Raffles Sentosa Singapore 5 stars

Villa was beautiful but service leaved a lot to be desired. We booked our stay only 10 days before arrival. On arrival found spa pools out of service. The other resort main pool was closed for a private function. Daily housekeeping didn't happen despite requesting it. Difficult to order drinks or snacks when relaxing by main guest pool. Service was underwhelming and that's being kind. Hotel sold itself as a wellness retreat. Next to no wellness activities scheduled at the weekend. We actually had to get in a taxi, leave raffles Sentosa and go to the local W Hotel. This was very frustrating. But not yoga classes or similar available at Raffles.

I stayed in Villas 1027 and 1029 from 24 to 31 July 2026. My stay did not fail because of one incident or an unlucky sequence of them. It failed at every touchpoint, from arrival to departure. Isolated failures are accidents; uniform failure over a week is a management outcome. The villas are new and functionally deficient: air conditioning incorrectly installed and requiring a repair visit on almost every day of the stay, telephones that did not work so there was no way to reach reception, repaired twice and eventually replaced, hot water requiring five minutes of running cold, inadequate storage, housekeeping below mid-market standards, and a persistent drainage noise in the living area of Villa 1027. The welcome fruit was left in place until it had rotted and grown mould. I have photographs. The layout of the resort makes little sense. Siting a conference and events pavilion, used for weddings and ceremonies, directly opposite the main pool and the restaurant where guests take breakfast is a master planning error, or else a plain declaration of what this property's priorities actually are. It sets the leisure core of the resort in permanent conflict with a banqueting business, and no amount of operational effort can undo it. Much of the site reads the same way: decisions taken without anyone asking how a guest would actually use the place. Check-in was disorganised. There is no functioning guest relations and nothing recognisable as a concierge. Emails, WhatsApp messages and calls went systematically unanswered. The resort is not clean. Spa pools unattended, dirty water, dirty loungers, several pools and saunas out of operation, no service presence. Breakfast was poor, delivered by a team that is genuinely warm and visibly untrained. The omelette arrived either burnt or raw, every day. Tables were not cleared; finished plates stayed in front of us and accumulated until we asked for them to be removed. Water had to be requested as though it were a favour. Preserves were not laid on the table, the choice was minimal, and anything further had to be asked for and was then brought over from other tables, so that a jar might arrive new or might arrive already opened and half used by another guest. That last point is not a service failure, it is a food handling one, and it is the item I would look at first. None of this is the fault of the people doing it. It is the fault of whoever is meant to train and supervise them. In-villa dining was slow, arrived without cutlery, was handed over rather than set, and was priced without any relation to what was served. Check-out was the worst point of the stay, and it began days before. My executive assistant wrote and called repeatedly in advance to obtain the folio before departure, confirm the transport arrangements and provide everything needed for a seamless departure. Her emails went unanswered and she had to call several times before anyone responded at all. On the day itself: a first attempt of fifteen minutes at the front desk with questions unanswered, a second attempt an hour later, the folio of another villa handed to me, no knowledge of whether transport had been arranged, and over thirty minutes waiting in the car for luggage to be brought from two villas less than a minute's walk from reception. I should add that none of this is my private impression. Every morning at breakfast I heard other guests complaining directly to management, one of them asking aloud whether he was in a Raffles or a Holiday Inn. Waiting in the reception lounge for transport, you hear the guests checking out around you, and they say the same things I am saying here. Whatever your internal reporting shows, this is being said out loud, daily, in your public rooms and in front of the guests who are arriving. Everything is transactional. No visible management, no leadership on the floor, no training behind a willing team. The honest description of the experience is that you are renting a villa with a cleaning service. That is what is delivered, and it is not what is sold. For calibration: I spend over 120 nights a year in hotels, principally Four Seasons, Aman, Capella, Rosewood and Royal Mansour, and I have stayed at Raffles properties before, including Bahrain. Measured against price and expectation, this is the worst hotel experience I have had. In its present state this property should not carry the Raffles name.

From time of making reservation to checkout, the was quite painful, emails with inquiries takes days with multiple request emails. Better yet, even with non reply. Once arrived at Raffles Sentosa, things didn’t improve. Using official wechat link to communicate 7/27 and got any responses on 7/30, a day before we checkout. Making dinner reservations was told not available on the time we wanted, yet, we actual went to restaurant, it was empty, with one table of customer. Using the WeChat butler group was just as bad with none timely responses. English communication with staff with requests seems to be difficult. At times. First morning at breakfast, was encounter the host with serious attitude problem who seated my family, improved only until later with a much polite and friendly bilingual staff. Share my overall experience in detail with your staff Lynnette, therefore, please consult with her.