Opened in September 2023, COMO Metropolitan Singapore is the brand’s first foray into Singapore’s booming hotel sector. The 156-key hotel is managed under the Metropolitan sub-brand, which operates urban properties in Bangkok and London. Along with the rest of the COMO Orchard complex, the hotel was jointly designed by Koichiro Ikebuchi and Paola Navone – two mainstay designers for COMO properties. Having loved my previous stays at COMO Shambhala Estate, Uma Ubud, and The Halkin, I was excited to finally check out the group’s hotel on its home turf.

Booking COMO Metropolitan

For this stay at COMO Metropolitan Singapore, I paid a nightly rate of SGD 335 (~ USD259, GBP 195). The rate booked me into an entry-level Cairnhill Room and was inclusive of breakfast. For one, this price falls into the average nightly rate charged by most entry-level 5-star hotels along Orchard Road, like Pullman, Hilton, Marriott, and Conrad.

Location

COMO Metropolitan Singapore takes up the upper levels of the COMO Orchard building; it shares the facility with a handful of other Christina Ong-owned ventures like Club21, COMO Cuisine, and COMO Shambhala, as well as partnerships like the widely publicised Cedric Grolet patisserie and COTE Korean restaurant. The building itself is located on Bideford Road, just to the side of the Orchard Road shopping belt. Across the street, you’ll find the Paragon Shopping Mall, which is indirectly connected to the hotel by way of a pedestrian bridge to the neighbouring Ascott Singapore.

Being so, the hotel is within easy reach of Orchard’s dizzying array of retail outlets, dining establishments, and entertainment venues. Additionally, Orchard Station can be reached within a 10-minute walk towards the direction of Wisma Atria and ion Orchard. The station is served by two lines on the city-state’s excellent MRT subway network, an easy link to Singapore’s various icons and cultural attractions.

Check-in

When we arrived at COMO Orchard at around midday, I was surprised to find that there wasn’t anybody waiting at the porte-cochère to assist with our arrival. For one it felt quite surreal to walk into an empty foyer at an upmarket hotel, particularly without any discernable signage to the reception. However, since I was already aware that the lobby wasn’t located on the ground level, I didn’t think twice and headed up the lifts to the lobby.

As I exited the lift on Level 6, I was greeted by a stylishly dressed host at the reception desk. As he processed my check-in, he introduced the features of the hotel and confirmed that my reservation included daily breakfast. He also explained that a number of complimentary beverages are available for guests at the Lobby Lounge. The Lobby Lounge is something the hotel is very proud of thanks to the barista serving these drinks (more on this later).

While I arrived a couple of hours early, I was luckily told that my room was ready and was soon enough issued a pair of wooden key cards. Owing to the high occupancy of the hotel, however, I was assigned an accessible Cairnhill Twin Room located on the 11th floor. After heading up a separate set of lifts, I was met with a sleek and modern corridor to my room.

Cairnhill Room

The entry-level Cairnhill Rooms are modestly sized between 28 sqm to 36 sqm (301 sqft to 387 sqft). While the majority of rooms fall under the smaller square footage of the two, my assigned room was on the bigger side owing to its accessible nature. Furthermore, thanks to the hotel’s location, all rooms feature views of the surrounding residential and hotel buildings around Orchard.

Like the rest of the COMO Metropolitan, the sun-soaked room looks strikingly modern and clean – trademarks of Atelier Ikebuchi. With its wooden floors and a warm and earthy palette of white and beige, the room feels nice and welcoming despite being quite minimal. The room is also subtly equipped with comforts like adjustable soft lighting, electronic blinds, bedside reading lamps, and a Bose Bluetooth speaker on the bedside.

Moreover, the room boasts custom Giogetti furniture, which expectedly looks sleek and tasteful. Sadly, branded furniture does not necessarily translate to comfort. While beautiful the room’s setup feels impractical and awkward. For instance, while the dining table looks pragmatic, its chairs are hard and uncomfortable – making it difficult to get comfortable. Furthermore, the positioning of the beds and the chairs allows for few comfortable positions to watch the wall-hung television.

While I would have liked a chaise longue or a sofa in the room, I at least appreciate that the bed and bedding were plush and comfortable. The same can be said about the bathrobes and slippers in the wardrobe, which were soft and fluffy.

Kitchenette

Along the entryway, there is a kitchenette setup which merges seamlessly into the wardrobe. In addition to a Nespresso machine and Monogram tea, the kitchenette also curiously features a sink and a microwave – surprising additions for a hotel of this market segment, let alone COMO.

Curiously, in addition to the microwave, the room also comes with a rather large chiller for a hotel room. This makes me think that the property was intended to be an extended-stay hotel at some point in its development. In any case, I’ll also note that the contents of the provided minibar are entirely complimentary. This features a modest selection of beverages and several dry snacks from a local brand called Boxgreen.

Additionally, there is also a valet box – an amenity I often associate with The Peninsula. Located by the door and next to the kitchenette, the two-way closet allows for discreet pickup and deliveries of laundry, shoe shine requests, and items or amenities, among other things.

Other amenities, including a luggage rack and an umbrella, as well as an iron and ironing board were also available in the wardrobe. I also liked that yoga mats are proactively offered in each room, which is at least in tune with COMO’s wellness branding.

Bathroom

Across the kitchenette is the elegant slate and limestone bathroom. Considering that this is an accessible room, the bathroom is outfitted with features like a step-free shower with a seat and touchless sinks and handrail-equipped automatic flush toilets. It is also expectedly spacious, big enough for a wheelchair, although surprisingly dark.

The vanity features a full range of organic and sustainable amenities and toiletries. Naturally, the provided amenities are COMO Shambhala-branded, which come in refillable big bottles. These are Korean-made and strangely have a different scent and feel to them. While still high quality, I didn’t find it to be as refreshing and luscious as the England-made COMO Shambhala amenities I’ve been used to in the past.

In addition to its accessible nature, the shower has both rain and handheld showerheads. Note that regular rooms are also equipped with a rain shower with a bench, although enclosed and in an understandably less spacious setup. For one, I was surprised to find out that none of the rooms or suites at COMO Metropolitan Singapore features a bathtub. An unexpected and rather disappointing omission from a wellness-oriented brand, if you ask me.

Breakfast

Breakfast is served daily between 06.30 and 10.00 at COMO Cuisine, the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant. Located on Level 2, the restaurant shares its space with the second floor of the Club 21 retail boutique, leaving the space feeling rather constrained. I was also taken aback by the restaurant’s unexpectedly loud and playful industrial design, which contrasts greatly to the otherwise sleek and minimalist look of the hotel.

For breakfast, the restaurant’s bar is converted into a makeshift buffet spread, featuring an array of baked goods, cereal, Greek yoghurt and fresh-cut fruits. A selection of fresh fruit juices as well as Nespresso coffee and Monogram tea are also available on request. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

On top of the buffet selection, cooked and prepared dishes are also available for order from an à la carte menu (which you can refer to below), limited to one dish per guest. For this, I ordered an Eggs Benedict which was served lukewarm. While it was made up of quality ingredients, was sadly underwhelming owing to the Hollandaise sauce’s blandness and the crumbliness of the muffin.

Each guest is also allotted a single pastry from the hotel’s highly sought-after Cedric Grolet outlet – a widely advertised offering of the meal. Served cold, I was frankly indifferent to the croissant. While it looked nice and was buttery and crisp, I genuinely don’t see its appeal relative to other well-made pastries.

COMO Cuisine Service

In addition to the plain and unremarkable food, I’ll note that the service at COMO Cuisine was quite lacklustre. The restaurant’s staff, while polite, looked apathetic (which seems to be a part of a larger trend at the hotel). For instance, it was difficult to get staff attention to order drinks or à la carte dishes, and it took even longer for empty plates to be cleared. In all, I’d say breakfast is not worth its SGD 50+ per person price tag if your rate doesn’t include it.

Amenities

Lobby Lounge

Just behind the lift lobby on Level 6 is the Lobby Lounge, which is where you’ll find virtually all seating in the lobby. Throughout the day, hotel guests can enjoy a selection of complimentary hot and iced beverages prepared by Bruno – the hotel’s robot barista.

To request a drink, you can simply order from a list of drinks on a tablet point-of-sale to the side of Bruno. Basic drinks like espressos or Pandan-flavoured milk are free, although other espresso-based drinks are chargeable. While initially fun to watch, I’ll say that the novelty of a robot barista wears off very quickly. Furthermore, the drinks are no better (or even arguably worse) than those made by a person.

COMO Shambhala

Located on Level 4 is the COMO Shambhala wellness facility, which includes both a spa and a gymnasium. The gymnasium is quite sizeable for a hotel of this size, although understandably so given COMO Shambhala’s wellness membership programme.

In addition to the state-of-the-art cardio and weight equipment available, the gymnasium also has the quirk of a light therapy room with indoor bikes. I wasn’t sure how it works or what benefit it gives, but I suppose such a facility is on-brand for COMO.

Rooftop Pool

On top of the fitness facility on Level 4, the hotel also has an infinity pool separately located on the rooftop on Level 19. Given its limited real estate, the pool deck looked rather awkwardly proportioned, leaving it rather uninviting. Instead of a line of sun loungers running along the length of the pool, you’ll find a narrow walkway between the rooftop bar and the pool’s edge.

Instead, you’ll find a handful of seats and sun loungers located in nooks on each end of the pool. On the bright side, the pool deck boasts 180-degree views of Singapore. On a clear day, it is even possible to see the iconic Marina Bay Sands complex and the skyscrapers along Marina Bay and City Hall.

Service

Let me note beforehand that the hotel felt very understaffed. While virtually everybody was reasonably friendly, I didn’t feel that service was very good at COMO Metropolitan. For one, the staff while polite seemed rather disinterested in their jobs and are not one to go out of their way to provide good service. For instance, during the stay, I was delivered a note addressed to another guest. When I returned this note to reception, I was met with an indifferent and unapologetic response of ‘Oh, I see’.

Coincidentally, I did converse with a manager at the lobby before my departure, who acknowledged that the hotel has many kinks to iron out and apologetic upon hearing my experience. Yet that was no consolation to what happened next. When I requested a taxi at the reception, I was quoted a fixed rate nearly double the metered rate to the airport. I was advised that there was no alternative unless I hailed one from the street myself. In the end, I walked across the street to the Paragon Shopping Mall and got a taxi myself. How dreadful.

Overall

More than anything, I feel that the COMO Metropolitan presents a lot of novelty without actually being good at anything. The hotel itself is objectively fine but all of its heavy-handed marketing attempts to prove itself otherwise have frankly fallen flat compared to what the hotel offers. Between its surprisingly unergonomic rooms, unexceptional service, and passable food, there is too much fluff going about and not enough substance. Speaking as a big fan of COMO, I definitely expected the hotel to have worked out its kinks, eight months after its opening, particularly in its home turf. While I wouldn’t have minded had the hotel belonged to another brand, this was disappointing for COMO.