More hostels in Singapore as demand for cheap stay increases

A hotel room in Singapore costs on average $261 per night. So demand for hostels in Singapore is (not suprisingly) high. As of July 2013 there are 56 licensed hostels in Singapore. There were 46 licensed hotels by July 2012. Besides the increase in number, quality of the hostel stock also changed a lot. There are many hostels now in Singapore offering much more than bunker beds in dark and far corners of the island state. There are many centrally located boutique hostels in Singapore now offering relatively luxurious stay. ABC Premium Hostel and Bunc@Radius Backpack Hostel in Singapore Little India, Wink Hostel and Adler Hostel in Singapore Chinatown are just some to name.

More gap-year travellers, flashpackers are travelling to Singapore which is driving the demand for hostels. And price is not the only reason for many to stay in a hostel. Hostel offers a communal environment and a chance to meet more people compared to a hotel. Another group of hostel dwellers are people looking for a job in Singapore and students.

If you are looking for a hostel in Singapore, you can read our articles on the topic:

• Hostels in Singapore
  
• Singapore's First Pod Style Flashpacker Hostel
  
• Backpacking to flashpacking: Flashpacking hostels of Singapore and South East Asia
  
• Tree In Lodge Singapore’s first environmentally-friendly hostel
  
• Pod Hotels getting popular
  
• Boutique hostels in Singapore
  
• Adler Hostel in Singapore offers luxury hostel stay
  
• Wink Hostel in Singapore Chinatown: Upscale pod style beds in Singapore
  
• ABC Premium Hostel in Singapore Little India: Truly a premium grade hostel
  
• Bunc@Radius Backpack Hostel in Singapore's Little India

Adler Hostel in Singapore offers luxury hostel stay

Hostel in Singapore was a rarity just until a few years ago but thanks to increased number of budget travelers and runaway cost of renting a simple hotel room in Singapore, many hostels emerged in the past few years. With the opening of  The Matchbox Concept Hostel and Wink Hostel, we have also started to see increasing number of relatively luxurious hostels offering some privacy to its guests in the form of cabins or pots.

One of these luxury hostels offering much more than basic bed + shower combination of a standard hostel is Adler Hostel in Chinatown. The hostel calls itself "The First Luxurious Hostel in Singapore". I have doubts about that they are the "first" but the property is really luxurious for a hostel. In fact, Adler Hostel has been at the top of "the best value for money" accommodation in Singapore list in Asia's leading hotel booking site Agoda.com with a rating of Fantastic (9.0).

Adler Hostel occupies a newly renovated traditional shop-house which is conveniently located in Chinatown, just behind the Temple Street. It is a short walk away from Chinatown MRT Station. The hostel features cabins dorm beds separated by panels from each other. The beds in Adler Hostel are housed in two 16-bed dorms. Add these dormitory beds a curtain that can be pulled, they provide a lot of privacy while sleeping. The comfort level it provides to its guests in its class has also put the hostel in the best room comfort/standard list in agoda.

He could have actually squeezed in 46 beds in the Chinatown hostel but Adler Hostel’s young founder, Mr Adler Poh, 25, decided to have a conservative 32 beds. This decision provides extra space for the hostel guests with more privacy and quiet environment:

"Adler Hostel is not your usual hostel, and it is our aim to create a niche that other hostels cannot replicate. Adler Hostel is deliberately kept small to offer a boutique feel. Differentiation also lies in our guest services. For instance, we have a concierge that will recommend off-the-beaten-track attractions and activities in Singapore, tailor travel itineraries and offer attraction tickets at discounted rates" says Adler Poh (source : Adler Hostel makes debut in luxury scene).

Adler Hostel in Singapore provides private cabins with curtains. In this photo the Ivory Room at Adler Hostel 

Daily rates are S$60 (US$49) per night, which is higher than what other hostels in Singapore are charging but since no-frills budget hotels in Chinatown can easily fetch 100++ SGD per night per room, if you really want to stretch your dollars and save on accommodation in Singapore while not downgrading so much, Adler Hostel provides a very good alternative for you in Chinatown.

"For instance, there’s a hostel in this area that charges S$50 per night. Despite the higher rate, occupancy has been very good. We welcomed our first guest on November 12, and up till (mid-December) the hostel is running at 70 per cent occupancy" says Adler Poh (source : Adler Hostel makes debut in luxury scene).

Here is how to get to Adler Hostel

• Take MRT Purple Line and alight at Chinatown MRT Station.
• Exit from Exit A (towards Pagoda Street).
• Walk straight out to the main road of South Bridge Road 
• Turn right when you see Temple Street
• Adler Hostel is on the left.

Customers book direct with the property or through OTAs such as Agoda. “Due to the demographic of our target market, it is natural that we work more closely with OTAs,” says Poh.

Adler Hostel is one of the nicest hostels in Singapore with a great location, classy facilities and value for money. You can read some reviews of the hostel here.

Here are some other boutique style hostels in Singapore.

5footway.inn Project Chinatown 2	Wink Hostel	Bunc hostel	Beary Nice!

Boutique hostels in Singapore

As traditional hotel prices went to roof in Singapore, a new breed of upmarket boutique hostels started to mushroomed in the past few years. These hostels, with their pod-like bunk beds, relatively luxurious facilities and many more bonuses, cater to both traditional backpackers who are looking for more than no frills bed to sleep and flashpackers, a new breed of backpackers who require more from their hostel stay.

Matchbox The Concept Hostel

39 Ann Siang Road, Singapore, Singapore

Located in one of the best places in Singapore, Matchbox The Concept Hostel offers boutique-style accommodation to those on a backpacker's budget in comfortable pods. It has been featured in The Independent as one of The Big Six: Capsule hotels.

Bunc Hostel

15 Upper Weld Road, Little India, Singapore 207372
This new generation boutique hostel, located in a 3-stories shophouse in Little India, offer full air-conditioning, Wi-fi, kitchenette facilities, recreation rooms with gaming facilities, an outdoor tanning deck, commercial washer-dryers, a ladies-only floor and most of all. With custom made beds which comes in 2 sizes, Singles and Deluxes,  Bunc Hostel offers a clean, neat and value for money stay in Singapore. The hostel provides key card access to guest rooms, oil-based air fresheners and bug-resistant pillow and mattress covers

Guests in Bunc Hostel Singapore - Photo: Relax.com.sg

Wink Hostel

A Mosque Street, Chinatown / Tiong Bahru, Singapore 059488
Housed in a 3-storey historic shop house, Wink Hostel offers designer pod-beds and high-tech dormitory rooms which can be accessed by a personal key-card. Each pod at Wink Hotel is equipped with sound-resistant walls in between the pods, an orthopaedic mattress, a reading light, and a power socket, amongst other features.[1] Lockers under the beds are locked and unlocked with personal key-cards.

5footway.inn Project Chinatown, 5footway.inn Project Sultan, 5footway.inn Project Chinatown 2

63 Pagoda Street, Chinatown / Tiong Bahru, Singapore 059222
8 Aliwal Street, Bugis, Singapore 199901
227 South Bridge Road, Chinatown / Tiong Bahru, Singapore 058778
There are three branches of 5footway.inn: One is located in Chinatown at Pagoda Street and named 5footway.inn Project Chinatown, one is off Beach Road at Aliwal Street and called 5footway.inn Project Sultan and the newly opened 5footway.inn Project Chinatown 2 is on South Bridge Road, Chinatown / Tiong Bahru.

Singapore's China Town
Photo - 5footway.inn

[1] - New breed of hostels in Singapore

Matchbox The Concept Hostel is open

We have written last month that Singapore's first pod style flashpacker hostel, Matchbox The Concept Hostel, will be opened in August. Matchbox Hospitality officially launched this only boutique flashpacker hostel with pod-style dormitory in Singapore and Southeast Asia in August and on August 16th 2011. They were very kind to invite Asia Singapore to media open event.I will write a larger first hand review of this new hostel soon. Below is from the press release:

"Singapore, 16 August 2011 - Responding to the calls of a new generation of travellers, Matchbox The Concept Hostel appeals to flashpackers who have vastly different ‘wants’ from the typical backpacker. The only one in Singapore and Southeast Asia to feature exclusive custom-made pod-style dormitories, Matchbox is also the only hostel in the world to feature couple bunk beds within a dormitory."

The hostel offers three rooms, Sunkiss is 2 single bed mixed dormitory, Flamingo is 12 single bed Ladies’ dormitory, and Spring Mist is 18-bed mixed dormitory (2 double beds and 16 single beds). As I have written before in Singapore descent hotels prices range between expensive and very expensive, and hostels like The Matchbox are great to spend less on a bed and more on everything else. It is indeed better for young people to share a dorm with travellers from around the world even they can afford to lock themselves privately into a hotel room.

Matchbox The Concept Hostel Facade

So with its 45 SGD per night per pod, this hostel is flashpacker, affluent backpacker who is backpacking with a bigger budget. With this extra prices comes extras, a more luxury than an average space, cosy location with a soul and history, free all day breakfast, Wi-Fi, laundry facilities and custom designed pillows. Below photos would give you more idea about the hostel. What I will add for now is I especially like its location, Ang Siang Road, greeting you with its elegantly restored shophouses (Matchbox is in one of these shop houses) at the end of gentle slope of Ang Siang Hill is a very nice place to stay in Singapore.

Matchbox Lobby - Source : Hostels.com

Dormitory with pods  - Source : Hostels.com

Here are some other boutique style hostels in Singapore.

5footway.inn Project Chinatown 2	Wink Hostel	Bunc hostel	Adler Hostel