Strand Hotel:
Best Budget Hotel in Singapore for a Family of 6
I always find it a great challenge to find a hotel with rooms that can accommodate a family of 6. Maximum capacity in most hotel rooms are usually 4 persons. I suppose most hotels presume that a family usually consists only of a couple with 2 kids. So most family rooms only have a maximum capacity of 4.
In my experience, it's always cheapest to get 1 family room good for 6 rather than to get 3 rooms good for 2 persons, or 2 rooms good for 3 persons, etc. So I was so happy to find Strand Hotel.
We just arrived from Singapore and this is my review of Strand Hotel.
Why I Love the Strand Hotel
Location
1. The hotel is just across Kopitiam food court and 7 eleven.
Updated August 2015: The Kopitiam food court across Strand Hotel is already closed. There are no plans for reopening it.
Both Kopitiam and 7 eleven are open 24 hours a day so anytime you become hungry you can just walk across and buy food. At 7 eleven, you can also buy ezlink cards for use at the MRT, the bus and Sentosa express. If you have remaining load in your ezlink cards before leaving Singapore, you can use it the remaining balance to purchase products at 7 eleven.
My tip: Make sure to make the purchase using the ezlink card after 7am. That's the only time the 7 eleven store allowed to use the ezlink card.
2. The hotel is very near the MRT Bras Basah station and 2 bus stops
View Larger Map
Check out my post on Changi Airport Transportation Options to Strand Hotel
3. The hotel is very near the hippo tour bus stop.
If you decide to take the Hippo Tour hop-on hop-off, you can take the yellow line that stops at the bus stop along Bras Basah, beside the Rendezvous hotel. The Rendezvous hotel is beside Strand Hotel. You can buy the ticket in the bus when you hop on the yellow line bus.
My tip: Do the whole route of both the yellow and red line first.
First Suggestion: Ride the yellow line at the bus stop beside Rendezvous hotel, get off at Suntec. Ride the hippo tour red line at Suntec and do the whole route, and get off at Suntec. Ride the hippo tour yellow line at Suntec and get off at the bus stop beside Rendezvous hotel. You're done. You have toured Singapore without effort.
Second Suggestion: go directly to Suntec City to start the tour. What you do is to walk to Bras Basah Station, take the MRT circle (yellow) line going to Harbour Front and get off at the next stop, which is Esplanade. The Esplanade station is at Tower 5 where the Hippo Tour Desk is located.
See the tour map: http://www.ducktours.com.sg/hippo.php
4. The hotel is short walking distance from the National Museum of Singapore
Take note that the big, white structure with a dome that you see when you're outside the hotel and along Bencoolen Street is the National Museum of Singapore. It's very short walking distance from the hotel. At the National Museum, we were able to see the original painting of Starry Night of Vincent Van Gogh and at least 4 Monets, 3 Cezannes, and a Renoir at the Dreams and Reality Exhibit. The paintings are on loan from the Orsay Museum, Paris. Better check out what's on at the National Museum when you arrive at Singapore.
Directions: Walk along Bencoolen Street going towards Bras Basah road, cross Bras Basah Street and continue walking along Bencoolen Street until you arrive at Fort Canning Road. Cross Fort Canning Road and walk towards the entrance of the National Museum.
See the website: http://www.nationalmuseum.sg/
5. The hotel is near three (3) Catholic Churches
When in another place and if our trip falls on a Sunday, we usually look for a Catholic Church where we can attend Mass. The ff. Catholic Churches is near the hotel (in order of proximity from the hotel):
- St Peter and Paul Church located at the back of the Singapore Art Museum: for location and mass schedule, see here
- Cathedral of the Good Shepherd: for location and mass schedules, see here
- St. Joseph's Church: for location and mass schedules, see here
6. The hotel is walking distance from:
Orchard Road: after exiting the hotel entrance, you turn right and walk along Bencoolen Street till you reach Bras Basah road. When you reach Bras Basah Road, turn right. Walk along Bras Basah until you reach Orchard Road. See the map above.
Bugis Junction: after exiting from the hotel entrance, walk along Bencoolen Street till you reach Bras Basah road. When you reach Bras Basah road, turn left and walk along Bras Basah Road till you reach Victoria Street. When you reach Victoria Street, turn left and walk along Victoria Street till you reach Bugis. See map above.
Arab Street: from Bugis, a little walk further and you reach Arab Street. See map above.
Raffles Hotel: after exiting from the hotel entrance, walk along Bencoolen Street till you reach Bras Basah road. When you reach Bras Basah road, turn left and walk along Bras Basah Road till you reach Beach Road. Turn left at Beach Road. See map above.
Raffles City: after exiting from the hotel entrance, walk along Bencoolen Street till you reach Bras Basah road. When you reach Bras Basah road, turn left and walk along Bras Basah Road till you reach North Bridge Road. See map above.
Suntec City: you can walk to Suntec City. But it's easier to walk to Bras Basah Station, take the yellow line to Harbour Front and get off at the next stop, which is Esplanade (if you want to get off at Tower 5, where the Hippo Tour starts) or get off at Promenade (if you want to get off at Tower 4, where Carrefour is located)
Merlion: not really walking distance from the Merlion but the bus that goes straight to the Merlion can be taken at the bus stop near Kopitiam. Bus 131 goes straight to Fullerton where you can walk to go to the Merlion.
Rates (Updated rates as of November 2014)
Single/double S$160 Net
Triple S$200 Net
Family of 4 S$240 Net
Big family room for 6 S$380 Net
For every additional person is S$40 Net S$50 net
Maximum capacity of the family room is 7 persons
Note: the rate of S$240 for the family room is good for 4 persons. The family room has a maximum occupancy of 7 persons. Therefore, if 5 persons will occupy the family room, your rate will be S$240 + S$40 = S$280. If 6 persons will occupy the family room, your rate will be S$240 + S$40 + S$40 = S$320. If 7 persons will occupy the family room, your rate will be S$240 + S$40 + S$40 + S$40 = S$360
All room rates include government taxes and complimentary breakfast.
To change your room bookings or to make a cancellation, you need to inform them 2 weeks 72 hours before arrival. For cancellation less than 72 hours before arrival, they will charge you 1 day room rate.
There is no downpayment but they require a credit card guarantee to confirm the booking. You need to make a downpayment when you arrive at the hotel to check-in.
My tip: Pay for your hotel room in full upon check-in so you don't carry a lot of cash with you while sightseeing.
Room
The family room is spacious, has a high ceiling, with a lot of closet space. Even if you fill the maximum capacity of 7 people in a family room, the room has still enough space for everyone to comfortably move around.
Toilet & Bath
Toilet and bath are separate, which means they have separate doors. Even if you have 7 people in a room, they won't have problems using the toilet. One can use the toilet while another uses the bath. This is a very smart move of the hotel to separate these two.
Beds
This photo of Strand Hotel is courtesy of TripAdvisor
The beds are full sized mattresses, even the roll away beds. For a family room for 6, we were given 2 queen sized beds and 2 single beds.
Complimentary Breakfast
This photo of Strand Hotel is courtesy of TripAdvisor
You are given breakfast coupons which you claim at the reception everyday, on the day before breakfast is to be served.
The complimentary breakfast consist of a set meal of 2 hotdogs, 2 slices of bacon, scrambled eggs/2 fried eggs. Then in addition there is a buffet spread of pancakes/french toast, noodles (pad thai or chinese pancit), cereal, toast and jam/marmalade/butter, coffee, tea, juice, water.
Amenities
The room amenities includes free wifi (with super fast connection speed), 29 inch flat screen cable TV, coffee and tea making facilities (consisting of an electric kettle, cofee and milk tea), mini ref, in room safe, telephone, free slippers, free toothbrush and toothpaste.
Service
The service at reception and housekeeping is fast and efficient. We asked for a travel adaptor, hair dryer, extra pillows, and tube ice.
Our room was cleaned everyday with fresh linen and towels. Housekeeping was very fast in addressing a minor toilet problem when we called them.
The reception was very helpful in breaking our money into small bills.
My conclusion: We will definitely stay at this hotel again and will highly recommend it to friends and relatives.
