Review of The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, by Caroline Major

Doric columns, coffered ceilings, deep cornices and soaring ceilings are hallmarks of colonial piles through the Commonwealth. It is this timeless style which has transformed the Singapore's original General Post Office into one of the classiest hotels in the city. The Fullerton is central and it's sexy, and it's crowded with Singaporean Sophisticates taking lunch in the atrium or cocktails in the bar. In the evening, everyone steps out for Italian in San Marco at the Lighthouse on the very tippy top of this landmark building.

Originally built to celebrate the Singaporean centenary, the Fullerton was converted from official offices to hotel in 2001. Its fortuitous positioning at the mouth of the Singapore River lends a harbour view to the front and a river view to the side. Culturally, she sits between the city to the south and the arts and entertainment district to the north. If you don't fancy staying in for the evening it's a hop, skip and a jump over to the impressive Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place, the Victoria Theatre and Concert hall or over to the throngs of restaurants and bars at Clarke Quay. At any time during the day and night the place buzzes with busy-ness.

The rooms:
Champagne is de rigueur at the Fullerton; in the Straits Club reserved for guests paying executive club rates, it free flows from the Veuve bottle most of the day and is the drink of choice for most of the ladies in the Post Bar. It makes sense then that the colour of the walls in the rooms are described as 'champagne'. Think lots of nudes with golden glows and shades of nut. The neutral décor is the backdrop for stylish rooms that are none too ostentatious nor minimally pretentious. In fact they are perfectly comfortable and cosy and will leave neither the business nor leisure traveller wanting for more.

Without a doubt, though, it is the windows that put the Fullerton into her unique position: they are big, unobstructed and sporting killer views. Given this old grand dame of a building was built before skyscrapers and on the river bank, the views are not only unhindered but the rooms are not so high in the sky as to look onto the unsightly rooftops of her neighbours. The windows of this hotel then are windows onto the mouth of the bustling Singapore River which at sundown bathes the already tonally warm rooms in a golden glow which just begs you to slip on some sexy heels and slide out into the Singapore night.