New Majestic Hotel
- Style
- Bold boutique design doyen
- Setting
- Chinatown’s sleepy shophouse streets
With a tree house bar, ‘aquarium’ bathrooms and deliberately scuffed ceilings, Singapore’s first collaboratively designed hotel is a knowingly cool cornucopia of artistic delights.
Need to know
- Rooms
- 30, including nine suites.
- Rates
- SG$370–SG$550, including breakfast and taxes.
- Check-out
- Midday, although later check-out can be arranged if the room is available.
- Facilities
- Gym, free WiF throughout. In rooms: flatscreen TV, Bose CD player, iPod dock, minibar, Kiehls’ toiletries, massaging showerheads. Attic Suites and Lifestyle King Rooms have DVD players.
- Poolside
- A sparkling oblong sliver in an open-air atrium, the New Majestic’s lap pool has three cheeky porthole windows in the floor, above the restaurant.
- Children
- Cots are free; extra beds for older kids cost SG$100 a night. This is more of a young couple’s hotel, however.
- Also
- Non-smoking throughout.
In the know
- Our favourite rooms
- Inspired by the film Raise the Red Lantern, Singaporean theatre director Glen Goei designed ‘Wayang’, a chinoiserie-packed boudoir with walls upholstered in rich burgundy silk and beautifully lacquered wood furniture. ‘Fluid’ is at the opposite end of the style spectrum, fashion designer Wykidd Song’s minimalist haven of sensual curves. Wide-eyed honeymooners should gravitate to the Attic Suites, which boast six-metre ceilings, sprawling loft beds and twin baths set in front of a striking contemporary mural. For a romantic retreat with lashings of LaChapelle-esque kitsch, try the fuschia crinkled linens and out-size French chandeliers of the shamelessly monikered ‘Pussy Parlour’. Every room is loaded with idiosyncratic artwork and jaw-dropping design. In ‘Flowerchild Cat’, for example, the bed is suspended from the ceiling; ‘Work’ uses shedloads of plywood to create a kooky ‘living in a box’ feel. We like.
- Packing tips
- A copy of Design Week, a biography of Warhol, a suitcase full of labels and the ability to keep a straight face when discussing ‘Tracy’s latest’.
- Also
- If you’re laptop-less but need net access, reception will give you a Macbook for use in the lobby.
Food & drink
- Hotel restaurant
- In the apple-green Majestic restaurant you can watch contemporary Cantonese cuisine expertly prepared in the glass-panelled show kitchen. Chef Yong Bin Ngen’s rack of lamb served with carrot cake has set many tastebuds a-tingle.
- Dress code
- Labelled up, but pared down – you don’t want to look like you’re trying too hard.
- Top table
- Directly underneath the ceiling portholes for a sneaky view of whoever’s swimming by upstairs. If casual voyeurism seems a bit much at dinner time, opt for private spot in one of the cosy alcoves.
- Last orders
- The restaurant doles out dishes until 10.30pm but the bar keeps mixing mojitos until 1am midweek and 2am at the weekend.
- Hotel bar
- Pointedly unconventional, the New Majestic’s three-floor treehouse-inspired bar resembles a design collaboration between Enid Blyton and Wallpaper*. It’s one of the few places in Singapore licensed to serve absinthe.
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Smith concierge
If you’d prefer to talk to someone, or you’re having trouble booking online, ring our travel team on 0845 034 0700 (+44 20 8987 4312 from outside the UK). We guarantee you’ll get the best available rates, and we don’t charge a booking fee.
