From Raffles to Marina Bay Sands
You can tell a lot about a city by its hotels. Where are they mostly located? Which facilities are most often on offer? What is the average star-rating? The answers to all of these questions provide a window into what draws visitors to the city, and what they do when they get there.
In Singapore, there is a vast landscape of over 400 hotels, which together host some 19 million visitors each year (as in 2019). Yet the hotel industry in this city has taken on a far greater importance than just offering guests a place to stay; in Singapore, hotels are also extensions of national and city identity.
Two particular examples spring to mind. Firstly, there is the historic, colonial indulgence of the Raffles Hotel. This hotel, named for the colonial founder of Singapore, Thomas Stamford Raffles, has graced the city since 1887. Since then, it has hosted A-listers from Rudyard Kipling to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and has become a glamorous cornerstone in the way the city celebrates its colonial heritage.
Then, there is the iconic luxury of Marina Bay Sands. As seen on ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, this 57-storey leisure playground features a suspended viewing platform on the upper-most floor, from which guests can bathe in an infinity pool, dining and drinking to their heart’s content. The striking addition of this hotel was made to Singapore’s skyline in 2010, and since then it has become a distinctive visual shortcut for any visitor picturing the city.
In fact, Singapore boasts no shortage of luxury five-star hotels, all very different in character. In order to understand this landscape, and identify which hotels are best meeting their guests’ expectations, we’ve partnered with Relative Insight to analyse over 2,500 recent TripAdvisor reviews.
Using Relative Insight’s text analysis software, we’ve compared the language that guests use to describe four of the most expensive, most famous five-star hotels in the city – unlocking the question: what does ‘luxury’ mean to the guests of Singapore?
Raffles Hotel
Average price per night: 1,400 SGD (£829)
Average TripAdvisor rating: 4.5 stars
As the most expensive hotel in our study, it’s notable that guests at Raffles tend not to mention money when reviewing their stay. Instead, their minds are on other matters, including history, interiors and ambience.
“It’s truly an old dame, constantly reminding you of a bygone colonial era”
Given the hotel’s long history, it’s perhaps inevitable that guests of Raffles are 3.1x more likely to discuss the topic of heritage than other hotel reviewers, often referring to ‘rich histories’ and ‘bygone eras’. What’s less expected, however, is that Raffles reviewers are 1.6x more likely to dwell on interior fixtures and fittings, and 1.8x more likely to discuss building and fixture materials – including marble, gold, and iron.
“We had a luxurious room with four-poster bed, and beautiful marble flooring in the bathroom”
Above all, when analysing their emotion, Raffles guests are evidently swept up in the intangible atmosphere, or aura, of the place. These guests use the word ‘atmosphere’ 25.8% more often than other hotel reviewers, and ‘ambience’ 23.3% more often.
“Excellent hotel, great ambience”
What this tells us is that Raffles Hotel delivers a high-quality environmental experience. The hotel’s sense of heritage has been maintained through interiors and ambience, yet these elements have been updated subtly to ensure guests continue to feel comfortable and relaxed.
Marina Bay Sands
Average price per night: 799 SGD (£473)
Average TripAdvisor rating: 4.5 stars
Equally distinctive as Raffles, yet totally contrasting in identity, Marina Bay Sands yields a very different response from its TripAdvisor reviewers.
In spite of costing much less per night than Raffles, Marina Bay Sands attracts much more discussion around value for money among its guests. In pure terms, Marina Bay Sands reviewers are 37.5% more likely to use the word ‘money’ in their reviews than for the other three hotels, and often this is on reflection of whether their stay was worth the price.
“In my opinion well worth the money”
“The room we had at Hyatt was double the size for less money”
Perhaps linked to this question is a preoccupation with limitations among Marina Bay Sands guests. These reviewers are 2x more likely to discuss the topic of restriction, often relating to limited time slots in the swimming pool, and limited food choices in the restaurants.
“It was annoying having a limited time allocation for swimming”
When we pan out to the broader picture, it’s easy to explain why: Marina Bay Sands guests are obsessed with experience. They’re 28.8% more likely to use the word ‘experience’ in their reviews, sometimes referring to a stay in this hotel as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For that reason, when restrictions are in place for any aspect of the hotel experience, guests are likely to start questioning value for money.
“Everyone should stay here to experience all it has to offer”
Fullerton Bay Hotel
Average price per night: 1,093 SGD (£647)
Average TripAdvisor rating: 5 stars
Located next-door to the historic Fullerton Hotel, and with an across-the-water view of Marina Bay Sands, the Fullerton Bay drafts its identity from what goes on around it. Nevertheless, it is a premium hotel with a punchy price-tag – and it’s our highest scorer on TripAdvisor.
Delving into the Fullerton Bay reviews, it’s clear to see why. Reviewers of the Fullerton Bay are 2.1x more likely to refer to the general topic of friendliness, using words like ‘friendly’ and ‘accommodating’ to describe their relationship with members of staff. Coupled with this, they’re also 1.7x more likely to use proper nouns (i.e. names) when referring to staff members – indicating familiarity and personal levels of service.
“Loges made it really special”
Finally, the Fullerton Bay Hotel is evidently a great place for a party, as not only are reviewers 15.2% more likely to refer to a ‘celebration’ in their reviews than for the other three hotels; they are also 85% more likely to use the word ‘special’.
“The staff were there every step of the way, it was just very special”
What the Fullerton Bay lacks in physical and architectural distinctiveness, it surely makes up for in quality of customer service.
Ritz-Carlton, Millenia
Average price per night: 940 SGD (£557)
Average TripAdvisor rating: 4.5 stars
If the Fullerton Bay establishes personal relationships with customers, at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia, the relationship is evidently far more transactional. However, this need not be a bad thing.
Reviewers of the Ritz-Carlton use a slightly different vocabulary when discussing staff members: rather than employing personal pronouns, they’re 1.2% more likely to use words associated with service (for example, ‘serve’, ‘help’, ‘looked after’).
“She took the initiative to serve us even though it was busy”
Perhaps linked with this, Ritz-Carlton guests are far more likely to refer to housekeeping in their comments, and are 1.3x more likely to discuss cleanliness and hygiene – often commenting positively on how clean their rooms are.
“The housekeeping team made the room perfect”
Despite this slightly clinical edge to Ritz-Carlton reviews, some personality does shine through in customer reviews. In fact, Ritz-Carlton guests are 30% more likely to use the word ‘surprise’, often in the context of explaining an unexpected gift or service that the hotel has provided for them.
“Our son had a little surprise with the balloon zebra”
The service here may not be as personal as it is in the Fullerton Bay, but it clearly still has the ability to delight guests.
Defining luxury
In Singapore’s luxury hotels, there is evidently something for everyone: the colonial ambience of Raffles, the iconic experience of Marina Bay Sands, the personal customer care of the Fullerton Bay, and the precision service and special memories delivered by the Ritz-Carlton.
What is interesting, however, is that Raffles is the only hotel in our study that charmed guests with its environmental offering. When thinking about luxury places, one might expect environmental factors to be of utmost importance. Evidently and understandably, luxury hotels are viewed by guests as more than just physical places – they are experiences, interactions and memories, as well as environments.
In fact, by collating the reviews together, the core ingredients of luxury in Singapore’s hotels have risen to the surface: iconic experiences, personal interactions, special memories, and ambient environments. While each of our case study hotels are specialists in one, there might just be a gap in the market for a hotel that delivers all four magical ingredients.
With thanks to Relative Insight for partnering with us in this research. Relative Insight provides text analysis software, using technology to compare trends in words, topics, grammar and emotion – across large text data sets.
