You stay here for the convenience and location as the Quay is really the loveliest and most lively place to be in Singapore. It's walking distance to China Town, to several train stations, and the night life around the Quay is wonderful. That was certainly the highlight.

We found the staff fairly neutral and we also had difficulty in checking in. We were informed that we'd been 'upgraded to two single beds' however the looks on our face probably told them that we'd much prefer to be 'downgraded to a queen bed, thank you very much'.

Be careful if you pay in advance. They tried to charge us when we checked out but thankfully we had our receipt on hand from the booking site. Apparently this is a 'common mistake'.

They will allow you to leae your luggage there for a while. We travelled to Borneo from Singapore and left our luggage there for a week without problems.

And also be careful of the taxi's waiting outside the door. They're 'hotel taxis' and will charge you double. It's just as easy to walk to the end of the street and get a standard one.

I stayed at this hotel for four nights. I was on business and the hotel was a "preferred" hotel by our company, with prearranged rates.

Check in was a problem in that the clerk could not find my reservation. He was unapologetic when I produced the confirmation number and he searched for several more minutes.

The hotel lobby is on the 7th floor, necessitating an elevator change whenever entering or leaving the hotel. I found this quite inconvenient.

The room was small with two twin beds very low to the floor. The bathroom was likewise small. Sufficient for a single person but not luxurious by any means. The room was clean and tidy.

I was on the side of the hotel facing Clarke Quay, with its large number of restaurants and night clubs. I was disturbed one night (Saturday) from 2am to 4am by the noise from the clubs.

The breakfast and internet service were not included in my rate and seemed rather steep ($30S each). The breakfast did provide a good variety and selection.

The location is good for night life, but is not much in the daytime. The MRT system is a short walk from the hotel.

I would only stay there again if I were on business.

The Singapore Novotel is very much in the Novotel corporate 'style'. The room we had was small, as was the bathroom, with minimalism taken to an extreme - no-where to sit other than on the bed and not enough room to put down our suitcases. In fact if there had been a chair we would had to have left our suitcases in the corridor. In other words exactly the same as most other Novotels in the UK, France etc. I know we could have paid for a room up-grade, but for only two nights we did not think the expense was justified
Having said that, the location is excellent with regards to Clarke Quay, although this area is relatively 'dead' during the day. In retrospect we probably would have been better to have stayed nearer Orchard Road,to be nearer the main shopping malls.
The buffet breakfast, which was included in our room-rate, was excellent, with plenty of choice. I would also mention that all the staff we met, from the front-desk through to the door-men, were friendly and helpful.
Overall not a bad hotel for a brief stay, but I would suggest you look elsewhere if you are planning on staying for more than a few days.

The Good:

Location is excellent. Clarke Quay is a great place to be around as its vibrant and happening with a plethora of nightlife spots and restaurants. You are also within walking distance of Boat Quay with all of the eating places on the water. There is a shopping mall in the same building as the hotel and a 7-11 on the ground floor. The rooms are spacious (at least the ones assigned to us were) and the breakfast is quite nice (it was included in our package rate).

The Bad:

Service is really really bad. Check in took ages plus the staff seem to have an attitude problem. Not a single smile anytime you approach the counter. I would agree with a previous poster that they seem to have issues with brown skinned individuals. Room service is slow and it takes ages for house keeping to resolve any problem. The internet PCs are always occupied and business center staff have an even worse attitude than the front desk staff.

On the whole, this location is ok from the perspective of location and the rooms but you have to be willing to put up with the attitude!