to a relatively empty lobby. The friendly front desk staff attended to us immediately and check-in formalities, including pool and gym bookings, were swiftly completed.

We were then given the card keys to our apartment, and two hygiene kits with each consisting of a surgical mask, wet wipes, and a bottle of hand sanitizer, and escorted to the lift.

Room: One-Bedroom Premier Apartment

We were assigned to a corner apartment on the eleventh floor of the property. Our one-bedroom apartment measures between 53 – 58 sqm (570 – 624 Sqft) with a kitchen and separate living and bedroom areas.

The kitchen is located just after the entrance to the apartment. It is fully equipped with kitchen essentials, ready for anyone to cook up a storm. 😉

In the kitchen, immediately to the left of the main door, there is a cabinet that houses the ironing board and the iron.

Next to it is a full-size fridge with a freezer.

Then comes the kitchen countertop and cabinets. Here is where you can find the induction cooker, a frying pan, the kitchen sink (with dishwashing liquid), various glasses, cutlery, and crockery.

The kitchen is equipped with an oven and a dishwasher as well. You could bake if you wanted to and there’s no need to worry about the dirty dishes.

There is a kettle and a Nespresso coffee machine, along with six complimentary Monogram teabags and four Nespresso coffee capsules.

Last but not least, a washing machine cum dryer can also be found in the kitchen which is useful for those having an extended stay. A complimentary small box of washing powder is placed in the bathroom.

The dining area is located next to the kitchen. There is a built-in long table that comfortably sits four along with lots of storage space.

Two complimentary bottles of water as well as some information on the property are placed on the table.

Even though there is a small workspace in the bedroom, this table can also double up as a work desk in the event that your partner is getting some sleep and you need to get work done. Two 230V power outlets can be found here if you need a power source for your devices.

WIFI is complimentary for guests. We tested the speed and the results as shown:

The toaster, rice cooker and luggage rack are in the cupboard behind the dining table. It’s a little strange that the property has chosen to place these items here since there is ample storage space in the kitchen. You might not know that there is a toaster and a rice cooker if you did not open up the cupboards.

The living area has a rectangular layout, with a coffee table placed in the middle of the living area, sandwiched between a long sofa and the television console.

There is a good variety of television channels available ranging from various sports channels, National Geographic, local and foreign channels.

A Samsung Bluetooth speaker can be found next to the television as well.

Even though our room was located only on a relatively low floor, we felt that the room had a pretty good view. The living area looks out to Oakwood Premier’s pool and the surrounding office buildings with the sea at a distance.

With a wraparound window offering panoramic views of the surrounding harbour and the sea, the bedroom is undisputedly the nicest part of the apartment.

In the bedroom, you will find a king-sized bed, an armchair that is similar to the one in the living area, and a 49 inch Samsung smart television on a television console.

There is a small bedside table on both sides of the bed. On the right, there is a phone, light switches, one 230V power outlet, and a USB-A port while on the left there are light switches as well and two 230V power outlets.

If you happen to need more storage space you will be able to find them beneath the bed as there are drawers on both sides.

As mentioned earlier, there is a small workspace in the bedroom that is located on one end of the television console. Two 230V power outlets can be found in this space along with an HDMI outlet and a USB-A port.

The workspace has a reading light cum wireless mobile charger and a Samsung smartphone that displays information about the property and can be used for service requests.

We felt that this is a nice feature to have as it allows us to request for items without calling the front desk.

You can send in your request for extra items such as pillows, toiletries, bottles of water, and kitchenware or even request for dinner tray pick up and to make up the room using the phone.

From our experience, requests made through the smartphone menu were quickly met most of the time. However, there was one instance when we requested for the dining tray to be picked up but it was not carried out.

Our make-up room requests through the app with instructions that the apartment be cleaned at a specific time were also not adhered to as the property was running at full capacity. We had to call the front desk subsequently to request for it and even then, the apartment was only cleaned in the afternoon.

The bedroom has a built-in wardrobe with a full-length mirror just beside it.

In the wardrobe, there is a safe, a hairdryer, two bathrobes, and a shoe brush.

The property’s laundry service pricelist is as follows:

Like the rest of the apartment, the bathroom has large windows giving you a good view of the sea. Having said that, this is the bathroom after all and should you prefer to have some privacy, there are blinds installed which you can lower down.

Within the bathroom, there is a single vanity with limited countertop space, a toilet with a handheld spray opposite the vanity. A separate shower area fitted with a rain shower and a handheld shower head.

The shower gel, shampoo, and conditioner are from Co Bigelow, an American pharmacy while the rest of the toiletries are from Comfort Zone.

Facilities

Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore is equipped with the following facilities:

Oakwood Premier has an outdoor infinity lap pool, offering views of the harbour and it is open to guests with a booking. Capacity is capped at 15 pax for each timeslot and guests can make the booking when checking in.

There is a jacuzzi within the pool but it does not seem to be operational as we did not see anyone using it throughout our stay.

There are only four loungers and two cabanas in the pool area which could make it challenging to secure one when the pool is at capacity.

By the pool is the property’s fitness center which requires guests to book a timeslot for a visit. The fitness center can only be accessed with a card key from the front desk which you can collect at the start of your reserved timeslot.

The fitness center is quite small and can only accommodate two people for each session. Due to its small size, there is not a lot of equipment to work with but it is equipped with the essentials such as treadmills, a training bench, and dumbbell sets to name a few.

Complimentary bottles of water, towels, and wet wipes are provided for fitness center users.

Being a serviced apartment, Oakwood Premier has a launderette for guests’ use as the studio rooms do not come with an in-room washer/dryer.

There are a total of three washers and dryers and these are complimentary for guests.

Dining & Breakfast

Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore has one restaurant and a bar.

SE7ENTH is the property’s all-day dining restaurant and serves international dishes outside of breakfast hours.

In addition to the restaurant, there is a small bar on the property but unfortunately, it is currently closed due to the pandemic.

Breakfast is served at SE7ENTH and reservations are not required. Upon arrival, we were shown our seat and then were informed by the staff to place our order at the counter.

Like many hotels during the pandemic, breakfast comes in an a la carte form and you get to choose from an American breakfast set, local breakfast set, and continental breakfast set.

The local breakfast set menu differs each day and there is supposedly a menu on display at the counter though we only saw it on one day.

In addition to the main breakfast set, breakfast also comes with some bread and salad which are served before the mains though it was missed out on one occasion.

We managed to try all three breakfast sets on offer and we felt that the variety is quite limited and the taste is mediocre at best. Given the numerous food options around the vicinity of the property, you would be better off getting the room only rate unless there is another value for money package at the time of booking.

As part of our room package, we were entitled to dining set for two on each day of our stay, served in-room. The order sheet was given to us during check-in, and we could choose to either have it for lunch or dinner.

To place our order, we had to call the restaurant and hand over the order sheet when the food was delivered. There were 5 mains to choose from in addition to the sharing dish and beverage. Since we were there for three nights, we managed to try all the available options. Food was always delivered to our room punctually at the time we specified.

On the first night, we tried the nasi lemak and the salmon en papillote, with crispy chicken wings as the side dish. The nasi lemak and salmon were unremarkable, but we loved the chicken wings; they reminded us of crispy Korean fried chicken.

On the second night, we had the curry cod fish and beef burger with calamari wings. All three items were underwhelming.

On the last night, we ordered the chicken roulade which was surprisingly good. The nasi lemak (the best of the remaining mains) and chicken wings were the other items we got that night.

Overall Impression

In general, we had a pleasant stay at Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore though there are certain aspects that could be improved.

To sum things up:

Oakwood Premier AMTD Singapore is a value for money option in the heart of the central business district. If you are looking for a luxury apartment style accommodation this can be a great choice for you.