Oasia Hotel Downtown

Seasoned travellers know perfectly well that constantly being on the go all over the world is no excuse for not checking in on your overall wellness. The “Journey Well” programme at Oasia Hotels by Far East Hospitality ensures that you make wellness a priority when staying at Oasia Hotel Novena and Oasia Hotel Downtown in Singapore.

The programme focuses on three key elements. ‘Refresh’ prioritises quality of rest, ‘refuel’ refers to well-planned meal offerings and ‘recharge’ provides ways for guests to invigorate the mind and body through spa and fitness options. With the “Journey Well” programme, leisure travellers might find the “refresh, refuel and recharge” approach a novel way to explore the services and unique experiences both Oasia properties have to offer, with worthwhile value add when staying as a club guest.

Oasia Hotel Novena

Oasia Novena: The Living Room Club Lounge Pool

First, we venture into Oasia Hotel Novena, where two elements should immediately strike your attention. Built with repurposed slabs of sand-coloured stone, the lobby’s high-ceilinged, cavelike facade is a stark difference from the hotel’s corporate grey exterior. Wood fittings add to the lobby’s natural theme, like the skeleton of a tree, polished and repurposed into a work of art, and now stays proudly between the reception desk and entrance to Marmalade Pantry, the hotel’s bistro. Just when you’ve adjusted to the scene, you’ll notice a pleasant scent in the air — notes of lavender and lemon, followed by coriander and ginger hit your olfactory senses — another one of the deliberate elements meant to help you “refresh”. There’s time before dinner, so “refuel” at the Living Room on level 22, Novena’s heavily zen-inspired club lounge, where freshly-made coffee and all-day snacks are served. The club guest-only pool here will help you “recharge”, and the Oasis on level 8 has a 24-hour gym, sauna and steam room. And when you’re finally hungry enough, chefs at the Marmalade Pantry can whip up a modern bistro meal for your “refuel” enjoyment.

Alternative dinner recommendations: Tsukada Nojo at Plaza Singapura

Try a “bijin nabe” hotpot meal at Tsukada Nojo, a well-known hotpot restaurant brand that originated from Japan. Also known as “beauty collagen hotpot”, their signature broth is derived from an 8-hour, slow-cooked chicken bone broth promotes joints and skin health. The phrase “beauty collagen” doesn’t exactly conjure up an appetising image, be well assured that we can attest that the fresh, hormone-free ingredients cooked in flavourful bone broth is one of the best-tasting hot pots we’ve had to date.

Oasia Hotel Downtown

Oasia Downtown: Club Floor Infinity Pool

The Oasia experience wouldn’t be complete without staying at least one night at Oasia Hotel Downtown in Tanjong Pagar. Its pink exterior and live creepers creating a vertical garden around the building is an attention grabber amidst the other skyscrapers in the CBD area, but that’s only the icing on the design cake. Hallways in the hotel are bathed in fashionable rose gold, and rooms have the finishing touches of Spanish interior design extraordinaire, Patricia Urquiola. The open air garden space at the check-in lobby on level 12 is where Sunday yoga classes are held, and club guests can enjoy luxurious privileges on level 21. The club floor pool is covered, but unless it rains, guests will barely notice that they are actually relaxing indoors due to the open air design concept of Oasia Hotel Downtown. In the evenings, grab a complimentary cocktail or three when refreshments are served at the club lounge and bring them over to one of the poolside cabanas or cushy armchairs. When a cool breeze prances through, it’s likely that for a moment, you’ll forget that you’re in the middle of one of the busiest cities in the world, and fall into a reverie of lying somewhere on a private island.

Alternative dinner recommendations: Man Man Japanese Unagi Restaurant, Keong Saik Road

Many great Japanese restaurants source their fish directly from Japan, but not many actually cultivate their own, in-house. Man Man Japanese Unagi Restaurant does exactly that: cultivate live eel in their own in-house pond, catch, gut, prep, marinate, grill, and serve in a very appetising platter, all within the confines of a compact corner shoplot off Keong Saik Road. Don’t be squirmish, because a glass wall with bar seating is all that separates kitchen operations from the front of house. Follow the instructional comic explaining the four ways to enjoy that large bowl of super fresh unagi rice for maximum enjoyment, and conclude with a glass of draft Suntory beer. Go early to avoid extra long lines.

If this is what it means to refresh, refuel and recharge at Oasia Hotels, then we’re all for doing it again and again. Visit Far East Hospitality for more.