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More boutique hotels in S’pore can spice up hospitality sector: analysts

Posted on 11 Aug 2009 | Comments Off

Industry watchers said the boutique hotel sector in Singapore is under-penetrated.

They said there’s room for at least another 10 new ones to spice up the local hospitality scene and to attract more niche travellers looking for something different.

Take a shower right in the middle of the room just a few feet from your bed is what you get to do for about S$385 per night in a basic executive room at Singapore’s latest boutique hotel, klapsons.

The most expensive room, the premium suite, costs US$850 or S$1,225 per night.

Since its soft launch in June, the 17-room hotel, located in downtown Singapore, has attracted bookings from some 250 corporate clients.

Located at 15, Hoe Chiang Road, klapsons will open officially in October.

It took developers three years to put the hotel together Continue reading →

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Posted in General

Tagged Boutique Hotel, Hotel

Hold firm, first-time home buyers

Posted on 9 Aug 2009 | Comments Off

Two Sundays ago, my editor wrote in this column about property advice his parents gave him just before he bought his first home.

He was unaware, but on the day his column was published, I took the plunge and bought my very first property with my partner.

His words obviously resonated with me: My purchase was an apartment way below $1,000 psf and under $1million, and reasonably near an MRT station by 2015.

But beyond these guidelines, I discovered that buying the first home was a lot more difficult and agonising than I had ever imagined – a process determined by so many pressures and factors.

For the longest time, the classified advertisements on Saturdays were my best friend. I zoomed in on cheap private properties because my partner and I were deemed ineligible for HDB flats (he is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident).

I pored through every single column, rang countless property agents and viewed so many apartments that one blurred i Continue reading →