Introduction
Edition is a brand I only recommend to very specific clients. You either love it or hate it. One group finds the brand boring, soulless and lacking any sense of place; the other (mostly younger) loves the minimalist design and its vibrant social spaces. So I'm here at Edition Singapore to figure out what camp am I personally in.
Location
The hotel sits in the quieter part of Orchard Road, on the opposite side from the St. Regis. It's about a ten-minute walk to ION and a few minutes to Orchard Boulevard MRT. It's an alright location, but there's really nothing to do in the immediate area.
Arrival & Impressions
I arrived around 9PM. Bellman was waiting at the door and check-in was done super quick. Late checkout proactively offered with my status. No complaints here. One thing I did notice that there was only 2 check-in desks - so in peak afternoon hours there could be a little queue.
Other than that, the lobby looked amazing: soaring ceilings, tropical plants, warm yellow-earth tones. The whole thing makes you feel like you're in an old Parisian palace. There's a white spiral staircase, a purple-lit bar and a very pleasant Le Labo scent pumped through everything.
The Room
Edition Singapore is one of the newest built luxury property in Singapore so the hard product is pristine. We stayed in a Standard King which was about 40sqm. White oak floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, motorized louvres, excellent beds - no complaints here! The space when light up at night with yellow lights feel incredibly homey, in stark contrast to the cold feel you get from the pictures.
Bathrooms are the highlight: double vanity, deep soaking tub, TOTO washlet, Le Labo toiletries, and La Bottega robes,
The one real weakness is the view, or rather the lack of one. It's a low-rise building, so you're either looking at the internal courtyard or at the street, and the street side picks up some noise at night. If you want the iconic Marina Bay Sands view from your room, head to Fullerton Bay.
Breakfast at FYSH
Breakfast is served at FYSH in the usual Edition format: a semi-buffet with a premium à la carte menu on top.
As usual with Edition, dining is their strongest aspects. It's one of the best breakfast I've had in Singapore luxury hotels. All the made-to-order dishes, including the laksa and the eggs benedict, were fantastic. The buffet spread is on the smaller side but I'd rather have a tight selection done well than fifty trays of mediocre buffet food.
The service, though, didn't quite keep up: missing cutlery, slow service, serving iced lattes without straws, staff forgetting my drink orders. Nothing major, just a string of little misses.
Rooftop Bar & Pool
The 43-meter rooftop pool is one of the longest hotel pools in Singapore , the see-through window in the floor is a fun party trick and there's a rooftop bar with seating attached to it. On paper it all sounded great - in reality I found it a little underwhelming. There are no views to speak of, since the pool is surrounded by high-rise buildings. The water is unheated and felt ice cold, especially on a morning swim. And the casual bar next to it felt more like a box being ticked: we have a pool bar.
Service
The takeaway: friendly, professional but not the drilled, anticipatory machine of Capella or the butler theater of Raffles. Beyond the breakfast hiccups, nothing went wrong - but nothing wowed me either. That's the trade you make with Edition and other design-forward hotels in general: so much energy goes into the spaces that the service polish sometimes runs a step behind. Go in knowing that, and you'll leave happy.
