Hotel Review: Copthorne King’s Hotel Renovated Signature Studio Room

In a city where hotel room prices are sky high, it has become rather challenging to recommend more affordable full-service hotels to friends who are visiting Singapore. S$300 a night has become the norm since the full reopening of the travel sector in 2022 that anything below that is considered a rarity for a full-service property.

Due to this rarity, I was quite intrigued when the kind team from Copthorne King’s Hotel Singapore invited me for a staycation. The property, which first opened as King’s Hotel back in 1970, has been a long-time fixture in the city’s hospitality scene. The hotel has recently seen developments in two fronts. First is the recent opening of the Havelock MRT Station around 5 minutes walk away and the second being the recent renovation of some of their guestrooms. The property is under the Millennium Hotels & Resorts, and counts some of the other hotels in the vicinity such as the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel and M Social Singapore as its sister hotels. 

Some 142 guestrooms in Copthorne King’s Hotel Singapore’s Tower Wing were renovated in 2020. The tower wing is the taller cylindrical structure appended to the shorter main building of the hotel. Unlike rooms in the main wing, the rooms in the Tower Wing don’t have a balcony but its cylindrical nature allow for rather interesting guestroom layouts.

Copthorne King’s Hotel has a rather conventional lobby. My check-in was rather uneventful, except that my room was not initially ready and reception invited me to wait for 15 minutes at the club lounge. My room did not come with club lounge access so it was my sole chance to have a peek inside. 

Signature Studio

My room for this particular stay was the Signature Studio. All rooms in the Tower Wing are classified as Signature Rooms, with the Signature Studio comprising the corner rooms of this wing. Compared to the Signature Room, the Signature Studio is slightly bigger at 26sqm, versus 22sqm.

As the corner room in a cylindrical-shaped building, the Signature Studio has a rather photogenic layout, with a dramatic curve on one side where the windows are located. I imagine it would make for a more impressive spectacle if the windows were floor-to-ceiling but this was simply not in vogue in the 1970s when the hotel was constructed. 

As mentioned previously, the rooms were renovated in 2020 and now sport a palpable chinoiserie theme. The walls are painted in baby blue and come with decorative trimmings, accentuating a cross-shaped mirror. Coupled with the floral artwork on top of the bed, there is a distinct old Shanghai feel that serves as a huge contrast from the rest of the hotel.

Perhaps with their group tour guests in mind, the fixed luggage rack is quite long and spans a good part of one side of the room. Guests can easily put 2 large-sized luggage side by side. Beneath it are the refrigerator, minibar, safe and extra drawers to store items.

I don’t usually fall asleep easily when I’m not sleeping on my own bed but it was rather easy for me here. The beds are topped with a rather comfy mattress pad – not too soft but just right. It is interesting to note that their housekeeping staff covers just the mattress pad with bedsheet while the mattress itself is not covered except with the blanket as you can see in the photo above.  

As a departure from the conventional hotel room layout, the bathroom here is situated behind the bed. The bathroom is similarly done up in an old Shanghai style, with tiled flooring contrasting with marbled walls. It seems that the old mirror prior to renovation has been retained. The heavy stains on the old mirror now serve a decorative purpose, with a new octagonal mirror and vanity overlaid on it. 

The bathroom is moderately sized which means that it’s comparatively bigger than those you find in newer hotels but not big enough to create a separation between shower and tub. As such, the “shub” concept has been retained here where one stands on top of the bathtub to take a shower. Interestingly enough, the wall on the same side as the shower is coated with a full length mirror, allowing guests to see their full reflection while showering. 

Toiletries come from Christian Lacroix and are of the dispenser type. I liked the scent of their bath products. I also like the thick and fluffy towels that they use – smooth and soft to the touch. 

Facilities

Facilities-wise, Copthorne King’s Hotel comes with the usual facilities such as a gym and pool. It was surprising to find a jacuzzi as well.

On top of that, they also have a sauna and steam room. 

Dining

The property has 2 notable dining outlets. The first is Princess Terrace where breakfast is served. They also have a rather popular Penang buffet for lunch and dinner. 

The other restaurant is Tien Court, which in my view, is a rather underrated Chinese restaurant. I went there for dinner and was impressed by a number of dishes including their Signature White Teat Sea Cucumber. I loved the contrast between the crispy exterior and soft interior.

Another noteworthy dish is their Double Boiled Fish Maw Soup. The nourishing broth was rich in flavor, having been boiled for several hours prior to serving.

Breakfast

As mentioned previously, breakfast is served in Princess Terrace. The restaurant itself is not particularly big so a part of the morning buffet spread is actually situated in the lobby area just next to the venue. 

One can expect the usuals here including an egg station, pastries, steamed buns and more. There is also some emphasis on Indian dishes. I saw no less than 3 to 4 options comprising curry, dhal and naan.

I liked the Vegetarian Bee Hoon which was quite flavorful despite being plant-based. I also noted that their fruit options include grapes which is a departure from the usual pineapple, watermelon and melon that one usually sees in Singapore hotels. 

Verdict

For the price that Copthorne King’s Hotel is charging, I would not come here expecting to live in the lap of luxury or to have the same dedicated service standards of a 5-star hotel. In that regard, it would be fair to judge it versus other similarly priced hotels in Singapore. By that measure, I find that the renovated room and complete hotel facilities (only missing is a spa) to be good selling points. This is also while noting that the Signature Studio comes at a supplement of just roughly S$43++ per night over the base-level room (the lower category but similarly renovated Signature Room is at a S$17++ supplement over the base level room).

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