Singapore Staycation Spotlight: PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay Breathes Fresh Life Into the Green Hotel Scene

PUBLISHED July 16th, 2021 06:00 am | UPDATED July 26th, 2021 02:32 pm

For close to a decade, PARKROYAL COLLECTION Pickering has been Singapore’s last word in hotel eco-chic, with its iconic façade draped in vertical greenery. Now, though, there’s a freshly bloomed hotel-in-a-garden breezing into town – its sister concept PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay, launched in December last year. Formerly known as Marina Mandarin, the hotel was reborn in a nine-month overhaul by Pan Pacific Hotels Group. And while little has changed of its blocky exterior, don’t judge a hotel by its façade – within lies a bold new world of green design.

Location & Space

Originally designed by neofuturistic architect John Portman – also the brains behind Mandarin Oriental and Regent Singapore – the hotel bears all the hallmarks of his spectacular style. The interior is one cavernous, echoing space, anchored by an atrium lounge. Around its perimeter, tiers of rooms soar dizzyingly upward like a pyramid, crowned with a dazzling skylight. Much of this original structure has been preserved, but flooded with a sea of green – 2,400 indoor plants, to be exact.

The first thing that greets you is a 13-metre-high green wall fronting the entrance – an abstract take on Chinese landscape painting overhung by a shower of metal ‘raindrops’. To reach the fourth-level atrium, hop aboard the bubble lift and stroll out onto the Sky Bridge. This indoor riff on a treetop walk offers bird’s-eye views over the atrium’s 370 square metres of greenery; from here, the sights and sounds of the forest enfold you. Tropical plants from elephant ears to ruffle ferns layer the space and fill it with noticeably fresh air. Live songbirds twitter from cages; in pavilions woven to resemble bird nests, guests nibble on afternoon tea and tipples.

Whereas it’s hard to feel at home in most glitzy hotel atriums, this one is inviting enough to linger. Pale timber flooring and mossy rugs add to the soothing palette, with soft light flooding in from the UV-treated skylight. Trailing from above is a sculpture retained from Marina Mandarin – Richard Lippold’s Orchidea, which features a cascade of gleaming circles over a centrepiece of petal-like curves. (We’re offered a cheekier interpretation by the PARKROYAL team: a windfall of coins toward a cupped hand, signifying the hotel’s prosperity.)  Whether flora or fengshui, it’s pretty gorgeous in the glow of the atrium’s nightly light show.

Rooms

Compared to the spectacle of the atrium, the hotel’s 583 monochrome rooms seem a tad bland by comparison. Much of the old layout has been retained here as well, though the former carpeting has been replaced with light timber floors to enhance air quality. All rooms get the perk of breezy skyline views from your private balcony – albeit narrow and unsheltered – along with Chromecast-supported TVs.

Clocking in a comfy 33 square metres, our COLLECTION Room (S$351++ per night) is around the same size as a basic Urban Room (S$260++). What you get for the higher price tag is sky-high scenery – and there’s no denying it’s stunning from our 21st-level room. You also enjoy a range of COLLECTION Club perks, namely access to the COLLECTION Club Lounge for complimentary buffet breakfast, afternoon tea, and evening cocktails – we hear they sizzle up a barbecue dinner on Saturdays too.

The room is a minimalist affair of black and pale wood, well-stocked with TWG tea and a Nespresso coffee machine. An antique trinket box reveals drawers of welcome kueh, set alongside another charmingly old-fashioned touch: a pristine copy of the day’s Straits Times. In place of the usual bottled water, though, you’ll find a more eco-friendly water-filter tap in the bathroom. Metis bath amenities and bath salts promise a luxurious bathtub experience, though the hygiene leaves something to be desired – we noticed dried stains along  the rim of the glasses by the sink, as well as on the toiletries holder in the (somewhat cramped) shower.

Facilities & Services

The fifth floor is the hotel’s wellness hub, housing Pan Pacific’s signature spa – the St. Gregory spa – complete with spin and yoga studios tucked within. Set beside the spa, the outdoor pool is filled with skin-nourishing mineral water and flickers to life by night with over a thousand fibre optic lights. Close by, a lawn smooth with carpet grass plays host to the occasional outdoor yoga sesh.

Food & Beverage

Sitting beside the pool is Skyline Bar, but for top-notch tipples, you’ll want to head down to the Atrium Lounge instead. By day, this garden retreat serves up afternoon tea packed in picnic baskets; as dusk falls, Head Mixologist Michael Mendoza shakes things up with a wildly inventive cocktail program.

His Kingdom Plantae lineup pays tribute to parts of a plant, drawing on herbs from the hotel’s own urban farm. Stem (S$22) weaves asparagus-infused tequila and aquafaba into a creamy, unexpectedly delicious riff on pesto pasta; Roots (S$22), meanwhile, is an impeccably balanced potion of Balvenie 12 Year Old, beetroot honey shrub, and truffle oil. He even shares that he’s currently experimenting with barrel-ageing Negronis using a highly unusual wood – bamboo.

Besides a couple of independently-managed restaurants, the hotel offers two in-house options: all-day dining spot Peppermint and Cantonese restaurant Peach Blossoms. Peppermint dishes up farm-to-table eats in à la carte buffet style, drawing on greens from the edible garden just outside – we recommend strolling off your meal with a look at their many plots, from spinach to apple mint. The breakfast queue here gets long around 9am, so if you have COLLECTION Club perks, skip the line and head to the poolside Club Lounge instead.

For lunch, Peach Blossoms serves up panoramic views of the Marina Bay skyline with an artful array of dimsum. Signatures include the Deep-Fried ‘Lava’ Japanese Purple Sweet Potato (S$7.80 for three) – a potato-shaped puff with molten insides buried in Oreo crumb ‘soil’ – and Steamed Pork Soup Dumplings (S$8.80 for three) with unbelievably thin skins and a sliver of Iberico ham atop.

PARKROYAL COLLECTION Marina Bay is located at 6 Raffles Blvd, Singapore 039594, p. +65 6845 1000. Rates start from S$260++ per night for the Urban Room.