Using the hotel internet site I booked a four night stay in a Deluxe King Room and a round trip from the airport in a Mercedes S-Class.

A very friendly driver was waiting for us at arrivals and we had a beautiful trip to the hotel. A whole line of employees greeted us by name when we arrived. We were whisked immediately to the room where we were given jasmine tea as we checked-in.

We were on the eleventh floor and on the other side of the hotel from the harbour. I asked about an upgrade. I was told that the room we were in had recently been refurbished and that it was a lovely room (which indeed it was). We also had the advantage of having a terrace and not being on the noisy side of the hotel so we stuck with that room. I enquired about access to the Club but for the price we decided we would rather go 'a la carte'. On the first morning we got a taxi to Raffles and had lunch at the Long Bar in Raffles with a Singapore Sling and in the evening we had a beautiful meal at the restaurant at the top of the Swissôtel - what a lovely view.

We went to Mortons Steakhouse one night and had an excellent service, in fact we weren't even shown a menu to order from but rather the waiter came over with a trolley and we were shown various cuts of meat on a plate and various vegetables to choose from. I forgot to enquire about the prices (since we were shown no written menu apart from the wine menu) and when the bill came at the end it was more than the price of a night's stay in the hotel!

The last night we went to the Dolce Vita restaurant and ate at the side of the pool. What a restaurant! Amongst the best I've ever been to. I guess we liked the tranquility and the spaciousness of it besides the excellent food. It only lacked live piano music! We both miss that restaurant.

What I don't miss in this hotel though was walking along the corridor on the 11th floor to get to our room. I'm 1.94 metres tall and when I looked over the railing as I walked I found it a little disorientating - I would have felt more comfortable if the railing had been about 30 cm higher off the ground.

One night the toilet wouldn't flush. After ringing reception the maintenance man was at the door about a minute later which was impressive. He left our room and accessed the toilet from an area on the other side of the wall. It was fixed and I was told to wait at least a minute inbetween flushes. However an overflow tap next to the toilet dripped every few seconds so we had to put towels down on the bathroom floor so we wouldn't slip at night.

Check out was extended to 2pm for us.

I actually preferred this hotel to the vastly more expensive Ritz-Carlton next door, where I stayed on my last visit to Singapore. Of course, it can't match the RC for sheer sumptuousness, but it is cosier and feels as though a lot more effort went into the decoration and furnishings. Despite the Oriental's huge size, the tasteful rooms and well-equipped rooms manage to have a boutique feel that is unusual for this kind of business hotel.
The public areas of the hotel are an extraordinary mish-mash of wacky architecture and clashing styles, from trendy modern Japanese to tacky 1970s European; whether or not this is to your taste is a matter of opinion, but it certainly makes a change from the usual faceless, identikit hotels that I spend so much of my time in. Unlike most business hotels, this is one that I would also be more than happy to book for a holiday (assuming I wanted to go to Sing on holiday!).

I read previous reviews and was looking for a nice break at the end of a work related trip. To unwind a bit, I booked a Club room and found that it was worth the extra money.

Room wise, the Fullerton has a better feel, though I could hardly argue with the view I was given, looking straight at the Merlion and surrounding area. For me at least, one of the best features in the room was the speaker system which could be connected to a variety of devices including ipods.

Whilst the rooms may be less so, the level of service is way better than that of the Fullerton. It is worth staying here for the staff alone, who are genuine in anticipating needs and of being genuinely helpful.

From the sorbets, water and ice cold fruit, poolside every half hour or so, to having drinks re-filled in the club floor area, the level of service and manners is akin to travelling first class on an Asian airline. I can't give a better accolade than that.

Recently stayed at the Mandarin Oriental for 4 days on the return journey from the UK. We arrived early (9 am) and our room was not ready but the hotel staff were excellent. As it was going to be 4 hours before we could get into our room we were upgraded to a suite with views overlooking the Marina. The spa and pool facilities were excellent as was the morning breakfast buffet . The hotel was spotless and the service exceptional, everyone made you feel very special. It is also within walking distance to the restaurants and night life of Boat and Clarke Quays and Orchard Road for shopping. Having travelled all over the world and stayed in some pretty top notch hotels (including Singapore previously on many occasions) this is certainly one of the best for its general all round appeal. We will definitely stay on our return again in a few months.