Which of Singapore’s top hotels still aren’t staycation approved?

It’s been over two months since just five hotels kicked off the ‘Great Singapore Staycation’ movement by receiving approval to accept leisure guests after a three-month gap following the country’s ‘Circuit Breaker’ measures.

That list has grown significantly with well over 200 properties now on the approved list for staycation bookings across the city, from budget to boutique, economy to extravagant.

That’s giving travel-hungry Singaporeans a wide selection of local stays across the country, pretty much whatever their preferred style or budget, while overseas travel remains effectively locked down due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

As you can see during July and early August there was a significant increase in the number of hotels approved for staycations, however the rate has since plateaued and only small increments have been recorded over the last six weeks or so.

Singapore Staycation Approved Hotels SEE THE FULL LIST

Singapore Staycation Approved Hotels SEE THE FULL LIST

At the time of writing 218 of Singapore’s approximate 400 hotels have been staycation approved.

Note that a shorter list of around 70 properties is available to those visiting under ‘Green Lane’ / ‘Fast Lane’ arrangements, or while awaiting their COVID-19 test result on the ‘Air Travel Pass’ from Brunei or New Zealand.

Those on the ‘Air Travel Pass’ can then move to any staycation-approved hotel once they receive a negative test result.

Budget hotels dominate the list

One issue with the list of approved staycation properties is that it’s dominated by budget hotels, making up 146 of the 218 approvals (67%) at the time of writing.

Most of our readers are focussed on luxury or mid-range staycation experiences, which whittles the selection down to around 70 properties.

While that remains a good range to choose from, it means there are still a good number popular and notable hotels missing from the staycation approval list some 11 weeks down the line.

Why are some hotels still restricted?

There are effectively three primary reasons a hotel may not be on Singapore’s staycation approval list.

• The hotel is supporting the government through the SHN scheme and cannot realistically segregate staycation guests from SHN guests on dedicated floors or in separate wings, or has no spare capacity to do so.
• The hotel is supporting the government through the SHN scheme and could segregate staycation guests from SHN guests in accordance with the requirements, but chooses not to do so.
• The hotel is not supporting the government through the SHN scheme, but deems that likely custom and revenue from staycations is insufficient to viably cover operating costs.

You can learn more about the requirements for hotels offering staycations during Phase 2 in our detailed article here.

Which popular hotels are ‘missing in action’?

We’ve looked at 15 hotels still not on the staycation approved list, based on the properties we’re most looking forward to, or those our readers have been regularly asking about.

We contacted all these hotels to enquire about their proposed reopening timescale for staycation guests and their responses are provided, where we received them (some hotels did not respond).

Many reopening dates remain provisional at this stage. We’ve also provided the typical entry-level nightly room rates for each hotel, based on Agoda data from 2019.

SO/ Sofitel

The SO/ Sofitel told Mainly Miles that it might be early 2021 before they would be opening for staycation bookings, “due to some projects we are working on behind the scenes to make sure that when we are ready, your stay will be better than ever”.

Provisionally, the hotel is accepting bookings from 4th January 2021.

Conrad Centennial Singapore

The Conrad told Mainly Miles they are currently supporting the government’s COVID-19 initiatives and do not yet have a firm date for reopening to staycation guests.

The hotel is currently accepting bookings from 3rd November 2020.

InterContinental Robertson Quay

The InterContinental at Robertson Quay told Mainly Miles that they do not have a fixed date for accepting staycation bookings at the moment.

The hotel is currently accepting bookings from 1st November 2020.

Pan Pacific Singapore

The Pan Pacific did not respond to our request for further information on their reopening plans. If we receive any details, we’ll update this section

The hotel is currently accepting bookings from 1st November 2020.

Update 30 Sep: Pan Pacific Singapore is opening for leisure bookings from 25th December 2020.

Swissotel The Stamford