We check in at the Pan Pacific Orchard, the group’s new flagship, located in the heart of Singapore.
Opened in May 2023, Pan Pacific Orchard, Singapore dominates a key location on Singapore’s most popular shopping and entertainment destination, and boasts 347 rooms and suites steps from Palais Renaissance, ION Orchard, and Isetan Scotts. A bold, sustainable development, the hotel features more than 7,300-sqm of foliage that covers more than 200 per cent of the hotel’s land area, making this an urban oasis like no other.
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What are the first impressions?
In a word, wow. The 23-storey hotel, the creation of WOHA Architects, is unlike anything else on Orchard Road and seems to defy gravity, with the semi-outdoor lobby, a ‘garden terrace’ of flowing water and greenery perched beneath a mirror-like ceiling. Similarly, the hotel’s ‘beach terrace’ pool on the fifth floor is wreathed by mirrored guest rooms and boasts views across the city. This oasis identity hints at the hotel’s green credentials, which include rainwater collection, filtered water taps in rooms, solar panels and an innovative bio-digester system.
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How about the rooms?
While I loved the rest of the hotel, I found my 30sqm Beach Terrace Balcony King room to be cluttered and stifling. There’s everything you would expect in a hotel room, a large bed dressed in 400-thread count linens, an armchair and a single vanity bathroom with shower and Diptyque amenities, but everything seems crowded, and the modular design that sees panels sliding this way and that (offering very little privacy in the process) seem more like concessions than conveniences (although the vaulted ceiling above the bed does give some reprieve).
There’s also a sizeable, enclosed balcony that overlooks the beach terrace pool below, but I see most of my neighbours are using theirs for drying laundry and luggage storage more than relaxation, perhaps because of the noise that echoes up from the pool.
For something a bit roomier, book one of the sublime Cloud Terrace Suites, which also gives you access to the 130-seat Pacific Club Lounge, a sophisticated space on the 11th floor overlooking the Garden Terrace, a verdant al fresco events space, which serves evening cocktails and leisurely breakfasts.
Have you eaten yet?
You’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to dining; lobby-level Mosella serves executive chef Pedro Samper’s approachable Mediterranean-Peruvian cuisine by night and glorious breakfast spreads each morning, while seductive Florette has one of the city’s best champagne lists as well as libations crafted with the hotel’s own gin, produced in partnership with Singapore’s first gin distillery Tanglin and inspired by the nutmeg plantations that once sat where Orchard Road is today.
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How about a little holistic living?
You’re in luck as the St. Gregory spa, exclusive to in-house guests and located on the Beach Terrace level, offers a menu of indulgent contemporary treatments. Alternatively, the hotel’s Happy Sleepers programme includes sleep-boosting amenities and activities including a pillow menu, in-room meditation and yoga and luxury bath products.
Summary
Pan Pacific Orchard is an inspiring new hotel with a brilliant location and a cutting-edge sustainable design that’s best suited for guests who want to make it their base from which to explore all this vibrant city has to offer.