Review: The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore (Millenia Suite, One-Bedroom)

We did a staycation at The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore back in April 2021 for two nights. Although it has been a while since our stay, we thought of writing this review as our experiences at the hotel could be considered “recent” given that the hotel stopped accepting leisure bookings weeks after our stay. The hotel only reopened for staycations on 7 December 2021.

Hotel Background And Information

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore opened in 1996 and was designed by the late Irish-born American Pritzker prize-winning architect Kevin Roche. Some other notable buildings designed by Roche includes The Pyramids in Indianapolis, Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C and the headquarters of Ciudad Grupo Santander in Madrid. The hotel is 32 stories tall with a club lounge at the top and it is located at a prime location by Marina Bay in Singapore, giving guests a magnificent view of the city.

Some trivia about The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore:

• The hotel houses some 4200 art works which includes works by Andy Warhol and Dale Chihuly and they have an augmented reality hotel art tour for guests. Through this tour, guests can “interact” virtually with the art pieces.
• Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore has its own exclusive Monopoly game edition available for purchase. This version of Monopoly replaces the usual properties with locations in the hotel.

The hotel has 608 rooms with the following room types:

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia is located right beside Marina Bay and it is within walking distance to many tourist attractions such as Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands. It is also near numerous food and shopping options and within walking distance to several metro stations, making it convenient to get around the city.

Nearby metro stations:

1. Promenade (7mins) – Circle line (CC4) / Downtown line (DT15)
2. Esplanade (15 mins) – Circle line (CC3)

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

1. Gardens by the bay (12 mins by Bus 106/ 133/ 502/ 97)
2. Marina Bay Sands Mall & Art Science Museum (10 mins by MRT; from Promenade station to Bayfront station)
3. Esplanade Theatres on the bay (6 mins walk)
4. Merlion (12 mins walk)
5. Singapore Flyer (6 mins walk)
6. National Gallery Singapore (15 mins walk)

Nearby Malls:

1. Millenia Walk (attached to the hotel) – Good range of cafes and Japanese food. Has a Japanese supermarket.
2. Marina Square (beside the hotel) – Typical mall
3. Esplanade Mall (6 mins walk) – Mall attached to a performing arts theatre
4. Raffles City Shopping Centre (12 mins walk) – Typical mall. Supermarket can be found here.
5. Suntec City Shopping Centre (15 mins walk) – Huge mall with convention centre. Supermarket can be found here.

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

1. Makansutra Gluttons Bay (5 mins walk) – Open air food court with local hawker fare
2. South Beach Avenue (11 mins walk) – Numerous restaurants of various cuisines
3. Chijmes (15 mins walk) – Numerous restaurants and bars housed in a former heritage building

Booking Process And Pricing

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia is celebrating their 25^th Anniversary and the hotel was running a couple of 25-hour flash sales for the first few months (on the 25^th of the month) of this year. We managed to snag a Club Premier Suite during one of these sales via trip.com and used our Singapore Rediscover Vouchers (SRV) at the same time.

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore has several types of standard rooms of the same size and the difference between the rooms is basically just the view. Rooms with the Kallang label face the national stadium to the east while the Marina rooms face Marina Bay as its name suggests.

There is an option to book club level rooms and these rooms would grant you access to the lounge at the top floor of the hotel.

You will be paying a premium of roughly SGD 295 Nett per room per night for this privilege and these club level rooms will be the same as their non club counterparts albeit on a higher floor.

In exchange, you will be entitled to 5 meal presentations a day at the lounge with a gorgeous view and unlimited champagne all day during the lounge’s opening hours (more about that later).  

In addition to being granted access to the club lounge, club level rooms are also entitled to the following benefits:

• Complimentary garment pressing
• Complimentary limousine service in the vicinity from 0700 hrs to 2200 hrs (subject to availability) – this is a one-way service from the hotel only

As for the suites, the standard suites measure at 72sqm (775 sqft) each with both types of suites having a view of the Marina Bay though a slightly different view of the city. The Premier Suite comes with an iconic view of the Singapore Flyer from the bathroom window and this is the only room type in the whole hotel that has this view. Similar to the standard rooms, these standard suites come with a club version that grants you access to the hotel’s lounge.

Lead in category Deluxe Kallang rooms is priced from SGD 500 onwards on the flexible rate.

Unfortunately for Marriott Bonvoy members, this hotel does not participate in Marriott’s loyalty program so it is not possible to book an award night, earn points or status nights while staying at the hotel.

Check In & Lobby

We arrived at the hotel at half past noon on a weekday and the hotel lobby was deserted. Upon arriving, the first thing that catches your eye would be the massive art installation “Cornucopia” by Frank Stella and this is the centrepiece in the hotel lobby.

As we approached the check in counter, a member of the staff approached to assist us. We informed him that we were checking in and were swiftly brought to the lounge for check in formalities after he verified that we had booked a room with club privileges.

Once we had reached the lounge, our food and drink orders were first taken (mid-day snacks were being served at that hour) followed by the check in formalities.

We were informed that we have been upgraded to a One-Bedroom Millenia Suite which was a pleasant surprise. We were presented with the card keys to our room shortly and proceeded to our room after finishing our meal.

Room: Millenia Suite, One-Bedroom

Our one-bedroom suite measures 102 sqm (1098 sqft) with separate living and bedroom areas with a small study. The suite is located on level 30 of the hotel.

The doors to the suite were huge and they were the largest we have seen among hotels in Singapore. As you enter the room there is a minibar that is located to the right of the entrance in a small foyer.

We did not take a close-up picture of it but we remembered that there was a Nespresso coffee machine, several teabags and 4 complimentary bottles of water. There was a minibar fridge as well that was stocked with various items which were chargeable.

At the other end of the foyer there is a powder room which has a toilet with a bidet.

The living area is really spacious and had floor to ceiling panoramic windows across which offers sweeping views of Marina Bay. A 65-inch LED television with DVD player can also be found here.

The welcome amenity consisted of a bowl of assorted fruits, a welcome card and two cakes which were placed in the living room before we arrived.

Next to the living area was a small study area with an octagonal window offering a great view of Marina Bay as well. The study is decorated with a couple of sculptures and vases and is equipped with a couple of power outlets, a long desk and two chairs. The chairs were not so comfortable for prolonged seating.

Our hygiene kit, which consisted of two masks and two bottles of hand sanitizers were placed on the study desk.

Across the living room from the study is the bedroom which is equally spacious. It comes with a king-sized bed, an armchair with an ottoman, a desk with another arm chair which doubles up as a dresser and a 65-inch LED television.

Floor to ceiling panoramic windows can also be found across the bedroom with stunning views of Marina Bay.

There is a small walk-in wardrobe in the bedroom and this is where the safe is located.

The bathroom has a double vanity setup, a bathtub and separate shower and toilet areas. Similar to the powder room, the toilet in the bathroom comes with bidet.

Toiletries are from Asprey which is the norm in Ritz Carlton hotels.

The highlight of the bathroom must surely be the bathtub, which is built-in beside a full height octagonal window, allowing you to enjoy the bay view while taking a soak.

Facilities

Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore is equipped with the following facilities:

We did not use any of the hotel’s facilities as we spent most of our time at the hotel in the club lounge or in our room.

Dining & Club Lounge

Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore has a couple of dining establishments, and this includes 2 restaurants, and a bar.

Colony is the hotel’s all day dining restaurant. Apart from breakfast, the restaurant showcases local, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian and Western dishes with buffet available for dinner and Sunday brunch.

Summer Pavilion serves Cantonese cuisine with a Michelin star under its belt.

Republic is new and was not open at the time of our stay.

As we had access to the club lounge, we did not visit any of the dining establishments in the hotel.

In addition to the restaurants, Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore has a club lounge that is located on level 32, the top floor in the hotel. Access to the club lounge is restricted to guests who have booked the club level rooms. Visitors are welcomed at a charge of SGD 85 per meal presentation per person (excluding taxes and service charge) which is steep.

The lounge offers five meal presentations daily which is the most for any hotel in Singapore. The meal presentations are as follows:

1. Breakfast: 0800 hrs to 1030 hrs
2. Mid-Day Snacks: 1130 hrs – 1400 hrs
3. Afternoon Tea: 1430 hrs – 1630 hrs
4. Hors d’oeuvres and Cocktails: 1730 hrs to 1930 hrs
5. Desserts and Cordials: 2030 hrs – 2230 hrs

During our stay, we were given a menu to order from possibly due to Covid19 regulations. From our data points, we understand that items are now self-serve, so the offerings might be different from what we have experienced.

Our experience at the club lounge began when we first arrived and was directed to the lounge to check in. The place was pretty empty as we came on a weekday so there were plenty of seats we could choose from.

The lounge offers all day champagne (Champagne Barons de Rothschild Réserve Ritz Millésime or Champagne Barons de Rothschild Réserve Ritz Rosé NV) and we decided to have some bubbles for a start.

Following which we had some items from the mid-day snack menu which consists of some fruits, soup and light bites. There were no items that stood out in this meal.

We came back for some afternoon tea later in the day.

Items were presented in a 3-tier stand and consisted of a mixture of sweet and savory items such as scones, cakes, pastries, and sandwiches. We had coffee and tea to go with our food but you could choose to have champagne if you want. Most of the items were unmemorable but the scone was good.

On the second day, we were given a different set of items which had scones, various pastries, and sandwiches. Like the first day, the items were fine though none outstanding.

We were back (for a third time that day!) at the lounge for Hors d’oeuvres. Hors d’oeuvres came with antipasti and a main dish so it would certainly be adequate as a dinner replacement.

Soup and antipasti were first served and they tasted pretty good.

At the same time, we had some cocktails too.

Next came the mains which we had a choice from two options and we decided to order both in order to try them. Both were great as well.

We had a different set of antipasti on the second evening along with cocktails and we found the Thai fish cake to be very good.  

This time round we both ordered the same main which was decent.

Desserts and Cordials hour was supposed to start at 2030 hrs but the lounge staff were quite flexible about it and served the dessert once we were done with the mains so that we didn’t have to return to the lounge again.

Desserts mainly consisted of cakes, pudding and praline. We felt that there were too many items as we were absolutely stuffed at this point. Having said that, we managed to finish the items and they were decent.

The following morning we returned to the club lounge for breakfast. We have the usual bread basket, pancakes and fruit platter and on top of that we given a choice of either American, Asian or Continental set breakfast to choose from (things might be different now since there are self serve items).

We didn’t fancy the continental set so we had the American and Asian set on both days along with some coffee.

Overall Impression

We had a pleasant stay at Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore and felt that the sweeping Marina Bay views and club lounge was the highlight of our stay.

In conclusion:

We would recommend Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore and do opt for club level rooms if your schedule and budget allows.