As you sip a soothing red date tea, check-in at the Meritus Club floor is so quick that you can carry your cup to your 'room with a view' and watch the sunbeams dance on the sparkling waters of the Marina Bay. Sixteen kilometres from Changi International Airport, three minutes from the burgeoning financial district, a back door away from a glitzy shopping plaza, the Marina Mandarin enjoys an enviable location. Want to slip out for a concert of international repute? Cross the street to the imposing Esplanade, Singapore's pride and joy, encompassing theatres, coffee bars, rehearsal halls and more. No queues for tickets. The hotel will book them for you.

Relax in the Marina Mandarin's large open atrium which rises through 21 storeys, watch a live musical performance and depending on the mood of your taste buds, indulge in the wholesome goodness of a meaty lasagna at the Italian Ristorante Bologna or revel in the piquant flavours of dim sums at the Cantonese restaurant, Peach Blossoms. Luxuriate in the cool comfort of a deluxe room imbued with Asian grace and hospitality, while switching channels on a 37-inch plasma T.V. or watch a DVD from the Club's library and sink into a 13-inch pillow-top mattress, exclusively tailor-made for the hotel, with its patented body contouring feature.

Let the morning begin with the headlines delivered to your door, a frothy cappuccino spouted by the in-room coffee maker and jolt yourself awake with a six-jet power shower. Breakfast in the quiet environs of the Meritus Club Lounge on chef Paolo Zambrano's sizzling platters or if you prefer a more hearty start to the day, walk down to the bustling AquaMarine for a sumptuous buffet spread of seafood specialities and international favourites. Conduct your meeting at the 24-hour Executive Business Centre and escape the pressures of the day with a traditional Tui-Na massage at the St. Gregory Spa followed by a dip in the mineral water pool, purified by the NASA patented ionization system, no less.

Recipient of the coveted Patron of the Arts Award for the second consecutive year, the Marina Mandarin, official host for Cliff Richard’s live performance and The Phantom of The Opera, earlier this year, also supports artist-in-residence programmes for art lovers, curious to see a painting take final shape. Wander along the hotel’s informal art gallery and marvel at the pen and ink brushstrokes of Singaporean artist Sandra Lee, who invests her canvases with autobiographical elements and nursery rhyme influences. Interestingly, during your stay, if you notice the presence of a yellow and burgundy orchid motif make its way into the hotel’s décor, furnishings, even as the name of an intoxicating cocktail (Orchidia Sunset) or the more down to earth (Orchid Oolong) tea, it is because the exotic hybrid, ‘Dendrobium Marina Mandarin’ is the first Singapore-bred orchid named after a hotel!
So, you still want to step out?