Hotel Review: Shangri-la Singapore Horizon Club Business Room

Shangri-la Singapore recently reconfigured some of its guestrooms in the Tower Wing to launch a new room category – the Horizon Club Business Room. These rooms take on the same slightly diagonal + alcove layout that typically distinguish rooms in the Tower Wing but with added furniture suitable for remote work thrown in. This is in contrast to the Valley Wing’s opulent style or the Garden Wing’s resort aesthetics. 

I recently stayed at the Shangri-la Singapore as a guest of the hotel to check out this room category. As someone who occasionally works on the go, I was curious to see how easy it was to work remotely from the hotel.

Horizon Club Business Room

The Horizon Club Business Room is retrofitted from the existing Tower Wing Deluxe Room. These rooms were last refurbished in end-2016/early 2017 and was conceptualized by Japanese designer Ryoichi Niwata of Bond Design Studio. The nature-inspired aesthetics of the rooms are a marked departure from the previous business-like interiors prior to the renovation.

The wardrobe is transparent. Not merely a trendy fixture, this also helps reduce instances of guests forgetting to take out their clothes from the cabinet when they check out. The vanity mirror can be lifted up from a high table in order to save up on space. I’m the type who gets creeped out by mirrors facing the bed so this definitely alleviates that concern. The 38 square meter Horizon Club Business Room takes after the layout of the old wing – including the diagonally-angled bed and the small alcove which now contains the upgraded working desk.

Designed for remote working, the workspace in the spacious Horizon Club Business Rooms come equipped with a number of ergonomic furniture and electronics including:

• Omnidesk Adjustable standing desk that can be adjusted to one’s preferred height and angle
• Omnidesk Ergonomic chair
• Dell 27-inch 4K USB-C Hub Monitor, Logitech BRIO 4K Webcam and Poly Sync 40 Speakerphone
• Clutter-free desk setup with Logitech Master MX 3S Wireless Mouse Graphite and Logitech MX Mechanical Wireless Illuminated Keyboard
• Mobile Stand, Fast Charging Cable and Adaptor

What impressed me the most about the work setup in the room was how everything could be connected with just one USB cable. All it took was to plug that in to my laptop to get everything to function simultaneously, and that even included the charging of the laptop itself.  

The control buttons by the bed were also updated during the 2017 refurbishment to allow guests to control the room lighting without having to get up. The night and day curtains can also be controlled automatically so no issue in drawing the curtains despite the presence of the relatively lengthy omnidesk by the window.

As a Horizon Club category room, the minibar in the Horizon Club Business Room comes with free softdrinks. This pertains to the 6 cans of coke, sprite and tonic water inside the fridge. The room also came with a Nespresso coffee machine with 3 coffee capsules and tea from Shangri-la’s own inhouse brand.

The bathroom retains the same layout with the tub and shower area at opposite ends and with the sink in between. Toiletries are from L’occitane and the complete set of amenity kit was provided including shaving kit, cotton buds and toothbrush. 

Horizon Club

Located at the topmost (24th) floor of the Tower Wing, the Horizon Club was also renovated with the rest of the wing in 2016/2017. The color scheme is in keeping with Shangri-la’s updated look. It is one of the more spacious hotel club lounges in Singapore and personally, I would also rank it within the top 5 when going by looks alone.

I was handed a piece of paper  when I checked in containing the lounge benefits. Since it’s not available anywhere online, I’m posting it here for everyone’e benefit. Here are the Horizon Club benefits at Shangri-la Singapore. The actual benefits have also changed over the years.

Shangri-la Singapore Horizon Club Benefits

• Breakfast from 7AM to 10:30AM.
• Evening cocktails from 5PM to 7PM
• Complimentary pressing of one suit upon arrival, or two shirts if you don’t have a suit
• Light refreshments throughout the day
• Welcome soft drink in the in-room minibar
• Concierge and business center services
• Complimentary use of Horizon Club meeting rooms for 2 hours per day
• The lounge is open from 7AM to 9PM

It is also worth noting that children below 12 years old are also welcome at the Horizon Club Lounge but only during Saturdays and Sundays. 

The canape selection during evening cocktails are quite extensive and they were all placed in these petite plates. I could count no less than 10 different kinds although full-fledged hot dishes were not offered. I suppose the selection changes each day but on the day of my stay, many of the canapes consisted of raw items like sashimi.

Breakfast

For breakfast, guests have the option of having it at the club lounge or at The Line. As I was up relatively early in the morning, I chose to have it at The Line. 

The Line has one of the longest breakfast spreads among hotels in Singapore, with cuisines ranging from Singaporean to Chinese to Western and Indian. I always discover something new with every staycation at the Shangri-la Singapore. For this particular occasion, I noticed that they now also have a small Middle Eastern selection consisting of hummus, etc. They now also have a modest area showcasing healthier breakfast options such as tempeh (fermented soybeans) and unsweetened yogurt. 

If you are staying on a weekend, I would suggest heading for breakfast before 9AM to avoid having to queue. 

Conclusion

For all its inclusions, the Horizon Club Business Room effectively meets the demands of remote work with its ensemble of electronics. While many hotels boast of ergonomic office chairs, having an omnidesk in a hotel room is a relatively novel concept in Singapore and is an added plus for comfort and also suits those who prefer to work while standing. The single cable that it took for the entire setup to work was also quite impressive. As per a random check, the Horizon Club Business Room is pricing at a roughly S$47++ supplement over a Horizon Club Room and S$180++ supplement over a Deluxe Room in the same wing. Compared to the standard Horizon Club room, I think the S$47++ supplement is worthwhile if you are planning to do a lot of videoconferencing / working in the room. While I appreciate the bells and whistles that come with a Horizon Club access, I also note that there’s probably a chunk of business travelers / work-cationers who would appreciate the business setup in the guestroom but have little need for evening cocktails or all-day refreshments. In this sense, Shangri-la Singapore could also consider doing a variation of the Business Room without club access for that segment.  

I was a guest of Shangri-la Singapore. All opinions are my own.

You can book the Horizon Club Business Room here