I stayed at the Shangri-La Apartments at 1 Anderson Road for 8 nights in April 2024, with a family group of nine people spread across 3 x 2-bedroom apartments. We travelled with three children (4, 6 and 8) and six adults.

Location - the location is excellent, being 600 metres to shops and restaurants on Orchard Road, including iSetan, ION and more (walking time of course varies depending on how far down Orchard Road you would like to walk). Other reviews have described the walk as difficult and up-hill, but personally I thought the walk was almost negligible, even in the heat of the day (I am an avid walker though). My parents (nearly 70 and of average fitness) also found the walk quite manageable, as did the four year old in the group. The area immediately surrounding the Shangri-La is very safe, upscale, quiet, green and residential.

Amenities - the apartments have their own well-sized, lovely pool, though there is no food or beverage service available (sun lounges, umbrellas, tables and towels are available though). There is a free laundry with self-dosing / automatic detergent on level B1 (basement); at busy times, long-term residents may move your clothes out of a washing machine if you leave them in there too long. Our two bedroom apartment had two big TVs. The Wifi is very good and quite consistent. Note that only 4G seems to be available in Singapore. Therefore, you may like to download things at the hotel in advance.

The gym is only available by walking (5 minutes, slight uphill) to the main Shangri-Hotel. The gym is excellent but gets extremely busy around 7am. The much larger pool that has food and beverage service (plus pool-side restaurant from 6pm) is also at the main Hotel. The main Hotel also has several restaurants with decent food at very high prices relative to non-hotel restaurants in Singapore. The Lobby Lounge at the main Hotel is a beautiful place for a drink and food especially around sunset. The downstairs restaurants (i.e. outside of the Lobby Lounge) are dated (orange) but well-maintained. The pool area itself is spectacular and beautiful, and I actually prefer the pools at the older 5-star hotels in Singapore, as they are usually much bigger and at ground level, as they tended to be built when land was slightly cheaper and there was more space.

Vibe - it is a 5-star hotel plus apartments, but it is all very low-key and relaxed. It is extremely family-friendly, and the children can easily swim next to you while you eat at the poolside bar and restaurant (pizza, for example, is on the menu) (assuming the children are good swimmers). The gardens at the Shangri-La are stunning and beautiful.

Spa - I didn't try the spa because it was too expensive - around double the price of many other similar treatments available outside of the hotel. Instead I had a brilliant morning with my sister at the Yunomori Onsen at Kallang Wave Mall, and I also had some massages at Natureland (noting that the latter often put you on a massage stand rather than giving you a flatbed). I received a fantastic facial at Face Place at Clarke Quay.

Staff - I could not possibly fault the staff, who were friendly, thoughtful and accommodating. One young woman even offered to help me carry my shopping to my room. They could not have tried harder to help us.

Wear and tear - this is an older 5-star hotel / apartments. I cannot speak for the hotel rooms, but the apartments are slightly dated albeit overall very well-maintained. There were various maintenance issues we did not raise during our stay but these were - faulty phone (ring tone went off in the middle of the night, waking everyone up); most windows cannot open (have part removed so you cannot open). There are various signs of wear and tear but overall excellently well-maintained.

Cleanliness - extremely clean, however could be serviced more often. Nominally they say they clean every second day, but they don't clean on Sundays or public holidays. In reality this meant we received (I think) three (absolute max four) services during our 8 night stay. This really wasn't enough, especially over the Sunday-Monday period. Our bins were overflowing and we ran out of towels (although reception will happily send you more). I don't think they changed our sheets during our stay, but I could be wrong.

Space - OK so this is the number one reason I choose older, apartment-style hotels! Our apartment had two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a very spacious lounge room plus kitchen. One bathroom had a bath for the children. The kitchen was well-appointed and the fridge is full-size. (The apartments even provided Cornflakes, milk, fruit and juice on arrival!) If choosing a very new 5-star hotel in Singapore, make sure you check the room size, as some can be very small. The apartments at Shangri-La are big compared to many hotel/apartments in Singapore.

*Construction - there is construction work nearby. This is not like in Australia and some other countries where they only have permission to work between 7am and usually 4-5pm. The construction work in Singapore may continue until **10pm, including on Saturdays. The works are very close to the apartments. The building looks 6-12 months from completion as at April 2024. If you speak to the hotel / apartment staff in advance, they can arrange an apartment on the other side of the building. We didn't know about the construction, so all our rooms faced it and we did hear noise quite a bit, although it did not disrupt us to an unreasonable degree.

Suggestion - a clothes airer could be provided, especially for families, to dry the bathers / swimsuits each day. The hair dryers are not very strong for long hair so BYO.