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With all my recent traveling I’ve had a bit of hotel news pile up on my desk so, now that I have a little bit more time, I though I sort through the latest hotel announcements and pick out the more interesting ones. The news that will probably be of most interest to travelers right now is the announcement from Starwood that it is adding two Singapore properties to its portfolio.
Starwood Announces The Signing Of Two New Properties In Singapore
Hotel Vagabond – Tribute Portfolio
The merger with Marriott may have been dragging on for the past few months but that hasn’t stopped Starwood ploughing on with its business plan. What’s better is that the business plan doesn’t appear to involve building any new properties (that can take a while) but, instead, Starwood is signing up existing properties and, where necessary, modernising them and bringing them into the fold.
The first of Starwood’s two new Singapore properties is the Hotel Vagabond, which will come under the umbrella of the Tribute Portfolio, and if TripAdvisor can be trusted, will be a fantastic addition to the Starwood (now Marriott) family of hotels:
Per Starwood:
Hotel Vagabond is a boutique property that sits alongside a row of 1950s Art Deco shophouses. The 41-room property is the only Asian hotel to feature interiors by Jacques Garcia, and features the French designer’s signature maximalist style.
Having opened back in January, the property will now undergo a rebranding exercise, and will be unveiled as a Tribute Portfolio hotel in October.
All guestrooms feature a Parisian-chic vibe with plush bedding, Italian marble, glass mosaic bathrooms, and mahogany furniture. The hotel is also home to Vagabond Salon – a modern interpretation of a Parisian salon with over 464 sqm of event space.
The Starwood website currently shows the hotel as re-opening on 1 November but isn’t as yet taking reservations.
I can’t find any mention of the SPG category that this property will fall into but, if I was to guess, I’d say it would probably be a category 6 hotel (if we’re lucky SPG may be generous and make it a cat. 5 ….but I doubt it).
The second property that Starwood is opening in Singapore is The Duxton Club which will form part of The Luxury Collection.
The lobby of the Duxton House at the Duxton Club
This property will be slightly different in that it will be comprised to two completely separate buildings that are within walking distance of each other.
Per Starwood:
The Duxton House will open in early 2017 and feature 50 guestrooms in eight adjoining three-storey buildings. Once completed, it will offer an all-day dining restaurant, a signature bar and a private cigar room.
The Duxton Terrace is slated for a July 2017 opening and will comprise of 14 adjoining three- and four-storey colonial-era buildings. The interiors of the 138-room property will be designed by French architect Jacques Garcia, whose work includes Hotel Vagabond as well as the restoration of Le Louvre and Chateau de Versailles.
Duxton Terrace will accommodate 5 restaurants.bars and will include:
- a destination bar
- a lobby bar
- an all-day dining restaurant
- a poolside bar
- a members-only club
Guests staying at The Duxton House will have full use of the facilities at The Duxton Terrace, and vice versa.
Just as with the Vagabond Hotel there’s no news on the SPG Category for this property but I’d be surprised if it was any lower than Cat. 6.
Bottom Line
These two hotels will take Starwood’s Singapore hotel count up to an impressive 10 properties and, when you add in Marriott’s 5 properties too, that’s a lot of choice for the combined Starwood/Marriott customer base.
If both of the new properties are brought in as Category 6 hotels, based on the rates at other SPG properties in Singapore, it could be that award nights are not the best use of Starpoints – cash could be the better option with the Starpoints saved for another day….but this is just speculation on my past 🙂
