A Sustainable Stay at Siloso Beach Resort

Date of Visit: November 30, 2019 - December 3, 2019 

Where: Siloso Beach Resort, Sentosa Island, Singapore
Website: https://www.silosobeachresort.com/

Travel Buddies: Hanna, Tonyo, Maia, Wowo Ross, Wowa Nenet

By the roadside sign at the 8th Floor Reception

In our search for a place to stay within Sentosa Island, Singapore – most search engines featured Siloso Beach Resort as one of the cheaper places to stay.  We were able to book 2 rooms at Php7,775 each per night via Agoda. That was still a bit steep , but I wanted to stay in the island to be (a) closer to where Tonyo’s art competition will be held, (b) I figured it would be more convenient for the kids and the seniors to be closer to the entertainment. What sealed the deal for me to pick Siloso was its packaging as a “Sustainable Hotel,” and I was willing to pay the extra cost for the learning opportunity!

For most of this decade I worked on advocating for greening businesses and I continue to love checking out green destinations. To sidetrack a bit, I think Singapore is a good destination for eco-tours, not because of its beautiful spots (hardly – as compared to Philippines!), but to learn how they innovate to maximize use of resources in the way buildings are built and how businesses are run. They also do a good job educating the public about the need to protect the environment.  

Anyway, back to Siloso Beach Resort! I will not focus on the rooms to much, but on the eco-features of the hotel.

Since there were 5 of us, we were advised to get a family suite or two superior suites. Getting the two rooms was cheaper by a few thousand pesos, so I chose to book that. We were lucky to get two adjacent rooms! J Maia loved having her own bed and threw out anyone who tried to lie down next to her. I had to share a twin bed with Tonyo! Having two separate rooms was also good for our sanity so we have a "resting" room and a noisy room (essential if you have kids around!) 

I always expect Singapore to be high-tech, smooth, bright, and shiny. Siloso Beach Resort was quite the opposite, as it was a “jungle” hotel and a rather rustic place to stay in. Parang nasa Batangas ka ;)

Room air conditioning units have heat exchange technology - where the heat from the A/C is harnessed to heat the water for the shower. 

Check out some scenes from the hotel! 

Ground floor, by the restaurant - with access to the Beach Station bus and a short walk from the
Sentosa Train station! Siloso Beach Resort is an equal opportunity employer and they hire people with special needs and seniors to be part of their restaurant staff. The free breakfast buffet had a pretty good selection, too! 

The hotel offered free eco-tours to show all the green features of the hotel. I signed up for this but ended up not going because I had to watch the kids! Wowo and Wowa took our slots and enjoyed the tour! It was easy enough to do a DIY tour with Tonyo since there were posters everywhere for us to learn on our own!

 

During construction, the hotel worked with the existing terrain and forest cover. They said no trees were cut during construction! Some rooms even had tree trunks growing inside them

Siloso Beach Resort's Sustainability Journey. I think it is better to have this mindset already at the onset.

Check out the tree trunk growing in the middle of the room 

Green Roofs! Having rooftop gardens keep buildings cool, therefore helping the A/Cs work less and consume less energy. 

Waste segregation 

They have 100 Trays of worms! Hotel practices vermicomposting, where they effectively convert their food waste to valuable fertilizer. It was our favorite part of our "tour"

Nature hike throughout the resort grounds 

They had an amazing chlorine-free freshwater pool, one of the longest in Singapore

We just had to try it :D Sacrificed half a day supposedly allocated to Universal Studios. Binagyo na kami noong hapon hahaha. #noregrets

Things that can be improved:

Hotel is getting a bit run-down and could use a face lift. Being green shouldn’t mean musty. During our first day some men were doing some renovations in front of our room. They were pounding away early in the morning and the smell of the glue (Rugby?) was overpowering inside our room. It would have been OK with me if we were informed of this ahead of time so we would know what to expect! They apologized and made sure that the men only worked a certain time.

Being surrounded by nature meant being surrounded by mosquitoes. The rooms in the lower floors were surrounded by “moats” that had fish, who were supposed to control the mosquito population. But it was still bad… I wonder if there are other natural ways to control the bugs? (make it a flowing stream? Plant citronella trees? Diffuse citronella oils along the corridor?)

They still served small bottled water (2 bottles a day) in the rooms, so this meant plastic waste. However, they didn't give you extra water after you consume these – but instead encourage you to refill for free. This was good, but then they only had one refilling station at the reception area. I think it would be good if they provided rooms with pitchers and have refilling stations in strategic areas (every floor? Every other floor?)

It’s a beach resort and they have a huge pool with a waterfall, but no open places to hang and dry wet clothes. Provision for drying areas please!

Overall, it was still a pleasant stay. I highly recommend staying here J can be enjoyed by kids of all ages, plus adults too! They’ve got friendly staff, and will go the extra mile for your needs. It’s a short walk from the Beach train stop (where you can do the Luge, iFly, and the Wings of Time) , and a quick train ride away from other Sentosa attractions like Universal Studios and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum.

Will definitely stay here again! Perhaps in another lifetime I can have a place like this in the Philippines :) Kahit small-scale lang!