I stayed twice at the Allson, with a trip to Malaysia in between, and would happily stay there again. As some others have said, the place is a bit tired but I found it spotlessly clean and all of the staff I dealt with were courteous and helpful. All staff – desk, concierge, housekeepers - always greeted us with a smile and a hello. I left a garment in my room when checking out which was found and returned by the housekeeping staff. A great bonus on our last day was the reception desk offering the option of keys to access the pool and showers (towels supplied) as we had a late flight out that night. The rooms and bathrooms are fairly small but they do not feel cramped (and we had an extra bed in the room for my 14yo son). I have stayed in smaller rooms in Europe and elsewhere! On both occasions I stayed in upper floor rooms – 11th and 13th floors – both of which floors are non-smoking and I found no problem with musty smells as some other reviewers have mentioned. If you are a non smoker I recommend explicitly asking for a non-smoking room when booking. The location, in the Historic District, is excellent. Bugis St, Little India, the River, Fort Canning are all within easy walking distance. The hotel is mid way between MRT Stations (Bugis or City Hall) for longer trips or there is a bus stop outside the front door. We faced onto Victoria St but heard no traffic noise at all. Breakfast is OK – choice of Chinese, Indian, Japanese, & English dishes (eggs cooked to order). There is a 24 hour hawker centre right next to the hotel which serves a variety of good cheap food and which has a bar. Overall, a great location, good value for money, helpful and friendly staff. I would recommend this hotel.

Clogged wash basin, grimy bathroom - all forgiveable. i've stayed in a bunch of hotels around the world and easily, this place has the worst ever front desk staff. house-keeping staff were polite. the staff here have never been trained on manners apparently. please go to class, people.
Will never stay again or recommend and actually cut our stay short and moved to another hotel.

My husband and I stayed at the Allson as part of Singapore Airline's Singapore Stopover package when we travelled on our honeymoon in February/March 2008.

We stayed twice, as we had a stopover in both directions. First visit was for 2 nights, the second was for 3 nights, so 5 nights all up.

We were very happy with our choice and mentioned to each other a number of times that we'd stay there again if we were transiting through Singapore.

The hotel is extremely well located, with train stations and major shopping districts only a few minutes walk away. We did nearly all of our Singapore sightseeing on foot from the hotel, where you can easily walk to Raffles, the Marina, the Esplanade, Suntec City, and heaps and heaps of shopping centres. Bugis Village and Bugis Junction take less than 5 minutes to walk to. Plus there is an awesome hawker centre next door (Victoria Street Food Centre), which is lively and has heaps of cheap and very delicious foods on offer!

The hotel may be a little tired, but it was immaculately clean and very comfortable. Beds and pillows were comfortable, and you have the option of requesting privacy in your room if you're just too tired to go out and you don't want housekeeping to disturb you. Floor 11 is non-smoking which was perfect for us. And despite its city location, you don't hear any street noise and the blockout curtians meant we were easily able to nap during the day after arriving on a redeye flight.

Reception were fairly friendly, though when we checked in early after that redeye flight, were were told we could check in from 9am and when we went to the desk, we were told the rooms were not yet ready, but they'd let us know. They didn't - I kept an eye on things myself. That was the only negative bit.

Concierge and the doormen were friendly and polite, helped with bags and were happy to give directions to the sights and shops.

Restaraunt staff were great. We had breakfast in the restaurant just to save time looking elsewhere and got a 50% reduction because we were hotel guests, and the western and local options easily kept us going until lunchtime.

As an aside, the Singapore Stopover holiday is brilliant - free transfers to and from the airport, major discount at the hotel (we payed less than $100 per day), and lots of free tickets to local attractions.

A few reviews on here complained about musty smells, small bathrooms and inattentive staff, but I've had worse at 5 star hotels in Australia. It was clean, comfy, well located and everyone was polite - who cares if the bathroom isn't massive?

Highly recommended!

We stayed here on a SIngapore Airlines stopover package - a very very cheap way to see the city. The hotel was fine - the rooms smelt a little bit musty, but were comfortable enough. The concierge staff were excellent - they had great directions for us and even booked us a very reasonable mini van out to the night zoo. This was the absolute highlight of the trip, as our van driver arranged tickets for us in advance and we received VIP service all night. A definite must!