177 hotels now approved for staycations (including one in Tuas West?)

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has now approved a total of 177 hotels for staycations, or approximately 45% of the 400+ hotels in Singapore. 

With the latest additions, we now have hotels spanning the island from Changi to Tuas West. Oh, the adventures you’ll have!

Which hotels are approved for staycations?

The following 177 hotels are now approved to take staycation guests:

Notable new faces include The Sultan Hotel, and the Capri by Fraser Changi City. 

If you hold the AMEX Platinum Reserve card (which is free for AMEX Platinum Charge members), you’ll find in your welcome/renewal pack a S$150 nett voucher for a 1-night Sultan staycation, as well as a 2-night voucher from Frasers Hospitality (redeemable at Capri by Fraser Changi City). 

I was also intrigued to learn about the “RM Hotel”, which isn’t some shady hourly hotel in Geylang, but rather the Raffles Marina Hotel, conveniently located in Tuas West, just 400m from the Tuas Link MRT. 

I love how Booking.com tries to sell this property- everything’s a mere stone’s throw away (if you have a trebuchet).

Night Safari is 18 km from Raffles Marina Ltd, while Singapore Zoo is 19 km away. Other attractions such as Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum and Holland Village are within 18 km from the property. The nearest airport is Changi Airport, a 39 km drive away.

Here’s a map showing the geographical spread of staycation-approved hotels. 

What staycation deals are available?

I’ve compiled a comprehensive article detailing the various staycation deals available, a list which gets updated daily as more packages come in. 

In general, you’ll get much better value by paying for staycations with cash than redeeming hotel points, although exceptions apply (e.g a program with fixed value redemptions like Accor Live Limitless). 

Here’s some of my picks from each price segment:

• Best Luxury Hotel Staycation Deals
• Best Upscale Hotel Staycation Deals
• Best Mid-Tier Hotel Staycation Deals
• Best Economy Hotel Staycation Deals

What will the staycation experience be like?

The STB has published an extensive list of regulations that hotels must comply with before they can accept staycation guests.

I’ve covered the details here, but you can expect things like:

• Staggered check-in/out timings (the Mandarin Orchard is assigning guests an arrival time slot between 2 to 5 p.m)
• Capacity constraints on pool and gym usage (Marina Bay Sands is asking guests to pre-book time slots for the famous infinity pool)
• Contactless delivery of room service and other amenities (YOTEL’s built a staycation package around its robots)
• Modified club lounge happy hours (the Shangri-La has closed its club lounge and is serving complimentary snacks at the Champagne Bar instead)
• No breakfast buffets (W Sentosa [and many more I’m sure] is doing an a la carte menu served buffet style)

Get ready for Phase 2 staycations: What to expect from Singapore hotels

Hotel rooms will be limited to a maximum of five concurrent guests, with extensive cleaning between stays and more single-use items. 

I’ve already done a handful of staycations during Phase 2, and here’s my take on the overall experience:

• W Sentosa
• YOTELAIR Changi Airport
• Hotel 81 Tristar

Conclusion

There are still some major hotels not on the approved staycations list, but that’s probably on account of them being used as SHN facilities. The PARKROYAL Pickering and Regent Singapore, for example, do not expect to take staycation guests until the end of 2020 at the earliest. 

For a comprehensive list of staycation tips, deals and reviews, be sure to check out The Milelion’s Staycation Portal. 

As always, if you spot any good staycation deals be sure to ping them over to me and I’ll take a look.