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HOTELS in Sentosa have been sprucing up to cash in on the increased number of visitors to the island – a spillover effect from the opening of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) and its casino.

Of Sentosa’s seven resorts, excluding those in RWS, four – Rasa Sentosa Resort, Singapore; Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa, Costa Sands Resort Sentosa and The Sentosa Resort & Spa – have either recently upgraded their facilities or are doing so.

In addition, an eighth hotel, the six-star Movenpick Hotel Sentosa, will open partially this year.

So, by this time next year, Sentosa will have 1,332 hotel rooms outside of RWS – 17 per cent more than what it had in March this year.

Four of RWS’ six hotels – Festive Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, Crockfords Towers and Hotel Michael – opened on Jan 20, adding 1,350 rooms to the island.

Its remaining two hotels, Equarius Hotel and Spa Villas, will add another 500 rooms when they are completed.

Its casino opened on Feb 14 while its theme park, Universal Studios Singapore, started operations on March 18.

In a March report in The New Paper, Sentosa Leisure Group said the number of visitors to Sentosa, excluding RWS, grew 17 per cent from January to March 23, compared with that of the same period last year.

Business has become more brisk since the integrated resort opened, observed Mr Frankie Lam, director of sales and marketing at Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa, a 121-room boutique resort.

“More families are extending their usual one-night stay to two or even three nights now,” he said.

Mr Kelvin Ng, executive director of four-star Siloso Beach Resort, agreed that business has picked up since RWS opened.

The 182-room resort has been running at full house since March, he said.

More guests – most of whom also visit the casino – are extending their stay just before they are due to check out, he noted.

Another reason for Sentosa’s hotels being fuller than usual: The 17-year-old Rasa Sentosa Resort has been closed for major refurbishment works.

The 459-room resort was the largest hotel on Sentosa before RWS came along.

REVAMP: What a room at Rasa Sentosa Resort will look like when the hotel reopens.

It shut its doors on March 15 for 10 months, to give a facelift to its guestrooms, swimming pool, gym, spa, children’s club, food-and-beverage outlets and function rooms.

It will also enlarge some rooms, giving it a total of 454 rooms when it reopens, hopefully during Chinese New Year next year, said Ms Elizabeth Loo, its director of communications.

The hotel will also have a new name: Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort, Singapore.

Plans for the revamp have been in the pipeline for a few years, but the hotel chose to start renovations after RWS opened four of its hotels, so that guests on the island would not be short of rooms, Ms Loo said.

Meanwhile, Amara Sanctuary Resort will add a spa next month and 18 suites by the end of next year, in anticipation of the greater number of visitors at Sentosa.

It also hopes to draw cruise-ship passengers, as Sentosa’s new leisure-boat terminal will open next year.

Costa Sands Resort Sentosa, owned by NTUC Club, has recently given 34 of its superior rooms a contemporary new look, complete with parquet flooring and flat-screen TV sets.

The Sentosa Resort & Spa, which has been around since 1991, completed extensive refurbishment works three years ago.

Movenpick Hotel Sentosa, a deluxe 181-room resort complete with cigar lounge and whiskey bar, is being built at the site of the now-defunct Sijori Resort.

Part of the hotel will open in September this year. It will be fully operational in the first quarter of next year.

The hotel, owned by Cairnhill Group Holdings, is a franchise of the international Movenpick Hotels & Resorts chain.

Thanks to the development of the integrated resorts, Mr Helmut Gaisberger, general manager of Movenpick Hotel Sentosa, anticipates that more travellers who used to simply pass through Singapore will now stop over for a short holiday here.

Mr Gaisberger, who has worked in Singapore and Manila for close to two decades, said: “The island (Sentosa) was basically where people went for the weekend for a bit of quiet family time.

“But with all these new developments, it’s a completely different ball game.”

rachchan@sph.com.sg

For more my paper stories click here.

Sentosa Blooms

By Rachel Chan, my paper | Fri, May 14 2010

Hotels refurbished with fresh looks to draw more travellers.

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sentosa

hotels

shangri-la