Extreme disappointment!
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 1/5/06
Just returned from a 6 day trip to Singapore where we stayed at the Rasa Sentosa.
Let me take you on a quick journey to the Rasa Sentosa Resort and let you judge for yourself (assuming you do not work for Shangri-La!):
Check-in: Waited one full hour in the lounge, until 4 pm, to get into our first room. During this hour, we each received one glass of juice as compensation for this long wait. This after flying 5 hours from Shanghai (that's more like 9 hours on the road, door to door). In fact, they never came to the lounge to tell us the room was ready. We waited slightly over an hour and then finally went to ask for the status, and lo and behold, the room was ready. I wonder if we had not gone to the front desk to complain how long they would have left us waiting in the lounge? During this process, I was to receive the first sticky shower of "sorry, sorry, sorry, sir!" As I was soon to find out, this was to be repeated at least 10 times over the next 6 days.
All four of our group went to the first room to wait for the second room to be cleaned. We waited...waited...waited...until 6:30pm. Still no word from the front desk. So finally, I went again to the front desk to ask what was happening and again, suddenly the room key is available for the adjoining room. When I asked them to give me a written note explaining that I had not received the room key until 6:30 pm, they said "sorry, sorry, sorry, sir" and offered me 4 free dinners in the buffet restaurant, Silver Shell (more on this later).
Now back to the room for a quick checklist:
-Mildew smell: yes.
Loud AC: got it.
Dirty carpet: ok.
Broken controls on TV: check.
Ants: plentiful.
Mildew on bathroom ceiling: of course.
Strong smoke smell: check.
Fitted sheets that fold only 1 inch under the four sides of the mattress: yes.
Let�s go have dinner at the Silver Shell buffet restaurant: Buffet food is not bad. Good taste and good selection. No need to be sorry on this one.
How about breakfast buffet? First day at the Silver Shell is OK, but coffee and tea is nearly rancid in the table top vacuum bottles. The place is a bit of a zoo and feels like a cafeteria rather than a 4 or 5 star hotel.
Second day buffet breakfast? Sorry, sorry, sorry, sir! Silver Shell restaurant is full. Please go to the fifth floor for breakfast. What do we find there? A big wedding reception hall converted into breakfast room. Big banquet tables that seat ten so you can sit with 5 or 6 strangers at breakfast. Oops, sorry, sorry, sorry, sir, the food selection on the fifth floor is 50% of what is on offer on the 3rd floor. Could I get a bottle of Tabasco sauce to put on my eggs? No problem, only it arrives 25 minutes later. The waiter places it reverentially next to my empty plate and says...wait for it...Sorry, sorry, sorry, sir!
The pool: Nice but sadly only one waiter on rollerskates per 200 guests. Sorry, sorry, sorry, sir, you will have to wait 45 minutes for your overpriced drink. Lagoon side service? Nobody even there to say sorry to you.
Summary: Rasa Sentosa is the worst hotel I have every stayed at in my 16 years in Asia.