Mandarin Orchard Singapore

The location was excellent, in the heart of Orchard. And two staff -- Mr Suhaimi at the 5th Floor Reception and the older doorman -- were exceedingly polite and gracious. The staff at Chetterbox were also polite and prompt.

1. Badly-managed ground floor reception and registration. We arrived at the ground floor lobby and lined up with a number of other people. Only to be told by the young executive who finally served us -- rudely & impatiently -- that this registration counter was only for corporate bookings and we should go up to the 5th floor for all other bookings. If you intend to segregate and discriminate bookings, then perhaps some clear signage and wayfinding would help? Perhaps recognising that he had been rather rude, the young man then said he would register us anyway. He couldn't find our booking, asked to see the confirmation email, and then couldn't seem to wait the one minute it took me to call it up on my phone. 2. Poor manners at the 5th floor reception We came back at 1.30 pm and went straight up to the 5th floor reception, as instructed, to collect our keys. Chaos as there were many waiting to check-in. I lined up at what I thought was the concierge counter to ask what I needed to do if I was simply looking to collect keys rather than do a full check-in, and was barked at by another impatient man at the [unlabelled] counter to the side of me. Thank goodness for an older gentleman, Mr Suhaimi, who stepped forward to answer my simple question, promptly issued the keys, and assured us that our bags would be in our room, which it was. Kudos to Mr Suhaimi for being so well-mannered in a sea of rude Mandarin employees. 3. Went to our room. The shower cubicle had ugly black electrical tape all around the bottom, presumably to stop some sort of leak. Cheap toiletries. Old, tired fittings that haven't been updated since the late 1990s. Flat, overused pillows. 4. Breakfast the next morning at Chatterbox was dismal. Overcooked noodles, cheap butter, tasteless eggs. And a very small selection of food items that couldn't be called a buffet. 5. Rude service again at check-out, even though we had nothing to pay for and it was a straightforward sign-out. Doesn't anyone ever smile at this hotel? All in all, not worth the price, and certainly not worth our patronage. Don't bother with the Mandarin Orchard, it's way past its prime. There are many other hotels in SG that welcome you with a smile, maintain a good environment and charge you far less.