Mandarin Oriental, Singapore

Mandarin Oriental, Singapore stands at 5 Raffles Avenue, part of the Marina Square development on the north shore of Marina Bay. It opened in 1987 as The Oriental Singapore, one of three hotels built around a shopping complex by the American architect John Portman, and it is the one with the clearest view across the water to the city skyline, the Esplanade theatres and, since 2010, the three towers of Marina Bay Sands. A full renovation closed the hotel for half of 2023, and it reopened that September with new rooms, restaurants and spa.

History

Marina Square was built on reclaimed land in the mid-1980s, when the shoreline of Singapore was being pushed outwards and the bay itself did not yet exist in its present form. Portman, known for the atrium hotels he designed in Atlanta and San Francisco, planned the complex with three hotels sharing a podium of shops. The Oriental opened in 1987 under Mandarin Oriental, two years after the group took its combined name. It was renamed Mandarin Oriental, Singapore in the 2000s as the group standardised its branding. The surroundings changed around it: the Esplanade theatres opened in 2002, the Singapore Flyer in 2008, Marina Bay Sands in 2010 and Gardens by the Bay in 2012, and the hotel's bay-facing rooms acquired one of the most photographed views in Asia. The 2023 renovation was the most thorough in its history.

Architecture and design

Portman's building is a 21-storey tower whose plan is a fan opening towards the bay. Inside, the guest floors wrap around a full-height atrium, with corridors as galleries overlooking the lobby, a signature of his work. The 2023 renovation kept the atrium and reworked the public rooms in a lighter palette, with references to Singapore's botanical heritage and to the group's fan emblem. Rooms were rebuilt with larger bathrooms and, on the bay side, windows that take in the whole sweep from the Esplanade to Marina Bay Sands.

Rooms and suites

The hotel has 527 rooms and suites across its 21 floors. Rooms face either the bay or the city skyline towards Raffles City and the Padang. Club rooms on the upper floors include access to the club lounge. The suites on the top floors look directly over the bay, and the largest of them are used for the Formula One weekend in September, when the Singapore Grand Prix circuit runs past the hotel's doorstep.

Dining

Cherry Garden is the Cantonese restaurant, laid out around a courtyard in the atrium with dishes built around Cantonese technique and seasonal produce. MO Bar is the cocktail bar off the lobby and has a reputation among Singapore's bartenders. The renovation added new all-day dining and a Mediterranean-leaning restaurant, and the hotel's Dolcetto cafe serves pastries and the group's cakes. Morton's The Steakhouse, an American steakhouse, has traded at the hotel for many years.

Wellness

The Spa at Mandarin Oriental occupies its own floor with treatment rooms, steam rooms and a relaxation lounge, and the fitness centre is open around the clock. The outdoor swimming pool on the fifth floor is 25 metres long and faces the bay across a terrace of loungers, with the Marina Bay Sands towers in view.

Weddings and events

The hotel has a ballroom with its own pre-function area and a set of function rooms on the lower floors, and it hosts weddings, dinners and conferences for groups attending the Suntec convention centre next door, which is linked by covered walkway. Singapore weddings here combine a solemnisation, often with the bay as backdrop, with a Chinese banquet of many tables in the ballroom. The pool terrace is used for receptions and the Grand Prix weekend brings corporate hospitality.

Location

The hotel sits between the Esplanade theatres and the Singapore Flyer, with the Marina Square and Suntec City malls connected by walkway. Esplanade and Promenade stations on the MRT lie a few minutes away on foot, and the Padang, Raffles Hotel, the National Gallery and the Civic District are within a fifteen-minute walk. Changi Airport is a drive of about 20 minutes. For a luxury hotel in Singapore with the bay in front and the convention district behind, it occupies the middle ground between leisure and business.