Parkroyal Hotel, Kitchener Road Singapore review, tips on how to book

We booked Parkroyal hotel on Kitchener Road for 7 nights in September last year. Parkroyal has 3 hotels in Singapore and the one on Kitchener road is in the Little India area. Parkroyal Kitchener road is definitely a very sought out property, as was obvious from the occupancy. There are no discounts on the OTAs for this hotel; which further proves its an in-demand hotel.

Top reasons to book Parkroyal hotel

1. Location: One of the reasons why we choose this hotel was because of the location. We were visiting Singapore for the first time and wanted to be in an area where vegetarian food will not be an issue. Farrer Park MRT is 100 meter and Little India MRT is 1.2 km from the hotel. Mustafa Center, one of the famous 24-hour shopping mall in Singapore is 250 meter from Parkroyal. There are many Indian restaurants around and getting food any time of the day is very convenient.
2. Rooms: Hotel tariffs in Singapore are very high compared to other countries. Therefore, finding a decent sized room with a king bed could be a tough job. Most of the hotels that we looked at had small rooms and queen size bed. We didn’t want to be in a matchbox size room in case we wanted to spend some time relaxing at the hotel. King size bed was a must because we were travelling with our 5 yr old son who now needs a significant bed space himself 🙂

    

3. Amenities in the hotel: Parkroyal is a big property and has swimming pool and gym. Guests are also allowed to keep their luggage in the luggage room and freshen up in the gym changing room in case they have a late evening flight.
4. Unavailability of self-catering apartments: We prefer self-catering apartments over hotels during our holidays. We get a fully furnished house for the same price as that of a hotel (sometimes even at a lower price). However, guidelines for renting a self-catering apartment in Singapore are not very clear. Singapore official URA Housing rules state that it is illegal to rent a private apartment for less than 6 months. Check the official URA Housing rules for Singapore. However, Airbnb has listings in Singapore and some are reviewed very good. There is post on Quora about this too. Check Is Airbnb legal in Singapore on Quora. Given all the confusion, we did not want to take a chance with self-catering apartments.

How to book Parkroyal, Kitchener road

The hotel is listed in most of the OTAs for online booking. However, it does not accept any coupons and price is almost the same (if not higher) than on their website. I suggest you look at ParkRoyal website before booking on any OTA.

Things to note when booking at ParkRoyal:

• Unlike other hotels, ParkRoyal does not join 2 single beds to make a king size bed. If you book a twin room, you cannot request for a double bed later. The rates are different and double bed upgrade would mean almost 10 SGD extra per night.
• Check in time at ParkRoyal is 1 pm. They do not commit on accommodating early check in. Plan your trip accordingly. They do allow you to keep your luggage with them and come back to check in later. It is the same with check out too. You can keep your luggage in the luggage room, spend your day out, come back and get fresh and leave for the airport.
• You need to present the card using which you make the payment. This is absolutely non-negotiable by them. If you cannot, you can book a room with “Pay during check-in” option and make payment at the hotel itself.

How to get the best deal at ParkRoyal

Register online on ParkRoyal.com for their discovery loyalty program. Registered guest can book rooms at 10% discount in early bird offer. Follow these steps to book a room:

1. Register for the loyalty program on https://www.parkroyalhotels.com/en/join-now.html
2. Login with your discovery ID and search for your hotel.
3. Click on rooms tab. Select “Members Advance Purchase” in the package drop-down.
4. Select the room type and proceed.
5. Select the currency to your home currency.
6. Make the payment.

Note that the discounted advance bookings are non-refundable. You can go for the “Members best available rate” if you are looking for a refundable tariff.

Hospitality at Parkroyal

Our flight was landing Singapore at 9 am and we asked ParkRoyal for an early check-in. This is the mail I wrote to them:

Hi,

We are travelling to Singapore in September and have booked a Superior room at your hotel (Park Royal at Kitchener Road) from 24th Sep to 1st Oct 2016.  The booking is in the name of my husband < >. Our 5 yr old kid would be sharing the room with us. Please let us know the inclusions for this category of room.

We also have few requests:

1. We prefer a non-smoking room on one of the top floors with a nice view 🙂
2. Our flight lands in Singapore at around 9 am. Please let me know if you would be able to accommodate an early check-in.
3. My husband is a vegetarian and it would help if you could send us your restaurant(s) menu so we have an idea about the vegetarian food you serve.
4. We are in Singapore for our anniversary on <>. I hope you would make our day special in your own way and make the day and trip memorable for us!

Looking forward to a memorable holiday with ParkRoyal!

Regards,

Priyanka

They did not commit to early check in but we were told on arrival that we were upgraded to Deluxe room and the room was ready for check-in. We also received for basket and cookies on our anniversary (always a good idea to mail the hotel earlier and make your requirements clear).

The staff at Parkroyal is very polite and understanding and everyone was very helpful. The security guys at the entrance were always ready to call a cab if required; or help you with directions.

Food near ParkRoyal, Kitchener Road

The hotel has 4 in-house restaurants but we never dined there. There are a number of restaurants at a stone-throw distance from the hotel and we were never short of choices.

Restaurants near ParkRoyal:
Breakfast:

• Ananda Bhawan is a 24hr restaurant at a distance of 1km from the hotel.
  Murugan idly and Saravana Bhavan: 250 meters from the hotel. They open at around 9:15 am. We were out most of the days by the time they opened so got a chance to go to Murugan idly only once.
• Komalas : Right next to the hotel and opens at 8:30 am. Offers take away with good packaging.

Lunch/dinner: We were hardly around for lunch. We tried Indian Express, Swaad, Sankranti restaurants for dinner. Swaad serves the best value for money Gujarati food. Others were good too.

Have you stayed at Parkroyal and want to add some points to my blog? Leave a comment and I will add your suggestions with due credit 🙂