Pit stop Singapore (pt.4)

Continuing with the hotel theme; while staying at a preferred business and leisure-oriented hotel in the very centre of the business district, I suitably get to hear (in May 2007) some input from the hotel’s point of view on the business development in Singapore. See M Hotel review

 

This five-star hotel, coming with a roof-top pool, offers IT butlers and a reward programme where coloured stress balls in sets are given to returning guests. M Hotel is also popular for and specialised on weddings.

 

Staying at M Hotel you can also get a room overlooking the harbour and the cargo terminals, the symbol for Singapore as one of the world’s largest shipping harbours.

 

Executive assistant manager Charles Lai told me that two integrated resorts, including the multi-billion-dollar casino and resort Marina Bay Sands, are coming up and how the economy has soared driven by a manufacturing upswing and building boom.

 

Singapore is forecasted to become a bustling global city; a place to live, work, play where there is a need for foreign talent.

 

Foreigners keep pumping in money into the high-end housing market according to a newspaper report also saying that Singapore’s fast developing hub status will send office rents “through the roof”.

 

According to Hong Leong Group’s executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng Spore is starting to attract ‘cosmocrats’ – and emerging group of globetrotting super-rich people who are flush with cash and are buying the best properties from London and Paris to New York and Hong Kong.

 

From M Hotel it is also not far to the new beacon down by the HarbourFront in the form of VivoCity – a new shopping nirvana and must visit as the centre-piece of Singapore's newest lifestyle hub.
 

With the promise of “a fluid shopping enjoyment where one space leads intuitively into another” and “iconic destination that will constantly surprise and stimulate visitors” one starts thinking what really makes an impression these days in terms of shopping centres.

 

Moving and talking robots – like a personal shopping guide – certainly would. Or interactive modules that you can carry with you, giving all sorts of sales and promotions-of-the-day info as well as floor maps while exploring this retail & lifestyle destination. That would certainly be helpful in the floating mega complex that is VivoCity. Now that has yet to see the light of day.

 

What you do get is an iconic architecture which sets it apart from the traditional box format of many other retail developments. This means one can enter a shop in one end and exit in the other and suddenly not knowing where you came from.

 

Visitors with less sense of orientation can easily get somewhat lost but that probably matters to a smaller extent as the venue is intended to be connected as on continuous experience – a “fluid shopping enjoyment”.  The developer aimed at not even separating the space by floor, though there are floors and elevators for sure. You cannot exactly ride on the wave from ground level up to floor three. The design with the blue and green elements in the ceiling as part of the interior evokes images of waves on the sea. As a one-stop retail, entertainment and lifestyle destination bubbling with energy and flowing with vitality it should inspire your visits again and again. Expect themed festivals, international bazaars, fashion shows and many other stimulating programs.

 

Part of the entertainment a 602-seat cinema hall houses one of the widest cinema screens in Asia at 22.4 metres and there are the Business Class cinema and Cinema Europa which screen specialized art house and film festival programmes

 

VivoCity also comes with many open spaces and restaurants facing the sea with outdoor seating. Apart from an outdoor amphitheatre there are huge play pools on the sky roof.

 

For better or for worse, the international fast food restaurants and coffee brands are already here.

 

Most interesting is probably that the lifestyle complex contains regional Asian clothing brands and unique retail and entertainment concepts; among them a number of brand stores hitting Singapore's shores for the first time: Adidas Original Store, GAP, Ted Baker, Pull and Bear and the Spanish retail enclave, Spain2Dream. Spain2Dream consists of several Spanish retailers including fashion label Desigual and the Barcelona FC store. Key anchor tenants such as home-grown Tangs Department Store are also committed to introducing fresh new concepts to Singapore. Tangs is among the crowd pleasers for sure and home to many brands. You can also find a number of spa and beauty shops at VivoCity – and a surprise must be the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York shop!

 

The HarbourFront which is home also to the entertainment complex St James Power Station, (where you find Tiger LIVE; venue for Singapore’s iconic beer, introduced in 1932) and the Singapore Cruise Centre, can be reached by road, rail, bus, monorail, cable cars and boats. Cruise ships usually arrive and depart on weekends. From here Sentosa Island with its resorts and beach clubs is only minutes away by cable cars.

 

Part of the vibrant waterfront city in southern Singapore and its largest entertainment and recreation hub is also Marina at Keppel Bay under development, catering to the influx of investors. The southern shoreline is being transformed into a world-class waterfront featuring this marina and residential development on its very own private island, Keppel Island.

 

Yet, another attraction under development will most strikingly change the Singapore skyline and entertainment and tourism landscape as we know it. Singapore has many striking buildings and appealing attractions, but nothing will compare with Marina Bay Sands – the upcoming integrated resort which will host three cascading hotel towers, extensive MICE facilities and entertainment including - a casino! Just looking at the architectural images is awe-inspiring.

Nature is also a strong ingredient in Singapore, and a big concern for the nation state with its limited geographical area. Sentosa is one such green basin and an island resort since the 1970’s, nowadays with tropical resorts, themed attractions, nature parks and heritage centres.

 

Swim with dolphins at the Underwater World Singapore, a unique and well-known oceanarium showcasing some 250 species from around the regions.

 

Or swim or chill out in style on the beach at delights such as the branch of the original Café del Mar on Siloso Beach. Especially on weekends the open-air beach bars on Sentosa are places where to both chill out in the afternoons. DJ:s spin groovy beats and ambient while you enjoy the sea, the beach, the sunset and the cocktails. They also function as nightlife venues, especially the well-known KM8

 

Read the rest of this destination review:

Part I: Pit stop Singapore - booming development, vibrant-events, brimming with confidence

Part II: Pit stop Singapore: numerous vibrant events and festivals, cultural influx, global aspirations

Part III: Pit stop Singapore - nighlife, Naumi hotel, Peranakan at InterContinental

Part V: Pit stop Singapore - Amara Sanctuary Sentosa, National Musem, Tanglin Village, Clarke Quay, Equinox: New Asia Bar

 

See also Image gallery Singapore

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