Click HERE to get complimentary breakfast and a free property credit for the Andaz Bali!

If you recall my previous stays in Sanur, I have worked my way through a fair few of the neighbourhood's better-known properties, including the Hyatt Regency Bali and the Holiday Inn Resort Bali Sanur, so the Andaz Bali was the obvious next box to tick. This time I booked through American Express Platinum's The Hotel Collection, which requires a minimum two-night stay and comes with a USD 100 property credit to spend during the stay. Stacking that credit on top of the Suite Upgrade Award meant I was effectively paying a base rate while sitting in the living area you see here, a generously proportioned space with dark timber panelling running the full length of the wall, a four-seater dining table, and a deep L-shaped sofa dressed in batik-print cushions that nod to the local craft tradition without tipping into pastiche.

The living area is where the suite makes its case. Space is not in short supply, and the layout gives the dining table and the seating area enough separation that neither feels crowded. What elevates it is the wall that sits behind the large television, a full-height composition of hand-carved Balinese timber panels framed by woven rattan and backlit with a warm strip of concealed lighting. The television sits flush within it, and the personalised welcome screen was a nice touch on arrival. Directly off the entrance corridor behind the timber doors, sits the bathroom, which is accessible without walking through the bedroom. More on that later, because it deserves its own section.

Having both a dedicated seating area and a proper four-seater dining table is a genuine luxury in a resort suite, and it changes how you use the room. The dining table is inlaid with a woven geometric pattern and paired with rattan-backed chairs, sitting beneath a caged pendant lamp that throws a soft glow over the timber panelling behind it. It is far more civilised than balancing a takeaway container on your lap. On that note, ordering in via Grab or Gojek is very much worth doing in Sanur, where the local warungs deliver for a fraction of what you would pay for in-room dining. The caveat is that drivers are not permitted into the resort grounds, so you will need to walk out to the front entrance to collect your order yourself. A minor inconvenience, and one worth the five-minute stroll.

Waiting on the dining table was a welcome amenity that, unusually, leaned local rather than generic. A ceramic banana-leaf dish held a pile of salak, the Balinese snake fruit, with a card explaining how to peel it for anyone encountering it for the first time. Alongside sat a pouch of roasted cashew nuts sourced from Muntigunung in North Bali, a bar of Andaz-branded coconut chocolate, and a glass cloche covering a selection of traditional jajan Bali sweets.

Consistent with the Andaz brand standard, the minibar snacks and non-alcoholic beverages are complimentary and replenished daily. The drawer held a decent local spread, with Indonesian banana chips and Bali peanut garlic crackers just to name a few. There was also a selection of teabags, while the fridge below was stocked with Aqua mineral water, soft drinks, juices, and a Silverqueen chocolate bar. It is a benefit that quietly adds up over a multi-night stay, and one of the more practical reasons I keep coming back to the Andaz brand over its Hyatt stablemates.

Sliding doors open onto a generously sized balcony that functions as a genuine second living space rather than a token ledge with two chairs. A curved bamboo screen wraps the corner for privacy, a ceiling fan keeps the air moving, and there is both a daybed-style sofa and a round outdoor dining table looking out onto dense tropical greenery. It is the sort of spot where you end up spending far more time than planned, particularly in August when Bali is at its driest and the evenings are noticeably cooler. The trade-off is price. August is peak season, demand is at its highest, and cash rates climb accordingly, so this is precisely the window where a Suite Upgrade Award or a points redemption earns its keep. If you have flexibility, the shoulder months either side offer much the same weather at a fraction of the rate.

The balcony looked directly out onto one of the resort's pools, which I believe is the adults-only pool given that I never once saw children using it. That made for a remarkably quiet outlook, with the only soundtrack being birds and the occasional splash. Privacy is reasonable rather than absolute. The curved bamboo screen blocks the sightline from the adjacent suite and the curtain of hanging vines does a lot of heavy lifting, but guests walking the pathway to the pool can still see in if they look, so this is not somewhere you would sit unclothed. For reading a book with a coffee in the morning, however, it is close to ideal.

This is the pool directly outside my suite, and it is the one I used most. Wrapped in dense planting with a carved stone water feature at one end and only a handful of loungers along its edge, it was quiet every time I visited, which reinforced my suspicion that it is the adults-only pool. The trade-off is that it is enclosed by the guest wings on all sides, so there is no view of the beach or the ocean from here. The main pool is considerably larger, better positioned for a full day out of the room, and has proper food and beverage service if you want to order through the afternoon. It also looks out towards the sand. My approach was to use the garden pool for a quick swim between other things and walk over to the main pool when I actually intended to stay put.

The bedroom is a proper separate room rather than a nominal divide, and the doors can be drawn fully closed to seal it off from the living area. That matters if you are travelling with someone on a different schedule, or if you simply want to work at the dining table without the light and noise carrying through. The king bed was firm without being unyielding, and I slept well across all three nights. The design continues the theme established in the living room, with a patchwork headboard of batik-upholstered panels set into timber, woven rattan ceiling insets, and a pair of cylindrical lantern pendants flanking the bed in place of conventional reading lights. The bedroom also connects directly through to the bathroom and shower, giving the suite two access points into the wet area, one from the entrance corridor and one from here.

Up close, the headboard is the standout piece in the suite. It is assembled from a grid of padded panels upholstered in batik prints of varying scale and colour, ochre, rust and cream, interleaved with blocks of solid timber so the whole thing reads as a textile artwork rather than furniture. Concealed lighting above it washes the wall, and the two lantern pendants hang at a height that works for reading without disturbing anyone beside you. The bed itself sits on the firmer side, which suits me, though anyone who prefers a softer, more yielding mattress may find it takes a night to adjust.

A closer look at the bedside panel shows the level of thought that has gone into the fit-out. Each side of the bed gets a dual USB-A charging point alongside a 220V socket, plus a bank of switches for ambient, room, lamp, reading and night lighting, so you can adjust everything without getting out of bed. The detail worth flagging for international visitors is that the socket is a universal type, meaning it will accept Singapore's Type G three-pin plugs as well as Type A, C and I without an adaptor.

The bathroom is where the suite moves from very good to genuinely memorable, and as mentioned earlier it can be entered from either the bedroom or the entrance corridor off the living room. That dual access sounds like a minor floorplan quirk, but it is surprisingly practical when one person is still asleep and the other wants to shower before an early breakfast. The room runs the full length of the suite in dark volcanic stone, with a twin vanity topped by a pair of carved stone basins, leather-strapped backlit round mirrors, and open timber shelving below for towels and amenities. A freestanding soaking tub sits at the near end, while the walk-in rain shower is fully enclosed in glass at the far end with its own teak stool and a bench for toiletries.

Bath amenities are presented as three unbranded white pump bottles (shower gel, shampoo and conditioner) sitting on a carved stone ledge within the shower enclosure. The elephant in the room for most properties that have moved to bulk dispensers is that they bolt them to the wall, which is fine until you want to use them in the tub. Here they are free-standing, so you can simply carry them across to the soaking bath at the other end of the room and bring them back afterwards.

The double vanity is the centrepiece of the bathroom, and it photographs as well as it functions. Two rough-hewn stone basins sit atop a dark stone counter supported by an open timber frame, with red woven drawers below and a cushioned stool tucked underneath for anyone who prefers to sit while doing their makeup or shaving. The two round mirrors are rattan-framed and suspended on leather straps from a single rail, each with an illuminated ring that provides genuinely usable light rather than the dim mood lighting that so often undermines bathrooms styled this way. A magnifying mirror sits on the counter alongside a tray with glassware, a water carafe and a tissue box in a woven holder.

A nice touch alongside the tub is the Andaz Bali bath bomb, presented in simple unbleached kraft packaging on a side table next to a vase of tuberose. It is replenished once daily, so you get a fresh one each evening rather than a single token amenity for the whole stay. I made good use of it. The freestanding tub is a deep soaker rather than the shallow decorative sort, and it is comfortably large enough for two if you are travelling as a couple. After a day walking the Sanur promenade in August heat, sinking into it with the bath bomb dissolving away was the single best use of an hour I found all trip.

The toilet sits in its own enclosed room off the main bathroom, which is the correct arrangement in a suite of this size and something a surprising number of properties still get wrong. It comes with a washlet seat and a wall-mounted control panel, plus a separate handheld bidet spray and its own small stone basin for washing up without having to return to the main vanity. A fully separate water closet with its own door also means the bathroom’s dual access from the bedroom and the living room actually works in practice, since two people can use the space at the same time without either having to wait.

Breakfast is served at the Village Square, the resort’s central dining precinct, daily from 6.30am through to 11.00am. The long service window is a genuine luxury on holiday, since there is no need to set an alarm to make a 10.00am cut-off. The format is à la carte rather than a conventional buffet, with orders drawn from the four outlets that ring the square (Wok Wok for Indonesian, Fire Fox for grilled items, the Deli & Bakery, and Blue Oven), and it is unlimited, so ordering three or four dishes across a leisurely morning is entirely normal. Seating is either indoors or outdoors under the hanging vines, as pictured, with live Balinese gamelan playing in the mornings - it is comfortably the best resort breakfast I have had in Bali.

The menu is genuinely extensive, which is where the à la carte format pays off. Across the four outlets you can order anything from kimchi jjigae, a breakfast muffin, to made-to-order omelettes done to the way you like, alongside tropical fruit plates and cold-pressed juices in dragon fruit pink and leafy green. Portions are sized sensibly, which is deliberate: because it is unlimited, nothing arrives so large that it stops you ordering the next thing. That combination means you can work through four or five plates across a morning and actually taste the breadth of the kitchen rather than committing to one hefty main and regretting it. The local fruit plate alone is worth ordering daily, with snake fruit, star fruit, dragon fruit, and papaya all making an appearance. Over three mornings I never ordered the same thing twice and never ran out of things I wanted to try.

The resort opens directly onto the Sanur promenade, which remains one of the great pleasures of staying here. Cyclists drift past, fishing jukungs sit pulled up on the sand, and the reef keeps the water flat enough that the whole stretch feels more like a lagoon than an ocean front. But the elephant in the room is what has been happening just behind it. Over the last few years a steady run of the older warungs and long-standing family restaurants along the stretch has been demolished to make way for new developments, many of them are polished restaurants and cafés aimed squarely at a different kind of visitor. Properties like this one are part of that wave, and I am not going to pretend otherwise while writing a review from inside it. Part of what drew me to Sanur in the first place is quietly disappearing, replaced by something slicker and considerably more expensive. It is still my favourite part of Bali, and I expect it will remain so for a while yet, but I would encourage anyone who loves the old Sanur to go back sooner rather than later.

I liked the Andaz Bali a great deal. The Andaz Deluxe Suite is a genuinely well-resolved space, the breakfast at Village Square is the best I have had at any resort in Bali, and the complimentary minibar is a quiet benefit that adds up over a stay. The elephant in the room is price. The Andaz frequently runs at close to double the Hyatt Regency Bali, which sits in the same stretch of Sanur and, tellingly, shares the same gym facilities with it. That is a significant premium for two properties serving the same neighbourhood. Which one is right depends on how you travel. If you enjoy a drink, the Hyatt Regency is the stronger pick, because the Regency Club lounge is very good and the evening cocktail hour alone can justify the rate. If you value a quieter resort, more privacy, and a breakfast worth planning your morning around, the Andaz earns the difference.

Andaz Bali
Jl. Danau Tamblingan No.89a, Sanur, Denpasar Selatan, Kota Denpasar, Bali 80228, Indonesia
Website | Email

Click HERE to apply for an HSBC credit card and get S$500 cash!

Eligible Cards

The promotion covers four HSBC credit cards:

• HSBC Revolution: my pick for miles chasers, as it is one of the go-to 4 mpd cards for online and contactless spending.

• HSBC Live+: a cashback card for dining, shopping and entertainment.

• HSBC Advance: up to 2.5% cashback on everything, both local and overseas.

• HSBC TravelOne: a travel card with transferable points. Do note that you must pay the S$196.20 annual fee (incl. GST) to qualify for the reward.

Choice of Rewards

Instead of the cash, you can choose one of the following:

• S$500 Cash via PayNow

• Dyson Airstrait (worth S$799)

• 28,000 Max Miles (worth S$504)

• Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones (worth S$649)

• Dyson Clean+Wash Hygiene hard floor cleaner (worth S$729)

The Max Miles option works out to roughly 1.8 cents per mile. Unless you value miles that highly, I would take the cash, which is guaranteed and flexible.

How to Qualify

• Be a new HSBC credit cardholder. You must not currently hold any HSBC credit card. HSBC is stricter than most banks here: holding any HSBC credit card, even a different one from the card you are applying for, makes you an existing cardholder, and existing cardholders do not get the new-customer reward.

• Apply through SingSaver between 9 and 18 October 2026. Use the links in this post, then complete the SingSaver Rewards Redemption Form emailed to you after applying.

• Spend at least S$500 by the end of the calendar month after your card account is opened. If your card is opened in October, you have until 30 November 2026. Instalment plans, cash advances, bill payments, fees and refunded transactions do not count.

• Keep the card for at least 12 months. Rewards may be clawed back if you cancel early.

• Be patient. Rewards are typically sent within four months of HSBC confirming that you qualify.

If you do not already hold an HSBC credit card, this is an easy win. S$500 of spending earns you S$500 in cash, and the generous spend window means most people can hit it with their usual monthly expenses. For miles chasers, I would pick the Revolution: you walk away with the cash and a card worth keeping in your wallet long after the reward has landed. If you prefer TravelOne, remember that the annual fee brings your net reward down to roughly S$304.

If you already hold an HSBC card, or want to compare this with the other banks, see my page of the latest credit card sign-up offers, which is updated whenever new promotions go live: Best Credit Card Sign-Up Bonuses.

Here is what I selected at each milestone this year - GOH refers to a Guest of Honor award (which extends Globalist benefits to a friend or family member on their own booking) and SUA refers to a Suite Upgrade Award:

Added up, the full run delivers 44,000 bonus points, five Suite Upgrade Awards, six Guest of Honor awards and three free nights (one Category 1-4 and two Category 1-7). My logic was simple: lock in the suite instruments early, then pivot to points once I had more SUAs than I could realistically use in a year. One detail that is easy to overlook: every Guest of Honor booking also credits 1 elite qualifying night to my own account. It does not replace a stay of my own, but across six awards that is six extra nights towards the next milestone, which makes GOH far more valuable to a milestone chaser than it first appears.

Why Suite Upgrade Awards Are the Crown Jewel

The single biggest reason I front-loaded my choices with Suite Upgrade Awards is certainty. Most hotel programmes treat suite upgrades as a check-in lottery, subject to availability on the day. A Suite Upgrade Award works differently: it is applied at the time of booking, so the suite is confirmed before I even pack. That matters for the trips I care most about. When I am planning a long weekend at an aspirational property or a celebratory stay at one of my favourite cities, I would much rather know the suite is locked in than hope the front office is feeling generous. Five confirmed suites over a year is a massive perk, and it is the main reason World of Hyatt still feels a cut above its competitors for me.

So far this year, I have used Suite Upgrade Awards for a Regency Suite at Hyatt Regency Kuantan Resort and a Family Ocean Suite at Park Hyatt Busan. My remaining three are already locked in for upcoming stays: a Suite Spot at The Standard, Bangkok, a Suite King Bed at Hyatt House Tokyo Shibuya and a Kitchen Suite King Bed at Hyatt House Chengdu Pebble Walk.

Earning Hyatt Points from Singapore Has Become Harder

For Singapore-based members, the elephant in the room is how few ways remain to earn World of Hyatt points outside of actual stays. HeyMax sunset its Cash For Miles programme from 1 June 2026, and World of Hyatt was among the 17 partners removed. That makes stay-based earning far more important, and this is where the Hyatt House and Hyatt Studios extended stay offer has been genuinely useful. Registered members earn 5,000 bonus points for every stay of five or more consecutive nights at participating Hyatt House and Hyatt Studios hotels. I have leaned on this heavily at Hyatt House Kuala Lumpur, Mont Kiara. I have completed four five-night stays there so far this year, and each one adds a meaningful chunk of points on top of base earning and nights towards the milestone count.

Why am I Taking the 10,000 Points at 70, 80, 90, and 100 Nights

From 70 nights onwards, I am choosing the 10,000 bonus points each time. With HeyMax no longer an option, milestone points have become one of the few reliable ways to pad my balance, and World of Hyatt points remain among the most valuable hotel currencies when redeemed wisely. That is despite the biggest change to the programme in years. From 20 May 2026, World of Hyatt replaced its three-tier Off-Peak, Standard and Peak pricing with five pricing levels per category: Lowest, Low, Moderate, Upper and Top. The eight award categories remain, so this is still a published award chart rather than fully dynamic pricing.

The ceiling has moved up considerably. A Category 8 night at Top pricing now costs 75,000 points, compared with 45,000 points at the old Peak rate. The floor has edged down too, with Category 1 at Lowest pricing now costing 3,000 points. Hyatt has also said that only a limited number of hotels and dates would price at Upper and Top during 2026. In practice, the sweet spots have not disappeared; they now reward flexibility. If I can shift my dates to Lowest or Low pricing, particularly at the many Southeast Asian properties sitting in the lower and middle categories, 10,000 points still goes a long way. That is a better outcome for me than another certificate I may struggle to use before it expires.

The Latest Global Promotion: 3,000 Points Every 3 Nights

The timing of my final push lines up nicely with the current World of Hyatt global promotion. Registered members earn 3,000 bonus points for every three eligible nights completed between 29 September and 15 December 2026, up to a maximum of 36,000 bonus points. It is not a promotion that will change anyone's travel plans, but it works out to roughly 1,000 bonus points per night, which is a nice touch. The real value for me is stacking: a five-night stay at Hyatt House Kuala Lumpur now earns 5,000 points from the extended stay offer, plus five nights towards the 3,000-point thresholds, plus base points and elite nights. For anyone already chasing a milestone this quarter, it is leaving points on the table not to register.

Pushing to 100 nights is not for everyone, and most members will get the bulk of the value by stopping at Globalist. For me, the extra 40 nights bought three more Guest of Honor awards, another Category 1-7 free night and 40,000 bonus points at a time when earning Hyatt points from Singapore has become noticeably harder. The new five-tier award chart has raised the ceiling, but World of Hyatt still offers the most predictable elite experience of any major hotel programme, and Suite Upgrade Awards confirmed at booking remain unmatched. That is why it is still my favourite hotel loyalty programme.

Click HERE to buy Hilton Honors points with a 120% bonus!

Hilton points normally cost 1 US cent each. With the 120% bonus, every 1,000 points you buy (with a minimum of 5,000 points) becomes 2,200 points in your account. The promotion allows a maximum of 240,000 purchased points per calendar year, which works out to 528,000 points in total after the bonus. Points.com bills in US dollars, so most Singapore credit cards will hit you with a foreign currency transaction fee of over 3%.

At about 0.58 Singapore cents per point, this is the cheapest Hilton has sold its points in recent memory. For context, the repeated 100% bonuses over the past year priced points at 0.5 US cents, so a 120% bonus represents a meaningful improvement. That said, I would only buy points with a specific redemption in mind. Before purchasing, price the stay you want in both points and cash, and buy only when the points cost works out cheaper than paying the cash rate. Hilton's dynamic pricing means award costs at aspirational properties can shift, so speculative stockpiling is rarely the best use of money. The sweet spot is topping up an existing balance to close the gap on a specific booking, particularly for Fifth Night Free redemptions where the value stretches further.

The Business Lounge schedule is unchanged from August 2026. The 2pm to 12.15am session remains the backbone of the week, supporting the evening bank of Qantas departures to Australia and London, while the morning picture varies by day. In practice, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday are the days to have an early departure, with a long 3.20am to 10.15am morning window. Tuesday opens at a more sociable 7.50am. Monday and Thursday run continuously from 11am, and Saturday remains afternoon-only from 2pm.

Qantas Singapore First Lounge now opens at 4.30pm

The First Lounge is now open daily from 4.30pm to 11pm. That is one hour later than the 3.30pm opening I reported in August 2026, while the 11pm close is unchanged. The lounge now operates for six and a half hours a day. This is a lounge that has steadily tightened its window over the years. It opened in late 2019 with a 2.30pm start, and late 2025 even saw lunchtime openings on selected days. A 4.30pm start firmly positions it as a pre-departure dinner lounge for the evening Qantas bank rather than somewhere to while away an afternoon. The practical casualty is the long layover or early arrival. If you liked to clear immigration in the mid afternoon and settle in for a long Neil Perry inspired lunch before an evening flight, that first hour is now spent in the Business Lounge instead.

What this means for oneworld flyers at Changi Airport

For most First Lounge users, the change is fairly painless. The bulk of Qantas departures from Singapore leave in the evening, so anyone on those flights still has ample time for a sit-down dinner before boarding.

Access rules are unchanged:

• First Lounge: First Class passengers on Qantas, Emirates or oneworld flights, plus Qantas Platinum, Platinum One and Chairman's Lounge members and oneworld Emerald members departing on an eligible flight.

• Business Lounge: Business Class passengers on Qantas, Emirates or oneworld flights, plus Qantas Gold and above, oneworld Sapphire and Emerald members departing on an eligible flight.

For those of us on the morning KUL run with Malaysia Airlines, nothing changes this month. A Saturday morning departure still leaves you without Qantas lounge access, so plan around the Wednesday, Friday and Sunday morning windows where you can. And as always, Changi's Early Check-In at Jewel lets you check in and clear into the transit area well ahead of a later departure. With the First Lounge now opening at 4.30pm, there is little point heading airside early purely for the First Lounge, but the Business Lounge remains a solid base for an afternoon of work.

After several months of the Business Lounge being the one to watch, it is the First Lounge that has moved this time. Losing an hour at the start of the day will matter little to evening Qantas passengers, though it does trim the appeal of a leisurely afternoon in what remains one of the best lounges at Changi. The Business Lounge, for its part, appears to have found a rhythm, and I will keep this page updated if Qantas adjusts either schedule again.

Click HERE to check out the best rates for the DoubleTree by Hilton Singapore Robertson Quay!

The first impressions were excellent. The interiors of the DoubleTree by Hilton Singapore Robertson Quay bear no resemblance to the Hotel Miramar that many Singaporeans will remember, most likely from school days spent queuing for its wallet-friendly Japanese buffet. The lobby now features warm timber coffered ceilings, a reception counter clad in rich terracotta travertine, and a soft, muted mural of palm trees that gives the space a quietly tropical feel without tipping into theme-park territory. The seating area is anchored by a curved, rust-toned banquette with deep green cushions, rattan-backed armchairs and a glossy oxblood coffee table, which together feel far more contemporary than anything the old Miramar offered. I arrived around 2pm and was informed that I had been upgraded to a River View room as a Diamond member; however, it had just been cleaned and was still awaiting inspection. Rather than wait, I opted for the lead-in room category, which was available immediately. Tim, who handled my check-in, arranged a room on the highest floor and proactively offered a late checkout, which was a thoughtful touch I did not have to ask for. As with any hotel in its first week, there are teething issues. The staff are not yet fully familiar with the property management system, so check-in took a little longer than usual, but everyone I encountered was clearly making an effort, and a bit of patience goes a long way here.

No DoubleTree stay would be complete without the brand's signature warm chocolate chip cookie, and Singapore finally has its own. I have lost count of the number of these I have enjoyed at the DoubleTree by Hilton Johor Bahru, which I must have stayed at more than 10 times now, so it felt rather surreal to receive one on home soil without having to cross the Causeway. The cookie is as I remember it: generously sized, and studded with chocolate chips and walnuts.

My room was located on level 16, the highest floor of the main building. It is worth noting that the hotel is spread across two wings: the main building and the East Wing, where the pool is located. The two are connected on certain floors (the lobby level, level 2 and level 4, as far as I could tell), so it is worth keeping this in mind if you are heading to the pool or meeting facilities from an upper floor. The lead-in King Guest Room averages around 25 square metres, which is fairly typical for a riverside conversion of this vintage, but the refurbishment has made good use of the space. A wide expanse of windows runs the length of the room, softened by layered sheer and blackout curtains with warm cove lighting tucked into the pelmet above. The colour palette is earthy and well considered, with a sage green feature wall, a burnt orange upholstered headboard flanked by woven panels, and sculptural brass reading lamps with globe bulbs on either side of the bed.

The lead-in category at the DoubleTree by Hilton Singapore Robertson Quay is offered in three bed configurations (twin, queen and king), so do pay attention when booking to make sure you select the one that suits your needs. The bed is framed by a well-designed headboard unit, with woven panels wrapping around both sides and switches and power points integrated within easy reach. The bedside lighting is deliberately asymmetrical: a slim globe sconce on one side and an alabaster-style pendant on the other, both casting a warm glow against the sage wall. The terrazzo-topped bedside tables are a nice detail, though they are on the compact side. The curtains are not automated, but they draw easily, and the blackout layer is very effective, which is handy if you plan to rest during the day (a useful consideration for anyone staying over race weekend and keeping late nights). My room did not face the river; instead, it looked out towards the CBD in the distance, which made for a pleasant view in its own right.

Looking out from level 16, the view is a distinctly Singaporean layered panorama. In the foreground, a canopy of mature trees sits in front of a row of HDB blocks, while the towers of the CBD rise in the distance beyond them. It is not the postcard river view that some might hope for at a Robertson Quay hotel, but I found it rather charming, as it captures the contrast between everyday heartland living and the city skyline in a single frame. From the same window, I could also look down onto the hotel's swimming pool in the East Wing, which was useful for checking how busy it was before heading down for a swim.

Power outlets are plentiful throughout the room, which international visitors in particular will appreciate. Most of them are universal sockets that accept the majority of plug types, so there is a good chance you will not need to dig out a travel adaptor at all. Each side of the bed has its own panel integrated into the woven headboard, comprising a universal socket, a USB-C port and a USB-A port. The USB ports do not support PD fast charging, so they are best for topping up phones and earbuds overnight rather than charging a laptop, but it is still convenient to have them right at the bedside.

The rest of the room is laid out sensibly for its size. Opposite the bed, a 55-inch television is set into a woven fabric panel framed in black, with a pair of hooks below it and a terracotta pinboard to one side where the welcome card was displayed. Unfortunately, the television does not support screencasting, so you will have to make do with the in-house channels or bring your own device if you were hoping to stream from your phone or laptop.

The living area itself consists of a cushioned window seat with mustard accent pillows, a swivel tub chair in dusky pink and an oval table with a burgundy pedestal base. The table doubles as the work desk, and while it is perfectly adequate for answering emails or a quick video call, it is on the small side for a full day of work. Helpfully, there are universal power sockets mounted on the wall right beside it, so you will not need to hunt around for a place to charge your devices. Two framed colour-block artworks in muted earth tones round off the space and tie in nicely with the palette used throughout the room.

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The minibar area sits beside the wardrobe and is a fairly simple affair. The fridge is left empty, which I actually prefer, as it gives you space to stock up on your own drinks and snacks from a nearby supermarket rather than paying hotel prices. Two complimentary bottles of water are provided daily, but the more interesting addition is the in-room water filtration dispenser. You simply fill it with tap water, and it filters the water before dispensing it either hot or at room temperature, which effectively takes the place of a kettle and means you are not reliant on bottled water for the rest of your stay. It is a sensible, sustainable touch that more hotels in Singapore should adopt. The drawer below is neatly organised with a selection of Dilmah teas, Robert Timms instant coffee, Boncafé decaffeinated instant coffee, whole milk portions, and a choice of white sugar, golden sugar crystals and Equal sweetener. There is no coffee machine in the lead-in rooms, so serious coffee drinkers may want to head downstairs or to one of the many cafés along Robertson Quay in the morning.

Just inside the entrance is an open wardrobe framed in light timber, with a backlit hanging rail and a set of wooden hangers set against a softly brushed metallic panel. The lower section is upholstered in the same woven fabric found elsewhere in the room and works well as a luggage platform, so you can keep your suitcase open and out of the way without it taking up floor space in the main room. Open wardrobes can feel a little exposed, but the lighting and finishes here make it look considered rather than cost-saving. For those who prefer to keep things out of sight, there is a second, enclosed wardrobe behind the full-length mirror, which is also where the bathrobes are stored. The drawers beneath the open wardrobe hold the remaining essentials: disposable slippers, a hairdryer, an in-room safe and a clothes steamer.

As you might expect for a room of this size, there is no bathtub, but the bathroom more than makes up for it with how beautifully it has been finished. The vanity wall is clad in glossy, hand-glazed terracotta tiles laid vertically, which give the space a warm, artisanal character and immediately reminded me of the bathrooms at the Hyatt Centric Melbourne and the KROMO Bangkok. A large circular backlit mirror hangs above a stone-topped vanity set on a slim dark metal frame, with an extendable magnifying mirror alongside for shaving or applying makeup. The walk-in shower is enclosed in clear glass with soft cove lighting overhead that keeps the space bright without feeling clinical.

Toiletries at the DoubleTree by Hilton Singapore Robertson Quay are by Crabtree & Evelyn in large wall-mounted bottles in the shower and at the vanity, in line with Hilton's move away from single-use miniatures. Fresh towels are hung within easy reach of the shower door, while a small amenity box on the vanity holds rolled hand towels and drinking glasses.

About an hour after settling into my room, a welcome amenity was delivered: a small plate of fresh fruit, accompanied by a handwritten note. The note welcomed me to Singapore's first DoubleTree and acknowledged that the hotel had just marked its opening milestone that week, which was a personal touch I appreciated given how stretched the team must be in these early days.

The 24-hour gym is located on level 2 of DoubleTree by Hilton Singapore Robertson Quay and, conveniently, can be reached from both the main building and the East Wing, as this is one of the floors where the two wings connect. It is a bright, airy space with tall windows overlooking a wall of tropical greenery, so it feels far less enclosed than the typical windowless hotel fitness room. The cardio zone is lined up along the windows and is equipped with Precor machines, including three treadmills, two ellipticals and an upright bike, each with its own screen. Robertson Quay is ordinarily a lovely area for a run, with the riverside promenade stretching towards Clarke Quay and beyond, and it doubles as a pleasant route for sightseeing on foot. However, the haze in Singapore has been rather bad lately, so I would recommend sticking to the treadmill for now and saving the riverside run for a clearer day.

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Beyond the cardio machines, the gym has a well-equipped functional training zone on rubber flooring. A full rack of ZIVA dumbbells runs from 2kg up to the low 30s in 2kg increments, which is more than enough for most hotel guests and better than what many properties in this category offer. Next to it is a wall-mounted storage frame with a pull-up bar and suspension trainer, holding a stability ball, slam balls, wall balls, medicine balls, kettlebells and a foam roller, with resistance bands, a balance trainer, battle ropes and step platforms on the floor nearby. Further along, by the windows, there is an adjustable bench along with additional cardio equipment, including a recumbent bike and an air bike, and a mirrored wall that helps the room feel even more spacious. The emphasis here is clearly on free weights and functional training rather than resistance machines, but for a hotel of this scale it covers the essentials well.

The swimming pool is located on level 4 of the East Wing and is open until 10pm but getting there from the main building can be somewhat confusing. Although level 4 is one of the floors where the two wings connect, the route takes you past a number of third-party offices (not hotel back-of-house areas, but commercial tenants), which makes it feel as though you have taken a wrong turn.

The pool is a generous rectangular lap pool finished in turquoise mosaic tiles, with a shallow sun ledge at one end fitted with in-water loungers. Curtained daybeds line one side, while terracotta sun loungers shaded by large white umbrellas line the other, and frangipani trees in oversized planters add a softer, resort-like touch.

Breakfast is served at SAUS, the hotel's restaurant, from 6.30am to 10.30am on weekdays and until 11am on weekends. I arrived around 9.30am, which is peak time, and the restaurant was extremely busy, with a large number of tour groups filling most of the tables. That said, I did not have to wait long before being seated. The restaurant itself is beautiful and bright, with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto lush greenery, the same timber coffered ceiling found in the lobby and columns clad in warm terracotta tiles. As a Hilton Honors Diamond member, I received complimentary breakfast along with 1,000 bonus points. Gold members, on the other hand, will have to choose between bonus points and breakfast, so it is worth weighing up which is more valuable to you, particularly at peak periods like race weekend, when paying for breakfast separately can add up.

Despite the crowds, I was pleasantly surprised by both the quality and the selection of food on offer. I will admit that my expectations were modest going in, as breakfast at DoubleTree properties tends to be a perfectly decent but rarely memorable affair. Here, however, the spread was genuinely impressive. The natural point of comparison is the Four Points by Sheraton Singapore, Riverview just across the road, where I have stayed on multiple occasions for mattress runs in the Marriott Bonvoy programme, and the breakfast at the DoubleTree by Hilton Singapore Robertson Quay wins hands down. The restaurant is also larger than it first appears, with a mix of seating zones that help break up the space: banquettes with olive green upholstered chairs separated by timber partitions, and a brighter corner by the windows with dusty blue armchairs and a terracotta herringbone floor inset, looking out onto a screen of tropical greenery. If you are hoping for a quieter table, I would recommend asking for one of the window seats.

The breakfast spread covers both Western and local favourites, and the quality was consistently good across both. On the Western side, the egg station is a highlight, manned by a cheerful chef who prepares eggs to order and clearly takes pride in his work. My sunny side up eggs came out exactly as requested, with rich, deep orange yolks, and I paired them with crispy streaky bacon, golden hash brown patties, sausages and a generous helping of sautéed mixed mushrooms.

There is a live noodle station where you can have a bowl of noodle soup prepared on the spot; mine came with flat rice noodles in a bak kut teh flavourful broth, topped with chicken, enoki mushrooms, and bok choy. To round things off, there is a wide selection of fresh fruits, including watermelon, pineapple, papaya and rockmelon, all of which were ripe and sweet.

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Coffee is available from a self-serve coffee machine, alongside a selection of tea bags, which is a sensible setup given the volume of guests during peak hours, although coffee connoisseurs may find the options somewhat limited. Despite how busy the restaurant was, the staff were attentive throughout, clearing plates promptly and checking in without being intrusive, which is no small feat for a team in its first week of operations. Taken as a whole, it is a breakfast that comfortably exceeds what I would expect from the DoubleTree brand, and one that makes a strong case for Hilton Honors Gold members to choose breakfast over bonus points here.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at the DoubleTree by Hilton Singapore Robertson Quay The transformation from the old Hotel Miramar is remarkable, with thoughtfully designed rooms, a bright and airy gym, an attractive pool deck and a breakfast that comfortably outperforms what I would expect from the brand. There are teething issues, as you would expect from a hotel in its first week, from staff still getting to grips with the systems to the somewhat confusing route to the pool, but none of these detracted meaningfully from the experience, and the warmth of the team more than made up for them. It is a strong addition to the Robertson Quay area, and frankly, it awards no points to the Four Points across the road, unless you hold Marriott Bonvoy status and are specifically chasing elite nights. For Hilton Honors members, this is now the obvious choice in the neighbourhood. I look forward to returning soon, and I hope the hotel will introduce a little something extra for Diamond members as it settles in, such as complimentary drink vouchers or a dedicated evening drinks hour, which would make an already compelling stay even more rewarding.

DoubleTree by Hilton Singapore Robertson Quay
401 Havelock Road, Singapore, 169631, Singapore
Website | Email

Click HERE to view the participating hotels on World of Hyatt!

Most Hyatt brands earn 5 Base Points per US$1 spent on eligible room rates and incidentals. Doubling that means an extra 5 points per US$1, so the new offer matches the old 500 points at exactly US$100 (roughly S$128) of eligible spend per night. Anything above that, and the new offer wins. Brands that earn fewer Base Points per dollar will have a correspondingly higher break-even. Given that most full-service Hyatts across Asia comfortably clear US$100 a night, the new structure is a clear improvement for paid stays. To put that into a real stay, four nights at US$500 a night would earn 10,000 Bonus Points under the new offer, compared with just 2,000 under the old one.

Two things are worth flagging. First, only Base Points are doubled. Your elite bonus (30% for Globalists) is calculated on Base Points as usual, but it is not doubled by this offer. Second, the 25,000 point cap equates to US$5,000 of eligible spend per stay, and consecutive nights at the same hotel count as one stay even if you check out and back in. The cap will only bite on long or very expensive stays, such as a week at a top-end resort.

The Catch: You Must Book the Right Rate

This is the elephant in the room. The old bonus was automatic; the new one is attached to a single rate plan. Hyatt does describe the rate as offering member-only savings, which is encouraging. Even so, I would always compare it against the best flexible rate before booking. At the time of writing, it is not 100% confirmed that other eligible rates will not be eligible for the new hotel bonus but from the terms and conditions of the promotion, it does seem that way.

The list rotates as properties join World of Hyatt, and each hotel has its own offer period. At the time of writing, the featured properties include Thompson Rome, Park Hyatt Riviera Maya and, closer to home, Hyatt Regency Halong Bay in Vietnam, which is an easy trip from Singapore via Hanoi. For paid stays above US$100 a night, this is a win. The new offer scales with what you spend rather than handing out a flat 500 points, and the three-room allowance is a welcome improvement for families or friends travelling together. The losers are members who redeem points at new hotels and those staying at budget select-service properties, where 500 points was proportionally generous.

My one word of caution is not to let the extra points distract you from the bigger picture. At a US$300 night, the new offer gives you 1,000 more points than the old one. That is useful, but it is worth far less than the daily breakfast for two and property credit that come with a Hyatt Privé booking at a luxury property. If a new hotel is in the Privé programme, I would price both options before committing, rather than leaving money and points on the table for the sake of a bonus.

Click HERE to register for the Marriott Bonvoy x KrisFlyer 2,500 bonus points promotion.

Do note that the three nights do not need to be in a single stay but only eligible nights paid for with money (at a rate that earns Marriott Bonvoy points) will count. The following do not count: points redemptions, Free Night Awards, Cash + Points, complimentary stays, employee rates and travel industry rates.

The most unusual feature of this promotion is the ranking mechanism. Members are ranked by the date they complete their third Eligible Night, not the date they register. Registering early does not secure a spot; staying early does. Given the size of both programmes in Singapore and the region, I would not leave the qualifying nights until the December school holidays. If you have paid Marriott stays coming up in October or November, register now so those nights count towards the cap while it is still open.

I linked my Marriott Bonvoy and KrisFlyer accounts primarily for the status accelerator, and this promotion is a pleasant bonus on top of it. For context, I have focused my flying on oneworld and continue to hold Qantas Platinum (oneworld Emerald). That remains my primary airline status. However, KrisFlyer accounts for the majority of my award redemptions, and much of that is Singapore Airlines Economy on short regional hops. Having Star Alliance Gold on those flights is a meaningful upgrade to the experience without diverting my paid flying away from oneworld.

Under the Preferred Partnership, Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador Elite members receive an instant match to KrisFlyer Elite Silver upon registration. They can then upgrade to KrisFlyer Elite Gold by completing four qualifying flights within six months. As a Titanium Elite member, I am now working through those four flights. For a Singapore-based traveller who books regional Economy redemptions and the occasional Scoot flight, these benefits add up quickly over 12 months.

On its own, 2,500 Marriott Bonvoy points is a modest bonus. It is not worth booking a stay purely to earn it, but it is a nice way to pad your balance on stays you are already making. The bigger opportunity remains the Preferred Partnership itself. If you hold Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite or above and fly Singapore Airlines or Scoot even occasionally, linking your accounts for the KrisFlyer Elite Gold accelerator is the real value here, and this promotion is a small sweetener on top.

Click HERE to join ALL Accor+ Explorer and receive 3,000 bonus Reward Points!

What you get with ALL Accor+ Explorer

Explorer is Accor's paid subscription programme, separate from the free-to-join ALL - Accor Live Limitless loyalty programme. For 12 months, members receive:

• 2 Stay Plus free nights, each redeemable alongside at least one paid night at participating hotels in Asia Pacific and the UAE.

• Up to 30% off dining and 15% off drinks at participating restaurants and bars across Asia Pacific.

• Up to 50% off hotel stays through member rates in Asia Pacific, plus 15% off the best flexible rate at Accor hotels worldwide.

• 30 Status Nights, which on their own are enough for ALL Gold status and put Platinum within much easier reach.

• Gold benefits such as room upgrades, early check-in and late check-out, all subject to availability.

For most Singapore members, the dining discount is where the membership earns its keep week to week. The two Stay Plus nights are the headline value, and a single well-used Stay Plus night at a city hotel can come close to paying for the membership on its own.

Is the bonus worth it?

2,000 ALL Reward Points = €40

ALL Reward Points have a fixed value: 2,000 points take €40 off a hotel bill. That makes the 3,000 bonus points worth €60, or roughly S$86, which brings the S$329 membership down to an effective S$243. The points can be used to offset stays, dining, spa treatments and other eligible charges billed to your room. The maths is simple. If you expect to use both Stay Plus nights and dine at Accor restaurants a handful of times over the year, the membership pays for itself several times over, and the bonus is pure upside.

Explorer works best for travellers who spend their holidays in the region, which describes most Singaporeans. Here are the destinations where I think the membership shines:

• Singapore: The dining discount at Accor hotel restaurants around town is the easiest way to extract value without boarding a plane. Weekend brunches and celebration dinners add up quickly at 30% off.

• Thailand: Bangkok has one of Accor's deepest hotel networks in Asia, from Sofitel and Pullman to Novotel. It is ideal for a Stay Plus night paired with a paid night over a long weekend.

• Indonesia: Bali is a natural fit for the 2-night Stay Plus structure, with Accor resorts spread across Nusa Dua, Seminyak and Ubud.

• Japan: With the year-end ski and winter season approaching, Accor's city hotels in Tokyo and Osaka are useful bases, and the bonus points can go towards a hotel bill there.

• UAE: Explorer launched in the Middle East this year, so Dubai and Abu Dhabi stopovers on the way to Europe now count too.

If you have been on the fence about ALL Accor+ Explorer, this is the right month to commit. The 3,000 bonus points neutralise the October price increase, and they are worth 50% more than the welcome gifts offered earlier this year. The membership makes the most sense for Singapore residents who dine at Accor hotel restaurants regularly and take at least two short regional trips a year. The 30 Status Nights are also a fast track to Gold for anyone who wants status without the qualifying stays.

Click HERE to register for the World of Hyatt 3K Bonus Points promotion!

Nights are counted cumulatively across the promotion period, so there is no minimum length of stay. A two-night weekend in Bangkok followed by a one-night work trip to Kuala Lumpur adds up to three Eligible Nights and one 3,000-point payout. The catch is that the bonus is paid in blocks of three. Five nights earns the same 3,000 Bonus Points as three nights, while a sixth night unlocks the next 3,000. If you are sitting on a 4th or 5th night in mid-December, it is worth checking whether an extra night (or a short award stay) tips you into the next block. If a stay starts before 15 December but checks out after it, the nights up to 15 December still count, provided the stay is completed by 15 June 2027.

At a conservative valuation of around 2 Singapore cents per World of Hyatt point, each block of three nights is worth roughly S$60, and the full 36,000 Bonus Points is worth about S$720. That is a solid return on stays you were going to make anyway, but it is not enough to justify a mattress run on its own. For Singapore-based members, promotions like this carry more weight than they would in the US. None of the major Singapore-issued credit cards transfer to World of Hyatt, so stays and promotions remain the main ways to pad your balance. The promotion is also combinable with other offers. If you are booking a luxury Hyatt property, stacking it with a Hyatt Privé rate gets you the bonus points alongside daily breakfast, a food and beverage credit and other Privé amenities.

This is not the most generous promotion World of Hyatt has run, but it is simple, broad and one of the few that rewards award stays. The flat 1,000 points per night works best for members staying at mid-priced Hyatt Place, Hyatt House or Hyatt Regency properties around the region, and for anyone planning to burn points on free nights before the year ends. It is less compelling for those staying mainly at luxury properties, where the bonus is small relative to the room rate and base earning. It also does nothing for elite status, so anyone chasing Globalist qualification before year end should treat it as a nice extra rather than a reason to stay. My advice is to register now even if nothing is booked yet. Registration is free, nights before registration do not count, and forgetting to register is the easiest way to leave points on the table.

Click HERE for more information on Avani Singapore!

Avani is Minor's upper-midscale lifestyle brand. It is positioned around smart design, upbeat service and good value, rather than full luxury. The Singapore hotel will be a 14-storey building with 200 keys, developed with Japan's Kajima Development and Abu Dhabi's Al Wathba Investment.

Here is what has been confirmed so far:

• Rooms: 200 Deluxe Rooms and Suites

• Dining: A rooftop SEEN Restaurant & Bar with skyline views, The Pantry coffee shop and a Lobby Lounge

• Facilities: Outdoor pool on a landscaped garden deck and a Technogym fitness centre

The SEEN rooftop concept will be familiar to anyone who has visited Avani+ Riverside Bangkok. If Minor can replicate that energy over the Tanjong Pagar skyline, it could become a draw in its own right, independent of the rooms. The location is strong for both business and leisure. You are a short walk from the CBD, Maxwell Food Centre, Chinatown and the Duxton and Tras Street bar strip. Having two MRT lines on your doorstep (East-West and Thomson-East Coast) also makes it easy to reach Marina Bay or Orchard.

What This Means for GHA DISCOVERY Members

Singapore's GHA DISCOVERY footprint is already fairly healthy, largely thanks to the Pan Pacific and PARKROYAL portfolio. So Avani Singapore is not going to transform the programme for local members. What it does do is add a new brand close to home, and in GHA DISCOVERY, brands matter.

1. Another route to status through brand count

GHA DISCOVERY lets you earn elite status by staying at different brands within a calendar year, alongside the usual nights and spend routes. Staying at 2 brands gets you Platinum, and 3 brands gets you Titanium. For Singapore-based members, having Avani locally means a one-night staycation can contribute a brand towards that total without flying anywhere. This is particularly useful if you are topping up status late in the year.

2. Another place to earn and spend D$

Members earn DISCOVERY Dollars (D$1 = US$1) as a rebate on eligible spend. The rates are 4% at Silver, 5% at Gold, 6% at Platinum and 7% at Titanium. Because D$ expire (12 months at Silver, 18 months at Gold, 24 months at Platinum and Titanium), having more local places to burn them helps. A rooftop dinner at SEEN or a weekend staycation is an easy way to use up a balance before it lapses.

3. Brand-specific promotions become easier to chase

GHA DISCOVERY regularly runs "new brand" promotions, such as the current D$50 bonus for staying at a brand you have not tried this year. Once Avani Singapore opens, promotions like this become something you can complete over a weekend in town, rather than requiring a trip to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur.

Avani Singapore is not an aspirational property in the Capella or Raffles sense, and it is not trying to be. It is a well-located lifestyle hotel from a brand that generally prices sensibly. For GHA DISCOVERY members in Singapore, the real value is flexibility: another local brand for status, another place to spend D$, and another way to complete brand-based promotions without leaving the island.

Click HERE to check out the official page for Hotel Stripes Singapore Chinatown!

Singapore miles chasers will already know the name from Malaysia. Hotel Stripes Kuala Lumpur, Autograph Collection sits on Jalan Kamunting in the KL business district and has been one of the more dependable Autograph properties in the region, best known for its rooftop pool. It is an easy, affordable elite-night filler on a weekend run up north. Bringing the name to Singapore suggests the owner is building Stripes into a small regional badge rather than treating KL as a one-off. The two properties share a name and a brand, though, not a building style. The Singapore version inherits a CBD tower on South Bridge Road rather than a purpose-built hotel.

This is not an isolated move. Frasers Hospitality and Marriott have already worked together on the redevelopment of the former InterContinental Singapore in Bugis, which reopened under The Luxury Collection. Capri by Fraser, China Square moving to the Autograph Collection follows the same logic. Frasers retains a Singapore asset, Marriott gains distribution and a brand fee, and the property gets plugged into the largest loyalty programme in the world.

The good news first. Singapore's Autograph Collection roster is thin, and both existing options, Duxton Reserve and Maxwell Reserve, sit in the Tanjong Pagar area and command a premium. A South Bridge Road property at what has historically been an upper-midscale price point should undercut them meaningfully, at least in its first year. The location remains the strongest asset. When I stayed, it was walking distance to three MRT stations: Raffles Place, Telok Ayer and Chinatown. Maxwell on the Thomson-East Coast Line has since opened, making it four. Maxwell Food Centre and Amoy Street Food Centre are both an easy stroll, which is still my advice over paying for a hotel breakfast here.

Now the elephant in the room. Capri by Fraser is fundamentally a serviced-residence product. Autograph Collection is Marriott's brand for strikingly independent hotels with bold design character, and a straight flag swap does not deliver that on its own. Until Marriott confirms a full refurbishment, I would set expectations at a well-located, competent CBD hotel with a very good Level 16 rooftop pool, not a design destination.

Singapore's Marriott Bonvoy portfolio has long been top-heavy. There is plenty at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and W end of the ladder, and comparatively little that a Singapore-based member would book for a staycation without wincing at the bill. If pricing lands where I expect, Hotel Stripes Singapore Chinatown fills a real gap. Whether it earns the Autograph badge is the open question. The brand has been stretched thin across Asia in recent years, and a conversion without meaningful renovation risks it having lost its lustre before the doors open. The 26 sqm rooms and the doorless bathroom are not Autograph hardware as they stand today. I said in 2020 that I was tempted to come back for another weekend staycation on my own dime, so I will do exactly that once rates load, and report back.

Click HERE to register for Hilton Honors More Points to Play!

The structure here rewards frequency rather than length, and that is the detail most people miss. A stay is defined as consecutive nights at the same property, regardless of whether you check out and check back in. A single seven-night stay at a Conrad earns the same 3,000 Bonus Points as a one-night stay at the same hotel. Two separate two-night stays at two different luxury properties would earn 6,000.

The other point of leverage is the property list. Hilton's luxury and lifestyle brands (Waldorf Astoria, LXR, Conrad, NoMad, Signia, Canopy, Curio Collection, Tapestry Collection, Motto and Tempo) generally sit in the higher bracket, alongside resort and all-inclusive properties. However, the eligibility is determined by the published list rather than by brand alone, so check your specific hotel against Hilton's eligible properties list before assuming the 3,000 rate applies. Some resort-coded Hilton and DoubleTree properties appear on the list; some urban Curio properties may not.

One useful wrinkle for anyone with a stay already on the books: if you check in before 15 October 2026 but complete the stay on or after that date, the stay still earns the bonus. Being realistic about the value, Hilton Honors points are among the softer currencies in the hotel space. At a conservative valuation of around 0.5 to 0.6 US cents per point, 3,000 Bonus Points is worth roughly S$20, and 1,000 points closer to S$7. Nobody should be booking a night at a Conrad purely to trigger this promotion.

Where it earns its keep is in structuring travel you were already going to take. If you are planning a November or December school holiday trip through Southeast Asia and were considering splitting nights between two cities anyway, doing so at eligible luxury or resort properties turns what would have been one 3,000-point credit into two. Regional readers have a reasonable spread to work with, with Conrad and Waldorf Astoria properties across Bangkok, Bali, Tokyo, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur and the Maldives, plus the Singapore luxury and lifestyle inventory for staycation bookings. My take is straightforward. Register, because it costs you thirty seconds and there is no cap on earnings. Then let it quietly pad your balance across whatever stays you had planned anyway. Just do not let a modest points bonus dictate where you sleep.

Click HERE to register for the IHG One Rewards "Up to 3X" promotion!

The earning tier is determined on a stay-by-stay basis, depending on which channel you used to make that particular booking.

The multiplier is applied to base points only. For a one-night stay at S$100 with a 10 points per US dollar earn rate, you would collect 1,000 base points plus 2,000 bonus points at the 3X tier, for a total of 3,000 points. Elite status bonus points and any other promotional points you receive on the same stay are excluded from the calculation. There is no cap on how much you can earn, which is the genuinely good part of this promotion.

For a Singapore-based member, this is a reasonable but not spectacular offer. The structure quietly punishes the occasional traveller, because a single year-end trip to Bangkok or Tokyo earns you precisely nothing extra. You need at least two separate stays in the quarter before the promotion does any work for you, and the value compounds only if you are already putting a decent number of paid nights through IHG - just make sure you lock-in a cheap stay before going for the more expensive stays in order to fully benefit from this offer. The elephant in the room is that IHG's base earn rate is modest to begin with, so tripling it still does not put you in the same conversation as a strong Marriott Bonvoy or World of Hyatt promotion. That said, the earning is uncapped and registration costs nothing, so there is no argument for skipping it.

Two practical points. First, book through the IHG One Rewards app rather than the website, since the difference between 2X and 3X is decided purely by the channel and costs you nothing. If you are travelling to Japan, Taiwan or Thailand, LINE bookings earn the same triple. Second, if you have a stay planned in late September, consider whether pushing it into October makes sense so that it counts as your throwaway first stay and gets the bonus running earlier in the quarter. Register now, because pre-registration closes on 30 September 2026 and there is no downside to having it sitting on your account.

Click HERE to lock in your stay at NoMad Singapore!

I covered the architecture, the UOL partnership and the food and beverage line-up in detail when the opening was first announced. Read the full announcement here: NoMad Hilton Singapore to Open in Late 2026 - A New Orchard Road Landmark. The press release accounts for 71 Atelier rooms and 25 suites, which is 96 of 173 keys. Hilton has not detailed the remaining 77, and the booking engine shows at least one category below the Atelier that the release skipped entirely. Whether those 77 are all entry rooms, or split across additional categories, is not yet clear.

There is a story in the omission. The launch photography (marble, burlwood, custom wool rugs, paravent screens, pale blue and green walls nodding to the Peranakan shophouses at Emerald Hill) showcases the Atelier and suite product. The 25 square metre entry room, which is what the 100,000 point rate is currently buying, gets a rain shower and no tub, and does not appear in the release at all. The finishes look genuinely appealing. My reservation is space. 25 square metres is tight for a luxury-positioned Orchard Road property, and 42 to 43 square metres is modest for anything calling itself a suite. If you are calibrated to a Conrad or Regent suite, adjust accordingly. You are paying for design density, programming and art here, not floor area.

Hilton Honors has no award chart, so this is an opening data point rather than a fixed rate. At roughly 0.6 to 0.7 Singapore cents per point, 100,000 points is around S$600 to S$700 of value. For a 25 square metre room at the NoMad Singapore with no bathtub, that is a demanding ask. It only works if the cash rate lands meaningfully above it, which for a new opening in the December peak is plausible. On a quiet midweek night in early 2027, I suspect it will not be.

Three things worth knowing:

• Fifth Night Free applies for Honors Gold and Diamond on standard award stays, bringing five nights to an effective 80,000 a night.

• Points and Money rates often price more efficiently on Hilton, particularly at new openings. Check both.

• The Diamond upgrade is unusually valuable here. Entry room to Atelier is 28% more floor space plus a bathtub, a bigger jump than one category normally delivers.

The elephant in the room is that I live here, and I am not the market for a 100,000 point night twenty minutes from my own bed. But for readers flying in, or anyone sitting on a large Honors balance from Amex transfers, this is one of the more interesting openings on the calendar. Book speculatively now for the dates you want, particularly the December 2026 school holiday window.

Click HERE for the best rates for KROMO Bangkok, Curio Collection by Hilton!

Check-in at KROMO Bangkok was seamless. I was at the counter for barely a few minutes, and while the paperwork was processed I was handed a chilled towel and offered a rather delicious non-alcoholic welcome drink, which is exactly the sort of small-touch hospitality Bangkok does so well. The only sour note came when I asked about late checkout on my day of departure. Despite my Diamond status, the front desk was unable to extend me anything beyond 1pm. This remains my long-standing gripe with Hilton Honors: late checkout is entirely at the hotel's discretion and capped at 2pm at best, with a guaranteed 4pm checkout reserved for the new Diamond Reserve tier. That tier demands 40 stays or 80 nights plus US$18,000 in eligible spend in a calendar year, which is far too much effort for far too little in return unless you are already living out of Hiltons. World of Hyatt guarantees 4pm checkout for Globalists at a fraction of that commitment, and Marriott Bonvoy commits to 4pm for Titanium members at most brands. Hilton continues to leave this one on the table.

The King Premium Room is a calm, largely rectangular space, and it comes as something of a surprise after the jewel-toned theatrics of the public areas downstairs. The palette is soft sand and warm oatmeal, anchored by a full-width timber headboard wall in pale oak, ribbed at one end and washed by a concealed cove light that runs the length of the ceiling. It is the sort of lighting design that makes a room feel expensive without needing a single statement piece. The king bed is generously proportioned and dressed in crisp white linen, flanked on one side by a round timber bedside table and a globe pendant suspended from the headboard wall, and on the other by an articulated swing-arm reading lamp.

The bedside setup deserves its own mention, because this is the sort of detail that separates a well-considered new build from a merely handsome one. Mounted on the headboard panel is a bank of switches, all of them clearly labelled in plain English rather than the cryptic icons that leave you jabbing at panels in the dark. One plate handles master, night and bedside, the second covers wardrobe, ceiling and relax, and everything responds immediately with no lag or guesswork. Next to those is a combined charging plate with a 7.5W USB-A port and, more usefully, a 45W USB-C port, which is enough to charge a laptop at a sensible speed rather than just trickle a phone overnight. Beside that sits a pair of universal sockets that took my Singapore three-pin plug without an adapter, which is always welcome given how many Bangkok properties still insist on the flat two-pin arrangement.

Sitting immediately beside the bed is an oval pale timber table paired with a built-in upholstered banquette and a sculptural wooden armchair, and it takes the place of a conventional work desk entirely. I want to be clear that this is not a desk, and anyone expecting a proper writing surface with a task chair and a dedicated lamp will be disappointed. What it is, however, is perfectly serviceable. The oval top is large enough for a laptop alongside a notebook and a coffee, the height is right for typing without hunching, and the armchair is far more comfortable than the average hotel desk chair for an hour or two of email. There is also a power outlet tucked discreetly into the base of the banquette, so you are not running a cable across the floor.

The welcome amenity was waiting on the table when I walked in, and it was more thoughtfully put together than the usual apologetic plate of grapes. A shallow white ceramic bowl held a couple of whole fruits, dressed with a few fresh leaves, alongside a timber tray with a linen napkin and a small fruit knife. The more interesting half was a carrier holding a pair of small baked tarts, one studded with dried fruit and the other a nuttier, denser bake. Both were good enough that they did not survive the evening, which is more than I can say for most in-room amenities. Presentation is where KROMO Bangkok's design language earns its keep, because the carrier and the ceramic are clearly custom pieces rather than something pulled from a hotel supply catalogue.

The coffee setup is where the hotel's Thai-first ethos shows up most usefully. A Nespresso machine sits on the counter alongside a black presentation tray of capsules from RISE Coffee, a Bangkok specialty roaster, rather than the standard Nespresso range you would find in any Hilton anywhere. Two blends are offered, a medium-roast Good Day with caramel and chocolate notes, and a darker Bold Move leaning towards coffee nut, dark chocolate and hazelnut praline, each with its intensity and blend composition printed on the card behind. The Bold Move is the better of the two if you take your coffee without milk. A handful of glass bottles of still water sit behind the machine, and a folded card of QR codes covers the in-room dining menu and hotel information.

That brings me to the one operational inconsistency I noticed. Evening turndown at KROMO Bangkok is available on request rather than automatically, and requesting it is easy enough through the WhatsApp messaging service, which was answered promptly every time. The execution, however, was not always thorough. On one night the slippers were not laid out, on another the teabags were not replenished, and on a third the water was simply not placed by the bed at all. None of this is a dealbreaker on a short stay, and the hotel is still young enough that these things should settle. It does suggest that the housekeeping checklist has not quite been drilled into muscle memory yet.

The bathroom is where the King Premium Room finally remembers it belongs to a Curio Collection property. The layout is a compact three-part arrangement, with a single vanity on one side, a separate walk-in shower and bathtub behind glass, and a bathroom tucked away across from it. What lifts it is a full-height panel of blush pink wallpaper running between the vanity and the shower, printed with a surreal Thai-themed collage of temples, roosters, orchids, a costumed horse, a zebra on a tuk-tuk and various other oddities from the hotel's cabinet of wonders narrative. It is genuinely charming, and it is the single most interesting design decision in the entire room.

The rest is competent rather than remarkable. The vanity is a solid-surface counter with an integrated basin and a wall-mounted chrome mixer, topped by a full-width mirror and a fabric-wrapped tissue box, though counter space is tight if two people are travelling together with a full complement of toiletries.

The shower is lined in a handsome terracotta-toned vertical tile, fitted with a handheld on a slide rail. Water pressure and temperature stability were both excellent throughout the stay, which matters more than either of those complaints.

Toiletries are far from generic own-label filler - KROMO Bangkok has partnered with HARNN, the Thai luxury apothecary brand better known for its spa products, and the bottles are labelled as created in Thailand exclusively for the hotel. The scent is Allure, a jasmine and pear blend, and it is lovely. It opens floral and slightly green rather than the cloying sweetness that so many hotel jasmine products fall into, and it lingers on the skin long enough to be noticed without following you around all day. Hand and body wash, shampoo and conditioner come in amber pump bottles mounted on a matte black bracket against the terracotta tile, which is a genuinely handsome piece of styling. This is exactly what I want from a Curio Collection property. Rather than defaulting to a globally recognised fragrance house that would feel identical in Lisbon or Los Angeles, KROMO Bangkok has gone local and produced something that could only have come from Bangkok.

Stepping back and taking the room as a whole, it is a comfortable and well-resolved space. The entry corridor is lined in the same terracotta tile that appears in the shower, with a fluted glass partition separating the bathroom from the sleeping area, and it lets a warm glow through without compromising privacy. The open wardrobe sits opposite, backed by another panel of that blush pink Thai collage wallpaper, and comes fitted with a lit hanging rail, a generous run of wooden hangers, a padded bench, two drawers and a rattan-fronted cabinet below. Robes and slippers are provided, and there is enough hanging space for a week even though most people will be here for two or three nights. The air-conditioning is where I have a small but persistent complaint. It cools the room adequately, though I would have liked the option to push it a few degrees colder than the system seemed willing to go. More annoyingly, the unit resets to ambient temperature if you are out of the room for an extended period, presumably an occupancy-sensor energy-saving measure. Coming back from a warm Bangkok afternoon to a room sitting at whatever the corridor temperature happens to be is not the welcome you want, and it takes a good ten to fifteen minutes to bring things back down to something civilised.

This was the part of the stay I was not expecting. There is no executive lounge at KROMO Bangkok, which in most Hiltons would be the end of the conversation for a Diamond member. Instead, Hilton Honors Diamond guests are invited down to Colette on the ground floor for an evening drinks hour. I had read online that the hotel previously handed out complimentary drink vouchers, and I suspect the current arrangement is the better of the two. A voucher gets you a drink at a bar; a designated hour gets you a seat in one of the most striking rooms in the building, under the sculptural woven ceiling installations and the kaleidoscopic lighting that give Colette its character. The service was attentive throughout without hovering. The offering is fairly narrow. There is a single cocktail on the menu rather than a choice of several, alongside a selection of red, white and sparkling wine and a few non-alcoholic options. The accompanying light bites are modest in quantity but genuinely well executed - I prefer this over sad bowls of nuts and spring rolls that pass for canapés at most executive lounges.

Breakfast is complimentary for both Hilton Honors Gold and Diamond members, which is standard enough across the portfolio. What is not standard, and what I consider the single best thing about staying here, is that it is served until 2.30pm every day. You will not find a buffet spread, so anyone who measures a hotel breakfast by the length of the hot counter should adjust expectations. The complimentary allowance runs to one small plate, one main course, a coffee or tea, plus juice and fruit, all ordered à la carte and cooked to order.

I will take this arrangement over a buffet every single time. The usual Bangkok hotel breakfast winds down by 10.30am or 11am even on a weekend, which means either setting an alarm on holiday or writing off the benefit entirely. A 2.30pm cut-off means you can have a late night, sleep properly, and still collect a proper breakfast at midday without anyone giving you a look. It also means the food arrives hot rather than having sat under a heat lamp since seven in the morning, and the kitchen at Colette is clearly capable. For a leisure traveller on a short Bangkok trip, that flexibility is worth more than twenty chafing dishes.

The cooked-to-order food more than justifies the format. My pick across the stay was the scrambled eggs with Gruyère on sourdough, and I would order it again without hesitation. The eggs are properly soft-set rather than rubbery, the Gruyère is generous enough to actually taste, and the sourdough underneath holds up instead of collapsing into a soggy mess. Sautéed mushrooms and a dressed side salad round the plate out. The only weak link was the pair of chicken sausages, which looked the part but were noticeably underseasoned and added little beyond bulk. I skipped them on subsequent mornings and was no worse off.

Portions are substantial, which is worth flagging given how easily an à la carte allowance can turn into a token gesture. Between a small plate, a main, fruit, juice and coffee, I left the table properly full each time. I also ordered the rice porridge as my small plate on one occasion, served with pickled vegetables, a soft-boiled egg and greens, and it was a good deal better than the perfunctory congee counter most Bangkok buffets offer. Taken together with the 2.30pm service window, this is the part of the stay that felt most like a holiday. Being able to sleep in and then eat a proper hot breakfast whenever you happen to surface is a genuine luxury on vacation, and it is one that almost no other hotel in this price bracket is willing to extend.

One further touch worth mentioning is that Diamond members receive a small plate of macarons alongside breakfast, presented on a bamboo stand with a card marking the tier. Mine came in two flavours, a pale cream and a violet, both with the thin crisp shell and soft interior that indicate someone in the pastry section knows what they are doing. Gold members receive an amenity too, though in a different flavour, which is a neat way of differentiating the tiers without making the lower one feel short-changed. It costs the hotel very little and it is entirely unnecessary, which is precisely why it lands well. Recognition at breakfast is rare at Hilton properties outside of a lounge setting, and KROMO Bangkok has found a genuinely charming way to do it.

The pool is one of the strongest arguments for booking KROMO Bangkok. It sits on the roof, partially sheltered beneath a striking lattice ceiling finished in deep terracotta red, with the open end framed by floor-to-ceiling glazing that looks out across the Sukhumvit skyline. The covered arrangement is a smart response to Bangkok's climate. You get shade and rain protection without the airless feeling of a basement pool, and it means the space remains usable through an afternoon downpour or at two in the afternoon in April. The water runs a proper length rather than the token plunge pool that so many new Sukhumvit builds pass off as a swimming facility, and it was clean and well maintained every time I visited. The design carries the same considered hand seen elsewhere in the hotel. A large rust-red mural runs the length of one wall, a row of brass pendant lamps hangs above a small service counter backed in brick, and a canopy of greenery spills over the top of it. Loungers are the proper padded sort rather than plastic, there are enough of them that I never had trouble finding one, and a separate seating area with armchairs and low tables sits by the window for anyone who would rather read than swim. Towels, chilled water and fresh fruit are laid out at the counter.

I came away from KROMO Bangkok genuinely impressed, and I would book it again without much deliberation. The location is a large part of that, because Phrom Phong is my favourite part of Bangkok to base myself in. You have the Em District on your doorstep for shopping and air-conditioned refuge, Benchasiri Park for a morning walk, some of the city's best restaurants within a short walk or a five-minute Grab ride (provided there is no congestion), and the BTS to take you everywhere else. It is calmer than Asok and considerably more civilised than Nana, while giving up nothing in convenience. The room itself plays it safe, and the 1pm checkout still irritates me, as does an air-conditioning system that resets the moment you step out for a few hours. Those are real criticisms.

What outweighs them is how much thought has gone into everything else. The HARNN toiletries, the RISE Coffee capsules, the blush pink Thai collage wallpaper, the rooftop pool under its terracotta lattice and the macarons at breakfast all point to a hotel that has bothered to be specific about where it is, which is exactly what a Curio Collection property should do. Add complimentary breakfast running until 2.30pm, evening drinks at Colette for Diamond members, and a genuinely quiet night's sleep on a high floor, and the value proposition holds up well against anything else Hilton has in Bangkok. For a weekend escape from Singapore, particularly one funded by 18,200 KrisFlyer miles during a Spontaneous Escapes window, this is about as good a use of a short trip as you will find.

KROMO Bangkok, Curio Collection by Hilton
525 Sukhumvit Road, Sukhumvit 29 Alley, Khlong Toei Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Website | Email

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I flew Cathay Pacific economy class via Hong Kong into Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) rather than taking a direct flight, partly because the fares were meaningfully lower and partly because my oneworld Emerald benefits make the connection through Hong Kong a pleasant one rather than a chore. Although I hold World of Hyatt Globalist status, I did not leave the room assignment to chance. I applied a Suite Upgrade Award well ahead of arrival to lock in a Premier Suite. This is worth understanding properly, because a Suite Upgrade Award at this property can be applied to either the Centric Suite at 69 sqm or the larger Premier Suite at 83 sqm. The award costs you the same either way, so there is no reason to settle for the smaller one if the Premier Suite is showing availability. Check-in was smooth despite a late arrival, and walking into the living area confirmed the upgrade was the right call. The room leads with a deep red curved sofa set against a patterned burgundy rug, a marble topped dining table, and a wall mounted screen that greeted me by name. It is a lot of colour for a Hyatt Centric, and it works.

The living room is the first thing you walk into, and it sets the tone for the rest of the suite. It is a genuinely generous space that holds a curved sofa, a coffee table, a round marble dining table with seating for two, a proper desk, and a long bench running beneath the television, all without feeling crowded. What I found more interesting is the layout itself. Rather than being funnelled straight into the living area, the entry corridor gives you a second option. Turning right takes you through a walk-in wardrobe area that opens directly into the bathroom, which means the suite effectively has two circulation routes instead of one. That sounds like a minor detail until you have friends or colleagues over for a drink and realise nobody needs to traipse past your bedroom to reach the bathroom.

Waiting on the marble dining table was the welcome amenity, a plate of fresh fruit alongside a handwritten note from Eva in the front office team. The note was written entirely in Chinese, which I can read, though it did amuse me that the assumption was made off a Singaporean passport. It is a small thing and I would rather have a handwritten card in any language than a printed one, but it is the sort of detail that a property catering to international guests might want to think about. As for the amenity itself, I have no real complaint about fruit and a personal note. That said, this was a suite booked for four nights, and a slightly more generous gesture would not have gone amiss. A plate of pastries, some local sweets, or anything that acknowledged the length of the stay would have landed better than the standard fruit plate that any base room guest would receive.

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Tucked into the cabinetry beside the entry is a Nespresso machine, with a pull-out drawer below holding capsules, Twinings jasmine green tea, sugar, creamers and a milk frothing jug. This matters more here than it would elsewhere, because the hotel does not have a club lounge. There is no floor to retreat to for a mid-afternoon coffee, so the in-room setup is doing all the work, and it does the job well enough for a morning cup before heading out. That said, I would not spend much time using it. Shanghai has one of the better independent coffee scenes in Asia and the neighbourhood around Zhongshan Park is well served by the major chains, so if the weather is decent you are better off walking five minutes and getting something fresh. Bottled water is also provided, two on arrival, and housekeeping was happy to leave more when I asked.

The bedroom sits behind a proper door that closes and locks, which is the detail that separates a genuine suite from a large studio with a partition. Given the dual entry layout I mentioned earlier, it means you can shut the bedroom off entirely and still have guests move between the living room and the bathroom without ever crossing it. The room itself is cosy rather than cavernous, and the design leans warm. There is a king bed against a tan leather headboard set into a textured bronze panel, a pendant light dropping over each nightstand, a chaise longue by the window, and the same deep purple rug carrying through from the living area. The lighting is on the dim side, and while I would have appreciated a brighter setting for getting ready in the morning, it is well judged for what a bedroom is actually for. Combined with blackout blinds and the separation from the rest of the suite, I slept well across all four nights.

The bedside panel is the sort of thing I always look at closely, because it tells you how much thought went into the room beyond the finishes. Here you get a bank of touch controls covering the curtains and the sheers independently, plus lighting presets for bedroom, bright, reading, soft, a master switch and a night mode. Being able to close the blackout curtains without getting out of bed is a small luxury that I never tire of, and having the sheer on its own circuit means you can keep some daylight without exposing the room. The one thing international guests should note is the power situation. The outlets are the standard Chinese sockets, which accept flat pin plugs but will not take a UK three pin or a European round pin plug, so bring an adapter. There are two USB-A ports built into the panel, but no USB-C, which is an increasingly odd omission in a suite to this standard.

The bathroom and toilet occupy a single zone, though they are properly separated within it, and the door from the bedroom opens directly into the toilet end. The design here is the boldest in the suite. Glossy aubergine tiles run across the upper walls and catch the light, set against a speckled terrazzo below, and the colour is a genuine departure from the beige box that most business hotels in this segment default to. The toilet itself is a full electronic bidet unit with a heated seat, which is standard in this part of the world but still worth confirming for anyone who cares. It sits in its own enclosure with a glass partition separating it from the shower, so the wet and dry areas do not bleed into each other. The pass-through arrangement is what makes the dual circulation work in practice, because you can move from the bedroom through to the wardrobe and out to the entry corridor without stepping into the living room at all.

Continuing through from the toilet brings you back to the walk-in wardrobe, which is the piece of the layout I flagged earlier when describing the entry. It is a narrow corridor space rather than a room you would linger in, but it is properly fitted out. There is a full length hanging rail with wooden hangers, a bathrobe, a marble topped bench that doubles as a luggage landing spot, and drawers beneath it. Positioning the wardrobe at the entrance rather than inside the bedroom means you can drop your coat and shoes on the way in without disturbing anyone sleeping, and it puts the wardrobe and the bathroom on the same side of the suite, so the entire getting-ready routine happens in one zone.

The bathroom proper is the highlight of the suite. A long marble vanity runs the width of the room with twin basins, which genuinely matters if you are travelling as a couple and both trying to get out of the door at the same time. Above it sits a bank of mirrors framed by vertical bulb lighting, the sort of arrangement you would normally find in a dressing room, and it throws even light across your face rather than the harsh downlight most hotel bathrooms settle for. The surrounding mirrors extend the space considerably, and combined with the aubergine tile and terrazzo, the room reads far more dramatic than the square footage suggests. A bathtub sits alongside, set into a marble surround with a step up to it. Personal amenities are provided as standard, and housekeeping was happy to send up additional items when I asked, so there is no need to ration anything over a longer stay.

The bathtub deserves its own mention. It is a deep soaking tub sunk into a substantial marble surround, wide enough to stretch out in properly rather than the shallow business hotel tubs that leave your knees exposed. After a day walking around Shanghai in the heat, this was where I ended up most nights. If you would rather not fill a tub, there is a separate walk-in shower enclosed behind glass, so the two are genuinely independent fixtures rather than the shower-over-bath compromise that still shows up in rooms at this price point.

Bath amenities are the BeeKind range, dispensed from wall mounted bulk bottles inside the shower enclosure. This is entirely consistent with my other Hyatt Centric stays, so if you have spent time in the brand you will know exactly what you are getting. The bulk format is now the default across most of the industry and I have made my peace with it on environmental grounds, though I will admit it takes some of the shine off a suite that otherwise feels a cut above. When the rest of the bathroom is dressed in aubergine tile and marble, a plastic dispenser bolted to the wall is a visible reminder of where the property sits in the Hyatt hierarchy.

Waking up to a view over Zhongshan Park is the quiet advantage of staying in this pocket of Changning. The park dates back to 1914, when it was laid out as Jessfield Park under the Shanghai Municipal Council, and it retains a distinctly English landscape character with winding paths, ponds and mature plane trees. One of those plane trees is well over a century old and is among the largest in the city. It is a genuinely pleasant place to walk, and it is popular with locals rather than tourists, so an early morning stroll puts you among residents doing tai chi, and the sort of unhurried exercise that Shanghai parks do well. The weather did not co-operate during my stay. It was overcast for most of the four nights with rain on and off, which flattened the view considerably. Even so, having a wall of green outside the window instead of another glass tower is a welcome change from the Xintiandi and Pudong hotels I usually default to.

Breakfast is served at Scenario 1555, the hotel's all day dining outlet on the lobby level. The concept is a bistro that blends Shanghai's modern dining culture with Western casual, and the kitchen leans into traditional dishes from Shanghai and the surrounding Jiangnan region alongside a selection of international options. It works the same room across the day, moving from breakfast into afternoon drinks and small plates, then into cocktails with live entertainment in the evening. As a Globalist, breakfast is complimentary, which matters more than usual here given the absence of a club lounge.

The good news is that it is genuinely worth turning up for, provided you eat local. The congee station is the standout, served with a proper spread of accompaniments, and I built mine with a salted egg, pickled vegetables, spring onion and a wedge of youtiao dropped in to soften. That, with a side of pan fried radish cake, sautéed green beans and pickled cabbage, is a far better breakfast than anything I would have assembled from the Western side of the buffet. The radish cake in particular was properly crisp at the edges rather than the soggy version that sits under a heat lamp at most hotels. If you are after eggs benedict and a pastry counter, you may find the selection thinner than you would like. If you are happy to eat the way Shanghai eats in the morning, this is a strong showing for a Hyatt Centric and made the missing lounge sting considerably less.

I did not manage to get to the gym during this stay, so I cannot comment on the facilities there. Everything else, though, made a convincing case. Cash rates at the Hyatt Centric Zhongshan Park sit at a level that makes the property one of the better value Hyatts in Shanghai, and if you are travelling on a tighter budget there is a Caption by Hyatt directly next door that shares the same location advantages at a lower price point. For anyone with a Suite Upgrade Award to burn, though, the Premier Suite is where the value is, and the 83 sqm footprint with its dual circulation layout, separated bedroom and genuinely impressive bathroom punches well above what the Centric badge suggests. The absence of a club lounge is the one real gap, partly offset by a breakfast that is well worth eating if you are happy with local dishes. Between the connectivity, the rooms and the food, I would not hesitate to book this again, though the Andaz Xintiandi, Shanghai will probably still get the nod when I want to be closer to the centre of things.

Hyatt Centric Zhongshan Park Shanghai
1555 Dingxi Road, Changning District, Shanghai, China, 200050
Website

Hyatt and Delta have also promised exclusive benefits and experiences to be unveiled later, along with a set of suggested flight and hotel pairings across routes including Los Angeles to Hong Kong, Detroit to Shanghai, Seattle to Rome and Austin to Paris. Hotel and airline partnerships are usually forgettable. You convert hotel points into miles at a punishing ratio, or you pick up a token 500 miles per stay instead of hotel points, and nobody wins. What makes this one different is that it is a genuine dual earn. You are not choosing between points and miles on the same transaction. You earn on the flight in the hotel currency and on the stay in the airline currency, on top of whatever you were already earning in each programme.

That is a meaningful structural change, particularly for World of Hyatt, which has always been the hardest of the major hotel programmes in which to accumulate points. World of Hyatt has a small footprint relative to Marriott Bonvoy or Hilton Honors, and points earning is largely capped by how often you can find a Hyatt to stay in. Being able to pad your balance through airfare spending, without needing a co-brand card, addresses the programme's single biggest weakness. Given that Hyatt award redemptions remain among the best value in the industry thanks to a fixed award chart at most properties, more points flowing into that currency is a fantastic win for anyone who redeems there.

Delta does not fly to Singapore. It has not for years, and there is no indication that is changing. Delta's Asia gateway strategy runs through Tokyo Haneda and Seoul Incheon, so the realistic route into this partnership for a Singapore-based traveller is a partner connection or a positioning flight rather than a nonstop out of Changi. That creates two practical limits. First, the Hyatt points on Delta airfare benefit specifies qualifying Delta fare classes, which almost certainly means Delta-marketed and Delta-ticketed flights rather than anything you book on a partner. If you fly SIN to Tokyo on Singapore Airlines and connect onto Delta metal, the Delta segment may not count depending on how the ticket is issued. Second, Delta's own transpacific pricing out of Southeast Asia has never been competitive with the Star Alliance and oneworld carriers operating from Changi.

The Hyatt side is more accessible. Earning SkyMiles on Hyatt stays requires only Medallion status, and Medallion status can be earned through spending rather than distance flown in Delta's current model. Whether that is worth pursuing from Singapore is a different beast entirely, and for most readers the answer will be no. Where this does become relevant is if you already hold Medallion status through a US-based work pattern, or if you are a Globalist who buys Delta tickets for domestic US travel during longer trips. In that narrow case, stacking Hyatt points on flights you were buying anyway is close to free money.

I would not restructure any part of my loyalty strategy around this announcement yet, because the two numbers that decide whether it is worth anything have not been published. A dual earn benefit at 1 Hyatt point per dollar of airfare is a rounding error. At 3 or 4 points per dollar it becomes a legitimate reason to shift airfare spending. The same applies on the hotel side.

What I am watching for is whether the collaboration extends beyond currency into status. If Hyatt Globalists receive any form of Medallion recognition, or if Hyatt stays start generating Medallion Qualification Dollars, this stops being a points promotion and becomes a genuine reason to consolidate. Delta and Hyatt have both hinted at exclusive benefits still to be revealed, and that is where the real story will be. For now, file it under promising and incomplete. I will cover the specifics once earning rates and enrolment details are published.

Click HERE to browse participating Marriott Bonvoy properties and lock in an eligible rate for your next stay!

Registration is mandatory, and only stays completed after you register will count. If you have a stay coming up next week, sort your registration out first. A stay is defined as one or more consecutive nights under the same reservation at the same property, regardless of check-in and checkout activity. Splitting a five-night booking into three separate reservations at the same hotel is the obvious way to multiply the 1,500 point bonus, since there is no cap on stays. Finally, the rate must be Points-eligible. Award redemptions, Cash + Points bookings, Free Night Award stays, most third-party retailer rates, and select travel agency rates are all excluded.

Here is the elephant in the room. I have tried registering for this promotion several times over the past day, both through the promotions tab in my Marriott Bonvoy account and via the dedicated landing page, and the registration simply will not go through. No confirmation, no error message worth reading, nothing that suggests the system has actually recorded me.

This is not unusual for Marriott. Global promotions tend to go live before the back end has fully caught up, and registration gremlins on day one or two are almost a tradition at this point. I am going to give it a couple of days to iron itself out before escalating anything, and I would suggest you do the same rather than sitting on hold with the Customer Engagement Centre over a 1,500 point bonus. Two things worth doing in the meantime. First, keep checking the promotions tab every day or so until you see a clear registration confirmation, because the terms are explicit that only post-registration stays qualify. Second, take a screenshot the moment it does register. If the points fail to post later, that timestamp is the only thing that will make a missing points claim go smoothly.

For a Singapore-based reader, the base offer is modest. At a rough valuation of around 0.85 to 1 US cent per Marriott Bonvoy point, 1,500 points is worth somewhere in the region of S$16 to S$20. That is not going to change how you book a city hotel. The resort component is where this becomes interesting. An extra 3,000 points on a two-night resort stay lifts the total to 4,500 points, or roughly S$50 to S$60 of value, and the stay cap being absent means a two-week regional holiday broken into several short resort bookings can pad your balance quite meaningfully. The timing also works nicely for the November school holidays, with participating resorts across Phuket, Bali, Langkawi, and Danang all sitting within easy reach of Changi.

Click HERE to convert your Skywards Miles to Marriott Bonvoy points!

The elephant in the room with any airline-to-hotel conversion is that you are almost always giving up value. Skywards Miles are worth considerably more redeemed for premium cabin awards than they are as Bonvoy points, even with a 30% sweetener on top. If you have a meaningful balance and any intention of flying, do not touch this. Where this promotion earns its keep is with orphaned balances that are about to expire. Plenty of us have a few thousand Skywards Miles sitting from a one-off Emirates flight or a card transfer, not enough to do anything useful with, quietly counting down to expiry. Converting those into Bonvoy points at a 30% premium is a far better outcome than watching them lapse, and Bonvoy points are easy to top up and pool towards a free night, or to burn on food, drinks and spa treatments during a stay.

The 3,000 Mile minimum is low enough that most stranded balances will qualify.

Before you convert, check whether you can put the Miles towards a flight instead. My favourite use of a modest Skywards balance has been the fifth freedom sector between Singapore and Phnom Penh, which Emirates launched in May 2024 as a tag onto its Dubai to Singapore service. It remains part of the Emirates fifth freedom network and is still bookable at the time of writing, though I would check schedules directly given how often these tag flights get reshuffled.

It is a two hour hop on a three-class Boeing 777-300ER, which means lie-flat Business Class and closed-door First Class Suites on a sector that would otherwise be flown by a narrowbody. For a long weekend out of Changi, that is a considerably more memorable use of a small balance than a partial night at a Courtyard.

Worth doing if your Skywards Miles are expiring and too few to redeem for anything decent. Skip it if you have enough for a flight, especially one of the fifth freedom sectors out of Singapore. You have until 30 September 2026 to decide.