Singapore Prices
With the exchange rate at around $1.42 per $US it looks like Singapore is pricing itself out of business. I called the usual hotels that I use and found them all full due to an ASEAN conference so I stopped by the hotel booking booth at Changi airport to see what they could offer. Other than a few fleapits (at up to S$150 per night) the next best they could offer was S$350 for a night. There was nothing in the S$150 to 200 range which is my comfort zone for a standard type hotel.
I used to be able to stay at the Meritus Negara hotel for S$120 by booking at the airport earlier in the year but since the older booth at the airport has been replaced by the flashier new walk-in affair things have changed and not for the better.
One of the hotels that I have used in the past has had increases of over 50% over the past year so with the drop in the value of the US dollar this seems excessive, particularly as no renovation work has been done there to justify such a big increase.
This was the second trip in the past couple of months where the same sort of thing has happened with conferences filling the hotels that I know and having nothing else reasonable available. Of course there are always the hotels in Geylang with tiny rooms and no amenities for around S$50 to S$60 if you want to be out there but I prefer having at least an internet connection available.
With the prices as high as they are it will be worth spending a little more on the plane ticket and heading to Malaysia next time around.
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