We were first time in SG on vacation and a local friend confirmed that Novotel is well located for tourists. She was right - the hotel is right next to the Clarke Quay area with dozens of restaurants, bars and discos. The nearest MRT station is underneath The Central shopping mall across the river, 5 - 7 minutes (hot!) walk. We preferred using the metro during the day for sightseeing / shopping etc. and being able to have dinner at a walking distance from the hotel.

Room: We had booked a standard queen room but after 1st night decided to upgrade to a bigger room (+85 SGD/night) with more closet space and better view. The closet in the first room was absolutely tiny! Standard queens overlook the pool + next hotel and not the city skyline. The second room on 25th floor was much better and the view was really good (my photos are from the 2nd room). As we stayed for 6 nights we preferred a larger room and view. Bathroom was big with bath and shower.

Service: The staff was friendly but quite neutral, nothing special. We had to call maintenance 3 times to our rooms. In our first room the main light did not go off at night, staff came in 10 minutes and fixed it through the ceiling. In our second room TV remote was not working properly, sink was not working well and the desk light was not working. These were all fixed as well, but made me think that they could check these things every once in a while by themselves without waiting or the guests to inform that the sink is not working (which housekeeping should notice!) etc.

Hotel: We did not take the expensive breakfast nor did we use the restaurants so we cannot comment on that. There are so many restaurants right next to the hotel that we did not consider eating at Novotel. The pool is rather big and with app. 20 - 30 sunbeds. I went to the pool a couple of mornings around 9 am and it was reasonably busy already in the morning (but still got a good sunbed facing the morning sun). There are towles ready on the beds and extra towels on the side. They are renovating something by the pool so you will see some construction issues going on but they did not make any noise at all. The Clarke Quay discos, on the other hand, play music quite loud late at night and we could hear the disco beat to our room on 25th floor at night (didn't bother me but my light sleeping spouse mentioned it a couple of times).

There are 2 complimentary computers with internet in the lobby but they were always occupied - we used them only once for that reason.

There is a 7-11 next to the lobby which was very convenient for little daily shopping and cheaper beer / drinks before dinner time. The hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus has a stop right in front of Novotel - I reccommend taking those tours!

Novotel Clarke Quay is a good property with lousy service.At check in we were greeted by the staff as we would have been greeted at a jail. He was stern and did not care to smile.

The room service staff take ages to deliver anything. It took them one hour to deliver water to us . I had to ask for the Newspapers from the bell desk daily.

The Business lounge staff dislike brown people. Whites and chinese are given preferential treatment.
Internet charges are horrendous. They wanted 30 SGD for it daily.

The location of the hotel is good. But I guess Swissotel is better located since it is opposite the Mrt station. All in all a disappointing experience.

Please go to the hotel if you want to be looked down upon and prefer lousy service.

After completing an excellent cruise with Star Cruises my husband & I stayed at the Novotel Singapore on the nights of 22/23 of June just past.

We chose to take an upgrade as our Standard room wasn't ready on check-in. This was another $60.00 Singapore but it was a bigger room with a nice view. No problem there. We verified our late checkout until 4.00pm on the day of 24/6 when checking in & had the documentation confirmed.

The hotel itself was was fine but we found there was no hotel information folder except for a single sheet in a perspex container giving just basics for all Novotel hotels. The room was reasonably clean but with a very visible cobweb hanging from one of the architraves The reception desk did not explain that most queries or requirements for guest services were dealt with through the Business Centre on the same floor eg. buying stamps or sending letters, etc. Must say the Business Centre were very helpful with some flight details we wanted verified & changed.

The hotel is very convenient for dining on Clark Quay and most Singapore attractions and the breakfast was very good in the hotel cafe.

We just found the staff particularly at reception quite terse & the Hotel itself quite impersonal. We were badgered by the Reception staff about not vacating our room at the allotted time despite the late checkout being checked on arrival & were told to vacate not a moment later than 4.00pm or we would be charged another days tariff. My husband did take our travel documentation down to the desk but there was no apology was offered.

We will think twice about staying there again

Travelled from england in May 2008.
Booked the hotel with ebookers.com just because it was cheaper than booking directly with novotel or any other website really.

Getting to the hotel is straight forward, either getting a cab from the airport or getting the MRT. Cab will be the easiest from the airport and costs approx S$20 which is fine really and takes about 20-30 mins. Check-in is a straightforward process although there are normally on two check-in desks open so you do have to wait. The staff are efficient so your not waiting for very long.

Rooms are excellent, the view we had was over clarke quay itself and its really good. Everything you would expect from a hotel of this caliber.

Wi-fi conection is available free of charge i believe but the signal and connection isnt very reliable but it's ok if you just need to check emails etc.

Only thing which i find a bit dissappointing is that in a hotel such as novotel, where the prices are quite high (im a budget traveller but decided to splash out), that breakfast isn't complimentary when many other budget hotels can afford to provide one.

Other than that very very good hotel. It provides everything you would expect from a hotel of this caliber.

Would definetly stay then again!