If I were travelling on business to Singapore, the Grand Hyatt would be one of my preferred choices due to its location and superb restaurants. I would eat every night either at the bustling Mezza9 with its nine open kitchens, or at Pete’s Place, one of the most enduring Italian restaurants in the city that boasts the hotel’s biggest asset – long-service staff who know how to make guests feel at home. Here, you will have none of the superficial service sometimes encountered at swanky new restaurants staffed by young, inexperienced and aloof employees.
Grand Hyatt Singapore has been around of course and, through the years, has never failed to provide the industry with innovations in f&b and rooms, and is often leader in the rate race among five stars.
Its latest benchmark is in technology, where S$1 million has been invested as part of a S$30 million (US$17.4 million) renovation of the Grand Wing, which was completed recently after seven months of work.
According to a press release, the core of the technology from Cisco Systems is a Gigabit Ethernet switched network. Guests are able to access the Internet from anywhere in the hotel. Companies holding events can easily create a private and secure corporate network, using a centralised self-service onsite subserver room. The hotel’s conference and meeting facilities are prewired with Gigabit-class fibre optic and the latest Category-6 cables and linked to the subserver room. This allows for quick and efficient setup and tear-down of the event networks.
In the guest rooms, a Virtual Butler will enable its guests to request for service, such as shoe shine or extra towels. They can make restaurant reservations through the TV or on their laptop computers via the hotel’s Internet portal.
Service staff are equipped with wireless Pocket PCs to send and receive jobs via the new I-trax back-of-the-house system.
All this makes for impressive reading. So I tried the newly renovated Grand Wing recently, and it is mostly impressive. The wireless broadband works like a dream everywhere. The guestroom has a separate living room and the décor is pleasingly modern and very comfortable – none of the irritating hip chair that makes you feel you are sinking into hard plastic, thank you, but today’s stylish must-haves such as the flat-screen digital Bang & Olufsen TV in both the bedroom and living area.
For business travellers used to club lounges and their perks, the Grand Club Lounge is a winner in terms of its ultra-chic design and generous free f&b. Alas, the staff took self-service a little too literally and the lounge lacked cheerfulness and warmth. I have no doubt this has changed as at my time of visit, the Grand Wing had only been recently completed.
Overall, the Grand Wing is in keeping with the hotel’s tradition of always trying to lead the pack in Singapore. My only wish is...for a simple CD player in the room. And for the service staff at Pete’s Place to be transferred to the Grand Club Lounge.
Phone: (65) 6738-1234
Fax: (65) 6732-1696
