Hotel Royal

The room is spacious, tidy and clean. Everything in the room is in good working order except the doorbell. The room maintenance lady is courteous, friendly and very efficient. I am amazed by her efficiency in changing bedsheets and tidying up the room and bathroom, all alone in less than 10 mins. We had breakfast included in room rates and it is definitely worthwhile as breakfast is sumptuous and portions are big at Trishaw Coffee House. There's a choice between Western & Asian menus and they served different items even if you choose the same menu every day. The service is wonderful! 3 lifts but only 2 were working. (Maybe the middle lift was closed to allow at least 1m social distancing for the other 2 working lifts. Haha. Just kidding). We didn't try out the swimming pool. The gym is small with equipment for cardio exercises. Only 2 people can be there at any one time with an access key from reception. Happy Joy Restaurant serves big portions. The promotions they offered are worth it and the food is delicious! We made full use of the free open-air parking. Lots of available parking lots. Velocity and United Square malls are within 5 min walk away. Novena MRT is right below Velocity, location is very good for shopping and eating. However, a few downsides: Checking in is a huge pain. We waited for 45 mins just to register for check-in even though we had paid in full online with printed out receipts to show. Seems like their computer system is slow. Each group that checked-in takes about 10 to 15 mins each. We were lucky that we were early and had 3 groups in front of us. On other days, we see the line snaked across the front lobby. 3 pm - 5 pm is peak queuing time! Apart from the doorbell not working, I found holes in a bedsheet. Quite a few holes. The bedsheet is totally white so if you just roll into bed to sleep, you probably won't notice. Not a big deal. Although the front desk said all rooms are non-smoking rooms but there was a very strong cigarette odour the moment I walked from the lift lobby to my room door. It lingered there. Didn't go away. I have to hold my breath when I exited my room and dashed to the lift lobby and did likewise when I went back to my room. The room is OK, no cigarette odour. I don't see anyone loitering at the corridor smoking. Not sure where the cigarette odour came from. Some bathroom wall tile grout is black. My boy complained that it's black mould on the first day and didn't want to take his bath. Took him some time to get used to it. The washbasin is way too low. I'm 1.74m and I have to kneel to use it so that my clothes don't get wet from the water splash. The TV screen has lines across the screen and the colour display is not good. However, there's Netflix and YouTube to watch on TV so that's good enough for me. Free wifi is not very stable. Have to wait out for the movie to load from time to time. Checking out is a breeze. 5 seconds. Just return access cards and we went off. Overall, it was a satisfying stay. Good value for money, good breakfast, good service.