Belle and her partner stayed a night during the first weekend after The Fullerton Hotel reopened its doors for staycations. She shares what’s so different about a Phase 2 staycation.
Article by Belle Loke
Phase 2 is finally here - but what can we really do in Singapore?
Like many other avid travelers who look forward to a good midyear recharge in popular holiday destinations like Bali, Bangkok, Japan, and even Europe, we are now faced with a new reality of being homebound for 2020.
I was really excited when staycations were finally back because my partner and I have been struggling with ideas to recharge ourselves and spend all the accumulated annual leave days for the year. Adding on our postponed wedding woes (no thanks to the Circuit Breaker), we felt that a pampering getaway was well-deserved!
We booked The Fullerton Hotel package after much consideration and here are a few reasons why we think it’s the best splurge we made in many months!
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1. There were lots of safety measures, but it didn’t feel over the top
We may have been greeted by staff members who were well protected, but they remain warm and friendly and made us felt welcomed during our stay.
Looking at the long list of safety measures that hotels have to abide by might seem troublesome at first. But as we went through the process, we found the entire experience to be well organized.
Before our staycation, we were made to fill up two forms for them to better cater to our stay. These forms included our meal preferences, like whether we had dietary restrictions (vegetarian option available), and even the timings to indicate when we would like to visit the facilities like gym, swimming pool, and breakfast due to social distancing.
2. We finally got to try out room service!
Our staycation package came with a four-course set dinner and a bottle of wine served right into our room. It might sound boring at first, but it added a touch of personal experience. After all, hotels are known to charge exorbitant prices for room service, yet now it’s the norm!
We could take our time, play whatever music we wanted with the in-room speaker, and even enjoy the nice view out of our windows. Dessert was served later at any time with a dial of the phone. We got to have a heart-to-heart talk because of the intimate setting. Of course, we even dressed up just for the special occasion too!
3. It was still a ‘buffet’ breakfast
We could order anything off their breakfast menu and the dishes were served right to our tables.
The breakfast buffet was closed due to social distancing measures, but Fullerton Hotel sure made it up with 'free-flow' ala carte orders of their breakfast menu. We were seated at their Town Restaurant and could order anything on their menu up to a total value of $45++ per person (already covered in the Klook package).
The breakfast menu includes a basket of pastries, brunch sets like pancakes, egg benedict, and also full meals like laksa, nasi lemak, and more. All nicely plated like you’d dine in a restaurant. We spent almost two hours at the breakfast table. Diets do not apply during a staycation right?
4. We got the pool to ourselves and enjoyed the view
The swimming pool overlooked the city skyline and we could really enjoy it without the crowd.
Remember we had to indicate the timing of when we wanted to swim? We actually chose the evening slot of 8 to 9pm to avoid the crowd. We ended up with the whole pool to ourselves with only two other couples and it was relaxing as we could also enjoy the city view and all its lights.
5. We were the ‘tourists’ in our staycation experience
We also took the opportunity to explore all the areas around Fullerton Hotel and took full advantage of the perks for Singaporeans.
The location of Fullerton Hotel is one of its many perks. As it’s at the heart of the city, we could walk to the nearby attractions and shopping malls like Suntec City and Marina Square. With the usual tourists crowd missing, we instead felt like tourists as we explored Merlion Park and the Marina Bay area.
We also took the time to visit the Asian Civilisations Museum that has three floors of historical displays as admission is FREE for Singaporeans! It’s a great stop-by as you can also lunch in their Prive restaurant that is connected to the museum. As a Singaporean, I’d usually walk by without going in, but going on a staycation really sets up the mood for the day of exploration.
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