Hotel Jen Orchardgateway in Singapore

Finding a perfect hotel in Singapore is always challenging. It boils down to price or location or preferably both. Those from Brunei who frequent their stay at Orchard area will be familiar with hotels such as Royal Plaza on Scotts, Grand Hyatt or Marina Mandarin are one particular reason – shopping conveniently at Orchard.

Now I can recommend you Hotel Jen Orchardgateway. It’s just one year old and it has been getting rave reviews for such a new establishment. I didn’t know it’s also under the Sharing-La umbrella which means they are under good hands 🙂

The location of Hotel Jen Orchardgateway is smackdown at Orchard (just between Somerset 313 and Orchard Central) and walking distance to Cineleisure, Takashimaya and Paragon. This is just a perfect spot for me to wonder around and plus I’m a regular user of the MRT which mean logistics is way better as I could make my journey from Somerset stop (MRT).

The iconic gigantic chair at the entrance of Hotel Jen Orchardgateway

The trolley for guests to bring their luggages and bags. Very homey and personal.

There are a few check points at the hotel where you can charge your smartphones. Awesome idea!!

The digital page where you can access and find out what you can do at the hotel and also around the area. Very useful for guests.

The Panaroma Club Room at Hotel Jen Orchardgateway.

The Superior Room with the City View

The rooftop pool on 19th floor

This is such a cozy place to be in right now

Nice view at night

There are basic amenities that you can enjoy such as free wifi, 24-hour gym access with facilities and fitness equipment, 24-hour room service and let’s not forget the pool side on the 19th floor.

What impressed me is the service they provide. The staff treat you with great care and I had little fuss during my check in process. I was even more impressed that they use the Windows Surface Pro as their tools for checking in and I signed my signature using their stylus on the tablet. Cool stuff…

Hotel Jen Orchardgateway will also stretch a little more with their service such as airport transfer, express check-in and check-out, local complimentary calls and if you are in need of computer access, you can surf spot with their iMac workstations.

Baoyi, one of the Club Lounge staff, assisted me to my room. All the staff are dressed casually, sporting a red top and blue jeans.

All the guest service staff will wear a badge. Looks legit and cool 😀

My personal message on my room TV and I even got an inbox message on the TV for my parcel. Nice touch!!

My club room on 20th floor. Spacious and I love the bed so much.

You can even relax by the window too to view the city

The bathroom and toilet area. Bruenians will love the fact that the toilet has an automated built-in sprinkler :p

I was given this. I love the classic snack!

The management had it all thought out. Guests tend to request for ice at the room service. Now you can help yourself to an ice dispenser available on every floor.

There’s even a vendor machine for guests to buy amenities and snacks or drinks.

You can even buy the Hotel Jen toiletry kit

The hotel offers different tiers to customers especially when you check in as a club guest. You have an awesome view of the either Orchard Road or Somerset Road from Level 18 or 20. You will also have access to the Club Lounge access and also checking in and out during your stay.

I could tell that Hotel Jen wants to focus in depth with their service as they kept asking me on how they could better their service even the smallest of things. The hotel itself is a gem due to your warm hospitality. I was a bit “sakai” when a message pop up on my TV console to alert that I have a parcel to be collected at the reception. For me, that alone made the experience more personal.

Even the prices are pretty reasonable considering it is at Orchard area. According to a third-party agency, it can cost as low as BND 250 for a superior room (king size bed). It also hit a high average rating on Tripadvisor where most praised for its location followed by the sleep quality and the rooms provided. Furthermore, many have praised Hotel Jen for their great variety in breakfast for the in-house guests.

I would also applaud Hotel Jen on their cleanliness. This gives a lasting impression that you will visit Hotel Jen on your next visit. Apparently, a few Bruneians have stayed at the hotel and the responses have been encouraging. So I could safely say that Bruneians are aware of the new hotel but not all know more of its existence.

You can browse through their website – www.hoteljen.com/singapore – for more details. I like the idea that when you book 30 days in advance, you can enjoy 15% discounts or if 14 days, you can enjoy 10%. That’s quite a good incentive for guests.

Overall, my stay was excellent and I would highly recommend my friends to give Hotel Jen a shot. Do check out my instagram @ranoadidas as I will be running a competition and you will stand a chance to win a one-night stay at Hotel Jen Orchardgateway. Good luck!!!

The 24-hour access gym facilities

Jen Lounge on 10th floor. This is also the home of the Chelsea supporters. The big game will be Liverpool vs Chelsea at the end of October.

Makan @ Jen

The cooking is shown live to the patrons. Unique.

They serve ice-cream during the buffets even for breakfast

The environment at Makan @ Jen. It has become popular among corporate patrons especially during lunch due to the mini buffet package.

I love how they presented their dishes on different section. They have a creative eye.

No surprise there that Hotel Jen has a good rating on booking.com

On the Club Lounge, the club guests can utilize their facilities such as usage of computers and printing their documents and also enjoy hi-tea and breakfast on the designated time.

The reception area on Level 10.

For guests who are on the run, they can buy ready-to-go snacks such as crackers or sandwiches or puffs at the On The Go counter on Level 10.

 

Hello peeps!!! I’m currently in Singapore and yes, I’m braving the haze here. It seems that Singapore and Malaysia are really affected and perhaps the worst affected area will be around Sumatra. I’m pretty sure it has a slight detrimental effect on the Singapore economy as people tend to stay indoors. Last week, the PSI reading was over 300 (hazardous), the government declared that all schools in Singapore to shut down for that particular day.

Brunei do get hazy every now and then but it’s not as bad as Singapore or Malaysia. I could smell the haze when I was paying a visit to Vivo City last Monday. The good thing is that the masks are in stock as compared to 2013 where the masks were high in demand but low on supply. So I suggest to Bruneians who are visiting Singapore to put on a mask if possible.

Last night’s match between DPMM FC and Home United for the Singapore Cup was also postponed due to the haze. However, the fans were not pleased as the organisers delayed the match for an hour plus before calling the game off and postponed it to tonight. It’s a tricky situation where organisers have to make a brave decision to proceed with the match or take precaution of the players’ body condition. This has not play quite well with the supporters and the fans have been vetting out their frustrations on the S•League Facebook Page too. Well, from the looks of it, the haze today doesn’t look any better and what will be the fate of the match which supposedly taking place tonight… hmmmm.. We shall wait and see.

This is my view right now while blogging this entry. What a hazy day in Singapore. Taken at the Club Lounge of Hotel Jen Orchardgateway.

My recent visit to Universal Studios for the Halloween Horror Nights 5. More on this soon.

Now why I am in Singapore is for a few reasons – 1) Do my visa for Denmark 2) get a pair of Adidas Barricade shoes for tennis 3) catching up with friends/bloggers (Tiffany, Frances, J.T) 4) catching Black Mass – verdict: 7/10 5) a special invite for the Halloween Horror Night 5 #HHN5 at Universal Studios 6) my stay experience at Hotel Jen Orchardgateway.

From the looks of it, it ain’t a bad itinerary. The only miracle I hope for now is making sure I get on my flight to Copenhagen by Monday latest. It’s gonna slightly tough but I’m glad the Singapore team (from Bang & Olufsen), the Brunei team too and the Denmark Embassy in Singapore are doing the best they can to make sure my visa gets approved as soon as possible.

Apparently I found out that my passport is slightly trickier than the Brunei passport. I’m a permanent resident of Brunei Darussalam and we don’t use passports like Brunei citizens would. We have what we call Certificate of Identification of Brunei Darussalam printed on the brown colour passport look-a-like. Hence the Royal Danish Embassy in Singapore shared that my particular passport will take at least 7 working days and not 5 day or less for others. This is the fact that I’m holding a CI document (the PR passport) and it will take longer to process the visa application.

So what I learnt from this lesson (trip) is that we Brunei PR will spend more money (flying and staying in Singapore just for a 60 euro Visa) and the second most important thing is you have to apply at least 3 weeks before (to be safe) to Schengen countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway to name a few. I never expected it to be this difficult but all I have to do now is just wait from the Royal Danish Embassy to give me the green light by Friday or latest by Monday.

If you ask me personally if there’s any perks of holding a CI document/passbook, nah, there’s not much improvement as not many countries recognizes this particular travel document. Do we permanent residents deserve a travel document that’s called a Passport? Yes, we do.. I do hope the “Yang Berhormats” take notice of this issue as this motion has not been approved after countless attempts at the Legislative Council. We need the convenience and assurance especially when we travel to certain countries. For me, it’s the costs and inconvenience that I have to experience during my travel journey. Let’s bring this matter urgently in the next LegCo meeting. Some improvements are needed at least.

Oh man, I’ve been ranting here on the 19th floor of Hotel Jen with the view of the haze in front of me. Let’s hope for brighting things to come and I want to get my butt on the plane to Denmark. I’m signing off for now.. Have a wonderful week ahead..

 

Press release from Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam. Have you heard of financial scams? They are scams involving deposits, money transfers and credit card transactions. Although some financial scams are too good to be true, there are many people that still become victims.

These are the common financial scams in Brunei:

1. Get-rich-quick scheme: a plan, which offers high returns or dividends not usually available through traditional investments. The focus of such schemes would be to obtain deposits without a valid product or services which will be used to pay returns or dividends to earlier investors. The scheme may take the following forms:

  Ponzi scheme

  Pyramid scheme

  Gold investment

  Land-banking investment

  Forex trading

2. Credit card scam: Scammers calling victim’s phone pretending to be a bank officer informing that the victim’s credit card is suspected of crime. For verification purpose, the victims will be deceived into providing their credit card details.

3. Job scam: Scammers pretending to offer a job in their organisation. However, in order to secure the job offer, the victim must pay an upfront fee.

4. Lottery and competition scam: Scammers send out an SMS blast to would-be victims informing them of prizes they have won in competitions organised by some big companies and are advised to pay an entrance fee.

5. Inheritance Scams: Scammers assume the role of lawyers or representatives for a recently deceased distant relative or wealthy benefactor leaving a large inheritance usually in cash of which is to be distributed amongst them at an agreed percentage.

6. Internet love scam: (LOL, never been duped by this before) By creating fake profiles, fraudsters have managed to exploit the other users by pretending to develop an intimate and personal relationship with their victims.

The grand prize for the Open Category to top off with the BND 1,200 cash prize

AMBD believe that it is important to educate the public and raise their awareness to protect innocent people from becoming unfortunate victims. Show your support and creativity by creating a short video on financial scams awareness!

Well, there’s a good incentive for you to join!! Because the winners will win awesome prizes. For the Open Category, first place will win BND 1,200 cash prize with a GoPro Hero 4 Silver Edition, second place will win BND 900 cash prize with Sony Handycam while third place will win BND 600 with Sony HDR. There will also be student category with cash prizes for top three winners – BND 1,000, BND 750 and BND 500 respectively.

I won’t spare much details here but you can download the PDF form for eligibility and other information. Good luck and the deadline for submission is 30th October 2015.