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[Top photo: Wangz Hotel has artworks worth $400,000 that are displayed in its interiors, including some suites.]

Visitors now have fewer reasons to accuse Singapore of being home to only soulless shopping malls and chain hotels.

When German businesswoman Claudia Ionker was searching the Internet for a place here to stay for two nights recently, she chose Wangz Hotel, a boutique hotel in Outram Road which opened last month.

'I used to stay at those big chain hotels and the experience was so cold and impersonal,' says the 44-year-old. 'At a boutique hotel, I'm treated as a first-class guest.'

Wangz is one of a handful of interesting new hotels sprouting across the island.

Mr Brian Patterson, 64, an Australian mining manager, has been staying at the four-month-old Nostalgia Hotel in Tiong Bahru since last month. He says of his experience there: 'The staff are very friendly and co-operative. The service is wonderful - they offer you free apples, which is a nice touch.'

Apart from attentive personal service, boutique hotels offer unique decor.

Wangz is a 41-room boutique hotel housed in a six-storey, barrel-shaped building previously occupied by offices and a hostel.

Wangz Hotel is located in
a round building.

Glastech, which is in the serviced office business and is also developing a serviced residence in Novena, bought the property in 2007 to convert it into its first hotel. It is named after the Wang family, which owns Glastech.

Local architecture firm CPG Consultants landed the job of transforming the cylindrical building into a hotel. It was not an easy task.

As an MRT track runs below the building, its original structure has to be retained. The architects also could not increase the load on the building.

Given its round shape, carving out space within the hotel was also more problematic than inside a rectangular building.

In one respect, however, the curves are a blessing in disguise. Hotel manager David Yap, 40, says: 'The rounded walls make the rooms feel more comfortable as there is no claustrophobic feeling.'

Making the rooms and even the shower stalls in bathrooms feel more spacious are glass windows, some of which are full-length, giving guests great views of Tiong Bahru's old-world charm.

Wangz's Nectar restaurant offers modern
cuisine with Asian influences.

The view from the hotel's rooftop bar is even more spectacular - you sip your drink while gazing at the city skyline.

While the service and interiors of the rooms will get the thumbs-up from guests, Mr Yap says it is the hotel's artworks that make it stand out. The inn commissioned seven local and foreign artists to create 35 pieces of artworks featuring flora and fauna for its interiors.

He says the artworks cost the hotel $400,000 and they are for sale. The hotel will commission the artist to create new works to replace the ones sold.

'Some guests even pick their rooms because of the artworks,' he says.

The hotel, whose makeover costs $8million, currently enjoys 20 per cent occupancy. Most of its clients are European business travellers.

Promotional room rates start from $228 and are valid till March 31.

taysc@sph.com.sg

Halo, the rooftop lounge at Wangz, offers a panoramic view of
Singapore's skyline.

MORE HOTELS and their decor >>

A TOUCH OF NOSTALGIA
Nostalgia Urban Boutique Hotel, 77 Tiong Bahru Road

Given the hotel's name, guests at this 50-room boutique hotel should not be surprised to feel like they are in a time warp.

Owned by the Singapore-based Lion Properties Group, the $20-million hotel, open since last September, comprises two converted shophouses and a new annexe.

Nostalgia's general manager James Ting, 49, says the hotel 'maintains the old charm of Tiong Bahru yet offers a luxurious stay'. Singapore-based firm AMC Architects International designed it.

The lobby exudes a colonial feel, with its black and white marble tiles and carved wooden chairs. A 'mini museum' here - with old radios, weighing scale and green-and-white coffee-shop cups on display - reinforces the old-world charm.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Exhibits such as an old radio, a weighing scale
and a tiffin carrier play up the hotel's old-warm charm.

The rooms, fitted out in red, gold and brown colour themes, feature plenty of wood and louvred windows.

Apart from 47 superior, deluxe and exclusive rooms, there are also three balcony rooms, which have balconies overlooking the Tiong Bahru area. They were designed to look like the original ones in the shophouses.

Local artist Andre Tan's works cover the walls, including a dragon along the corridor leading to the rooms and paintings of Chinese opera performers in the rooms.

For a special touch of luxe, the hotel is the only one in the area with its own infinity pool, which overlooks a housing estate.

Mr Ting says its guests are mostly European leisure travellers who can 'better appreciate boutique hotels'. The hotel currently enjoys 30 per cent occupancy.

Room rates start at $190 a night.

Decked out in hues such as red and gold, the rooms at the Nostalgia
boutique hotel feature artworks of Chinese opera performers.

SIMPLE CHIC
Mayo Inn, 9 Jalan Besar

After 15 years, this budget hotel went from shabby to chic.

Local design company Fuur Associates and architecture firm Architects Action gave the three-storey conservation shophouse structure a designer makeover.

Mr Jasper Chia, 35, a director at Fuur, says: 'Most current boutique hotels tend to be over-designed to the point of being rather uncomfortable, and most budget hotels, in contrast, are scant on design and provides a more 'fast-food' experience.'

The new Mayo Inn aims to be somewhere between boutique and budget.

Hotel manager Terrance Tay, 58, says: 'We wanted to go one up from a budget hotel.

'We don't offer full services unlike boutique hotels but we are better maintained than budget ones.'

From the previous 16 rooms, it now has 23 rooms, which are easier to access now with a newly installed lift.

Mr Chia says: 'Our emphasis was to create a stylish building that sits well in the neighbourhood. The interiors of the rooms are deliberately kept simple and dignified.'

All the rooms, which come in varying sizes and layouts, get plenty of daylight with typical amenities such as air-conditioning, television and ensuite bathroom.

The design team added three more rooms on the roof top, which was previously unused. The rooms have clear views of the Little India area.

The inn is expected to be completed next month after six months of renovations. Mr Tay declined to reveal renovation costs.

Previously, guests were mostly budget travellers and families from the region.

'I hope our regulars will still be keen to stay with us,' says Mr Tay.

Room rates will start at $80 a night, $20 more than before.

Deliberately kept simple, the rooms at the upcoming Mayo Inn get plenty
of light and come with typical amenities such as ensuite bathrooms.

CHECK INTO THE COLONIAL CLUB
The Club, 28 Ann Siang Road

This 22-room, 1,950 sq m boutique hotel is pub chain Harry Holdings' first foray into the hotel business.

Converted from four shophouses which were previously used as office space, it is scheduled to be ready to accept guests by the end of April.

Singapore's colonial past and the area's popularity as a remittance centre for early Chinese immigrants are the inspiration for the interiors, which are designed by local architecture firm Ministry of Design.

The firm is experienced in designing for a property in Chinatown, having previously done the interiors for the New Majestic Hotel in nearby Bukit Pasoh Road.

A larger-than-life statue of Sir Stamford Raffles will tower over guests in the lobby. The interiors of its hotel rooms will have unique layouts and specially commissioned artworks and some will feature colonial-style pillars.

Overhauled at a cost of $3 million, the boutique hotel will offer guests two spots to chill out at: a rooftop sky bar that overlooks the Club Street conservation area and a tapas bar on the ground floor.

Mr Mohan Mulani, 49, chief executive of Harry's Holdings, says: 'The Club is targeted at the business traveller who wants to experience something more personal than the sometimes drab although comfortable five-star hotel stay.'

Room rates will start at $350 a night.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.

Have a suite dream

By Tay Suan Chiang, The Straits Times | Tue, Jan 19 2010

They are not as big as chain hotels but boutique inns still pull out the stops when it comes to interiors.

Keywords

boutique

hotel