Hotel Vagabond, Singapore

This hotel is an unexpected gem.

Located in the lively Jalan Besar/Little India district, Hotel Vagabond is the first hotel from Garcha Hotels, a luxury collection of hotels by Satinder Garcha, set to open in an expanding list of cities from Singapore to Santiago.

As soon as one enters the doorway, one enters Vagabond Salon, the heart and soul of Hotel Vagabond.  Decorated to represent a modern interpretation of a Parisian salon, the salon features intense red drapes, golden banyan trees, chic lounge music piped in through speakers and lots of coffee table books lying around. Many pieces of art hang on the wall.  The ambience revels confidently in its modern luxury.  I don’t think I have ever seen such a unique interior before.

The unique taste in furnishing and interior extends to the rooms. Designed by celebrated French designer Jacques Garcia, the classic guest room was a fusion of old world glamour, modern luxury and art:

The black and white bathroom tiles and brass taps speak of a decidedly old world European influence.

Many paintings and photographs hang on the wall behind the bed.

The walls and door to the bathroom feature embroidered fabrics panels which I thought was quite unique and they heighten the sense of old world charm of the room.

Modern creature comforts include an expresso machine and a 40 inch TV .  I was impressed that this TV is 40 inch while most hotels only offer 32 inch TV.  Moreover, all 20 local and cable channels on this TV are HD. Yay!

The room also provides Italian brand  Etro toiletries. While the musk fragrance of the toiletries does not particularly appeal t me, the tubes are quite generous in quantity (40 ml) and unbeatable in their fashionable packaging.

While the room is small, I found it perfectly adequate. They have even included a small luggage bench, bedside reading lamps and a bench in front of the bed which makes it so easy to take off and put on shoes.  The room is complete.

Most boutique hotels seem to use “boutique” as an umbrella cover-up to offer mediocrity —- medicocre product, lack luster ambience, substandard service are all explained away using ” boutique”.  Hotel Vagabond totally confounds this trend.  I was just amazed at the quality the room offers. The quality of certain details definitely surpass most established 5-star names such as Hilton, Hyatt and Intercontinental.  For example, the coffee cups and saucers of Rosenthal china are fine and exquisite (as opposed to clunky coffee cups) and they have this pale green translucent quality that only the best china have.

The bathrooms and towels are really thick and fluffy.

While Garcha Hotels is not yet a big hotel group, they have bothered to embroider the hotel group’s emblem on the bathrobe.  And did I mention the bathrobes are thick and fluffy?  I miss the bathrobes.

The bed sheets seemed clean and crisp.  They felt like they have a high thread count.  Moreover, the pillows and quilt cover have a piping  on them.  You just don’t see such details and old world glamour anymore.

The details of the room and the overall ambience is definitely worthy of the “luxury boutique hotel” title the hotel claims.