The Private Room is Singapore Airlines’ dedicated facility for its own Suites and First Class passengers. First unveiled as a facility for full-fare paying First Class customers, the lounge later welcomed every other guest booked in First Class. Today, the lounge remains both the most exclusive facility in Singapore Changi Airport and in the Singapore Airlines network.

Lounge Access Requirements

As its name suggests, The Private Room is Singapore Airlines’ highest grade lounge facility. Like the First Class Terminal is to Lufthansa, The Private Room is open only to First Class and Suites passengers flying on Singapore Airlines. While First Class passengers may bring one guest (in line with the Star Alliance lounge policy), guests are instead directed to the SilverKris Lounge First Class. Likewise, Star Alliance First Class passengers will also be directed to that lounge.

Location

The SilverKris Lounges at Terminal 3 is located on Level 3, just above the terminal’s central shopping arcade. After clearing immigration, head towards the direction of Gates A1 – A8 and stop in front of the Bacha Coffee retail pavilion. There, you’ll find a pair of escalators that lead up to the SilverKris Lounges on Level 3, which is clearly distinguished by a batik-motif glass art facade.

The Private Room

After briefly staying at the SilverKris Lounge First Class, it was finally time to check out the airline’s most dignified facility. As I already had my Suites boarding pass verified previously, I was promptly granted access to The Private Room. Inside, I was immediately greeted by name by the lounge’s friendly host and invited to take a seat – much like a restaurant!

The Private Room and the SilverKris Lounge First Class share a common entrance and reception. However, while the First Class section instead opens directly into the lounge’s bar area, The Private Room is hidden down a beautiful chrome-clad corridor before revealing the airline’s most exclusive facility.

The corridor itself opens up to a beautiful and spacious reception area, featuring a chandelier composed of 107 Lalique crystal flowers and leaves. Here, you’ll also find an assistance desk manned by the lounge’s host, alongside the children’s playroom on the left hand side.

Seating

Past the reception is the seating area, which takes up the majority of space in The Private Room. The sitting room is separated into three distinct columns separated by two aisles, much like aboard a widebody jet.

Compared to the First Class Lounge, The Private Room employs a palette featuring cooler colours and elements, including blue-tinted lighting, blue carpeting, marble flooring, and chrome metal accents. This combines to evoke an opulent yet more relaxed atmosphere.

True to its name, much of the lounge’s seating feel very private, with seats contained within partitions – almost in a cubicle-like nature. This is especially true to the seats along the interior wall of the lounge, which feature leather sofas and armchairs shielded on three sides.

Along the centre are sofas and armchairs arranged in a living room-like arrangement, complemented by a marble coffee table. Perfect for larger groups and families, these seats feel surprisingly private thanks to the glass partitions surrounding them.

On the opposite side, you’ll find a row of alcove seating located by the window. Lacking partitions from the aisle, these seats do feel like the most exposed in the lounge. Furthermore, the windows unfortunately look indoors into Terminal 3’s shopping arcade.

Finally, I’ll note that you’ll also find universal power outlets fitted onto points either to the side of the seats or under the side tables. While this isn’t an alternative to a proper workspace, it is certainly better than nothing. Furthermore, I’ll add that most seats have an individually controlled reading light attached to the wall.

Service Concept

Having seen what the lounge has to offer, I finally decided to sit down in a seat near the window. After taking a seat, one of the lounge’s roaming servers approached me and presented me with a menu. He explained that drinks and meals can be ordered at any time. Furthermore, as the lounge does not have any self-service points, you will need to request any food or drinks from the waitstaff.

I declined having a second breakfast, having had a rather filling one on board my flight from Jakarta. Instead, I decided to partake in a glass (or several) of the excellent 2012 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne. Much like the Piper-Heidsieck Rare Millesimé 2007 that’s also available in the First Class Lounges, this is the same champagne they serve on board in First Class.

While the personalised service was nice, it did feel quite overwhelming having someone regularly come by to ask if you’d like anything else to drink or eat. Perhaps it’s just me, though I do prefer the more reactive lounge staff at the Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge in Hong Kong.

Dining

At the very back of the lounge is the dedicated à la carte dining facility, which features table service. The dining area features a symmetrically furnished dining room; there are five booth tables located on each side, each seating two. Furthermore, there are also four tables in the centre of the area, separated by marble and glass partitions.

While there are 14 tables in the dining room, it is very unlikely that more than a handful will be occupied at any given time. As such, the dining facility feels very private and calm compared to the SilverKris First Class Lounges.

Akin to a restaurant, you are seated by a host who will take care of you during your meal. During my visit, I was taken care of by Melissa, who was very warm and friendly. After being seated, she carefully pointed out which dishes I should try. While I was planning to skip dessert, she still insisted I order something to complete the meal. Given my sweet tooth, I was reluctant to decline! 😉

Lunch

Once I was seated, I was presented with The Private Room’s exclusive menu, which is differentiated with each meal. As it had been well past midday by this point, I was presented with a lunch service – which started at 11.00. For reference, the following are the breakfast and lunch menus.

In addition, there is also a limited selection of self-served food in The Private Room, consisting of pastries as well as dry snacks and cereal for breakfast.

As it has been many hours since I had breakfast, I decided to try out several things from the menu – mushroom soup with truffle carpaccio; chili crab capellini with caviar; and the chocolate fondant. I also had still water to accompany the meal, which was San Benedetto branded.

Altogether, I found the food to be fine, although nothing spectacular. While the presentation of the appetiser and the main was quite nice, it just tasted average and didn’t particularly come across as very fresh. For one, I’ve had much better food at the Qantas First Class Lounge and even the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge. However, that’s not to say it was bad but the food just wasn’t memorable. I’ll admit, however, that you can’t ever go wrong with a chocolate fondant, even if it’s not a very first class dish.

Drinks

In addition to the à la carte dining, the lounge also has a fully decked selection of beverages adorning the back of the dining area. Its centrepiece is a six-row wine cooler, displaying the same selection of fine wines and champagnes as you would find in First Class on board.

Of course, this was not a self-pour affair as the lounge’s waitstaff constantly roam about to offer drinks. This of course extends to a selection of barista-brewed coffee and tea, fresh juices, as well as drinks and cocktails made à la minute by the lounge’s bartender.

Amenities

Children’s playroom

Right by the reception is a glass-enclosed children’s playroom. Like the other SilverKris lounges playrooms, however, the space is quite bare and features a wall-mounted television in addition to a small bean bag chair and a high chair. I’ll note that there is also a teddy bear in this one.

Day rooms

Across from the reception, you’ll find the entrance corridor to the lounge’s four day rooms. As usual, the day room can be reserved at the reception in two-hour blocks, which can be extended subject to availability.

Each is equipped with both a single bed and a Poltrona Frau reclining chair – akin to a small hotel room albeit without an ensuite toilet. There is also a sizeable desk and work chair located by the bed. While the room is quite spacious, it can only accommodate one person at any given time. Furthermore, the lighting is individually controlled although I’ll note that the door has a narrow window which allows in light from the lounge.

Phone room

Located between the sitting area and the dining room is a single phone room with a chair and a table. The booth serves a similar purpose to the booths you’d find in Japanese lounges, like those in the JAL First Class Lounge for example. Being enclosed, it is evidently purposed to limit noise disturbance when taking calls.

Showers

The showers and washrooms are located in a common area along the winding chrome-clad entrance corridor. There is a shower reception right outside the shower area, where you can request to use one of the four shower suites available.

The shower suites themselves are spacious and features an ensuite bidet-equipped toilet and vanity. There is also a built-in luggage rack, in addition to the large shower stall equipped with both rain and handheld showers. Additionally, I find it interesting that the toilet has both a handheld bidet and a smart bidet.

Sadly, The Private Room’s elevated status does not exempt it from the same kind of porcelain tiles used in the wet areas of the other Singapore Airlines lounges. At the very least, I will admit that the greyish stone effect used here does look a lot more tasteful compared to the one at the SilverKris Lounge.

Unlike the other SilverKris lounges, however, I’ll point out that The Private Room features amenities from COMO Shambhala. These come in big bottles and are comparable to the ones I had at the COMO Metropolitan Singapore. As usual, Lalique body lotion, facial mist, and eau de toilette are provided on the vanity.

Washrooms

The washrooms have a similar look and feel as the showers, being decked in the same shiny grey marble-patterned tiles. Well-lit and regularly cleaned, the gender-segregated washrooms are definitely nicer than the ones in a typical airport lounge. Furthermore, each sink vanity is accompanied by toiletries like toothbrushes and shaving kits. Lalique eau de toilette and body lotion are likewise available.

Like the showers, the toilets feature a smart bidet function similar to the Toto Neorest toilets like those in high-end hotels. This is provided in addition to the standard handheld bidets common in Southeast Asia. Curiously, there is also a shoe-polishing machine located next to the sinks – something I haven’t seen in a while!

WiFi

The SilverKris Lounge has a relatively fast WiFi network separate from the terminal’s otherwise great WiFi connectivity. While the network is password protected, the password is conveniently displayed on placards throughout the lounge.

Overall

The Private Room is no doubt an excellent and very calm and private lounge. Despite its exclusivity, however, I don’t think I’d consider it to be the best First Class lounge in the world. There are more easily accessible First Class lounges which offer what I think to be better experiences. For one, I feel that the food quality really lags behind the world’s top lounges, despite the excellent drinks selection. Regardless, I’ll point out that the lounge is beautiful, comfortable, and very pleasant at what it is. Perhaps it is its reputation that has set me up for expectations too high.

Read more from this trip here!