The Village Hotel Sentosa

A quick getaway to a family friendly hotel in the middle of Sentosa Island, Singapore.

The Background

My birthday is coming up and we were looking for something to do. I have a 3 year old and 2 teenage kids aged 12 and 13. My wife would like to do something special and thought of going out of the country for a short getaway.

The usual destinations were considered. We were looking at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (we haven't been there), Batam, Indonesia (nearby and very very cheap), and of course, in and around Singapore. KL would be nice, but we thought that the travel time would be too much (taking the plane is out of the question). Batam is cheap, but the fare is not. It would cost us only $100 for the hotel + breakfast, but we need $280 for the ferry ride. Then we found The Village Hotel Sentosa.

We actually found The Outpost Hotel and booked there. Booking sites offer rates as low as $280 per night. Their website offers a better deal at $235 per night! This is because they're not yet officially open, but had a soft opening from April - June. You can visit their website here and learn more about their soft opening promotion. We were enticed by the promotion and booked it for my birthday not knowing some tiny but important details.

As it turns out, there are 3 hotels in the vicinity, The Outpost, The Barracks Hotel, and The Village Hotel. The Outpost is designed for adults and couples, The Barracks Hotel is designed for more luxurious travellers (opening in Q3 of 2019), and The Village Hotel Sentosa is designed for families. However, we might have overlooked these details as we were unaware that there were 3 hotels from the same group. We went ahead and booked The Outpost for a night. A few days after the booking, a duty manager from The Outpost Hotel sent us a welcome email noting as well that their facility is designed strictly for adults. We explained our predicament of having our kids with us and the manager graciously offered to transfer our reservation to The Village Hotel Sentosa and that our room will be upgraded to a Family Room at no extra charge. That’s when we learned about The Village Hotel Sentosa and that there are 3 new hotels all under Far East Hospitality.

“...there are 3 hotels in the vicinity, The Outpost, The Barracks Hotel, and The Village Hotel. The Outpost is designed for adults and couples, The Barracks Hotel is designed for more luxurious travelers, and The Village Hotel Sentosa is designed for families.”

Arriving at the Hotel

The check in time is 3:00pm, later than most. We headed for Vivo City. It's a mall located at Harbor Front. Fortunately, it's connected to an MRT station making it easily accessible. At Vivo City, the hotel has a free shuttle service running every 30min (Lobby G, beside Paradise restaurant). They have their time schedule posted at the pick-up and drop off point. Be there at least 10 min before the scheduled time as the shuttle will not wait. It might arrive a few minutes early (which is what happened to us) and you would have to wait for the next one.

We arrived at the hotel around half past three and were greeted by a staff full of smiles. First thing we noticed was the VIK section (Village Important Kids). They allow and encourage the kids to be part of the check-in/check-out process. They even have their own sign-up sheets! The staff explained that it allows the kids to be part of the experience and make them feel important and valued.

Remember we were supposed to have our booking transferred? That didn't happen! Safe to say that the duty manager of The Outpost didn't do what he said he would do. But that's not where the story is. The story is to the staff of The Village Hotel Sentosa who handled our concern. Dolyn- She was calm, sympathetic, and very helpful. On other days where my wife would hear "Sorry ma'am, I can't seem to find your booking on our system!" she would have gone berserk! Kudos to the staff to the way she handled the situation.

We originally booked a room for one night. The Outpost manager informed us that we will receive a complementary room upgrade to family room at The Village Hotel Sentosa. Since we have a family room now, we brought our teenage kids along with us (thinking we'll be getting a big room). Since we originally booked just a room, we're entitled to only 2 breakfast. We asked the hotel staff for rates for additional breakfast. She asked if the additional was for our kids. We said yes. She said she'll add the breakfast for the kids for free! So we booked for a room, and because of the mishaps, we received a family room (2 adjoining rooms) and breakfast for 4. The customer service for this hotel is over the roof! 5 star commendation!

The Pool

The facility has a total of five (5) pools that guests can enjoy. One of them is located at the rooftop of The Outpost Hotel and available only after the grand opening, and again since its The Outpost, that pool is designed with adults in mind. The four other pools though would still be sufficient to give you lots of fun!

I personally enjoyed the Lazy River Pool. Although it takes 2 minutes to float around the river, I felt I could stay there floating endlessly for hours. It was relaxing to me and it helps that I was the only one able to withstand the cold water. The other three pools, they were HEATED pools!!! The water is always at a comfortable temperature.

The Children's Playpool is where my toddler spent most of her time. They have two kiddie slides and there were a lot of kids her age in that area.

The Adventure Pool is where some of the adults, some of the toddlers, and most of the teenage kids stay. It is also the biggest pool. The cascading design helps distinguish the depth of each pool. As you go higher, the pool goes deeper. The shallowest would be about knee deep, then waist deep, then chest deep. No worries for those who cannot swim, floaters are distributed to all!!

Fun activities are also conducted at this pool. When we went to swim, there was aqua zumba complete with an instructor. They also have what they call Playtivity. I guess it's short for Play Activity. During our stay the Plativity was a Scavenger Hunt at the nearby beach.

The Pamukkale Pool is the "adults only" pool. It has a bar and a spa. It's a bit deeper than the deep part of the adventure pool, but not deep enough for an adult to be completely submerged. It has a nice view of the sea - the South China Sea.

From here, daily fireworks from the "Wings of Time" show can be seen. Notice that it is also cascading?! The benches are in the pool. If your cup of tea is to sit down, lounge, and read a good book, then this is the perfect spot for you.

The Room

On the way to our room, we passed by the amazing pool. Seeing the pool made me excited and really want to go to our rooms and change to our swimwear. As we reached our designated floor, first thing I noticed was a vending machine beside the lift. It was something unusual. Usually, you’d order those super expensive food items through room service. Having a vending machine dramatically drops the price. The usual $10 soda cans in those small fridge becomes an affordable $1.50. Those vending machines also offers commonly forgotten items, like the pesky charging cable, power banks, luggage padlocks, etc.

I thought having this vending machine, though useful and functional, may make this hotel feel cheap, until I used it. I wanted a cup of instant noodles from the vendo, and getting one feels like operating the latest smartphone. Wifi connection, wireless payments, and QR scanning made me feel so smart and techie. Having this machine in turn made the hotel feel ultra modern.

Entering the room was a surprise. The size of the room is about the same as those 3-star hotels. The walls are near the bed and just wide enough for one person to walk around. What the room lacked in space, made up for the furniture inside. Every item inside the room screams “luxury” and “expensive.” The toilet seat lifts up at a touch of the button, with the option to remember your personalized toilet seat settings. Lights and AC are controlled in a master control center and can be set and operated by the bedside. Curtains and beddings were bought overseas (we asked) with modern paintings on the wall. It was a marriage of luxury, functionality, and technology.

Remember that this was for my birthday, and remember that the hotel didn’t know we were arriving? Apparently, my wife had requested to have a complementary birthday surprise to be set up. Again, the staff of this hotel went above and beyond! They manually made a birthday banner, blew up some balloons, and graciously had a cup cake plated for me. The bed looked awesome, and seems to complement the existing room decorations.

Our stay was enjoyable, made possible by the staff’s attitude and how they value their guests. We felt very pampered, and very special. The hotel feels modern, high tech, but at the same time, practical and reasonable. If you’re planning to stay in Sentosa as a family, The Village Hotel Sentosa should be part of your consideration.