Mandai Rainforest Resort by Banyan Tree

Location is good but they waste ! But room is so so The experience is extremely horrible! I check in 30mins the room is very hot ! No matter how I adjust the aircon. Then they send staff check say maybe due to last housekeeper not close the window properly. So aircon will auto stoped. And as luxury hotel they never check it before gust check in. The bedsheet has an obvious hole. Also the minibar is full empty with a price menu only. Then I had to inform them when I check in is empty one. I worry they will charge me when I check out. As their management is loose and service bad too I regis as one person and prefer king bed when check in the front desk told me as I am using free night voucher it base on room available I cannot choose… wah this is luxury brand service ? So use free night voucher not capable to has decent basic hospitality service ??? No welcome amenity at all even as luxury brand. They say only provide for guest who request has special occasion. I has stayed so many luxury property in the world this is definitely the worst. After complain all this Duty manager only could say sorry. No goodwill. To be honest even stay Ibis will receive better service than here

I took advantage of the heavily discounted “local” price for a mid-week room off-season on a whim, and loved the experience. My only regret is not having one night longer, given that the check-in at 3pm and checkout at noon gives you less than 24hrs! My room didn’t come with breakfast included, so I skipped that. I was in a garden view double-double, with the comfiest bed. The room is a decent size, comes equipped with everything you would need - no bath though, only a very large rain shower. I left the window open and was lulled to sleep with crickets and frogs, and woken up by bird song and lemur calls (from the nearby Rainforest Park). It was really relaxing and created an effective illusion of being in the wild. I explored the pool and rooftop and roofgarden areas of the Resort, which give you gorgeous views of the reservoir and lovely spots to relax, read or write. The only restaurant I tried was Forage, for the very reasonably priced afternoon tea. It might be the best afternoon tea I’ve had in Singapore! While the portions were minuscule - bite-sized (even the scones!) - it was truly delicious and surprisingly filling. Although I was vegetarian, with a little advance notice they were easily able to accommodate it. Every item was unique, and featured some of their ‘farm to table’ ingredients like the roselle cake and mushroom spinach quiche. The non-plain scone was also fig rather than raisin - adding to the unusual flavours. If you are lucky to get a window table, which I was, your experience is accompanied by stunning view of water, and forests. Of course the best part of the experience is that you are a hop, skip and jump away from the Mandai animal parks - and because you are so near, you can go at opening time when there is no one else around and be treated to a private viewing of the animals in their exhibits. I only had time for one, but if you’re more energetic than I was you could easily do two or three, including the night safari. Finally - Banyan Tree is of course known for its sustainability efforts - which I was pleased to observe, from rain harvesting, low Aircon and fan options in all rooms and apparently reusing the wood from felled trees for bits of furniture and decoration. Will definitely go again, if I have the opportunity!

My family enjoyed our stay at the Mandai rainforest resort. Toby the guest relations officer showed us around the premises and ensured that our stay was good. The hotel premises was quiet and tranquil. We would have preferred lake facing family rooms were not available. The restaurant was pretty crowded and a bit understaffed during breakfast as it was the school holidays.

My children loved the family room. We had our late lunch in the balcony when we first checked in. Checked in was smooth and fast. Location is great if you want to get away from the buzzing city.

Mandai is in an unusual location for Singapore, being surrounded by forest and a lake. It makes for a peaceful stay but of course the main point of difference is the various wildlife attractions, including the zoo and the bird sanctuary. The zoo is an easy walk and Bird Paradise is a bit longer but there is a regular shuttle bus if you don’t fancy walking in the heat and humidity. Our room was excellent with plenty of space, a comfortable bed and nice views. The restaurant serves a great breakfast and we also had a very tasty dinner there. On our second night we walked over to the hawker centre near the zoo and samples some cheap food there. My only gripe would be that the pillows were t firm enough for my taste but other than that I would recommend staying here and I would go again.