Singapore Trip - Peninsula Excelsior Hotel

Finally, after an hour ride in the plane, my mum and I have finally reached Singapore shore. I'm so excited. A mother and daughter shopping adventure.
As soon as we took our luggage, we went out to the arrival hall and was greeted warmly by John from The Traveller DMC. He's in charge of transferring us from the airport to our hotel, Peninsula Excelsior Hotel.
A very pleasant and chatty man. We talked throughout the journey to our hotel, which was about 25 minutes away from the airport. As soon as he dropped us off in front of the hotel, we then took the elevator up to the lobby. We were greeted politely by the receptionist (so different from what I read about the rudeness of the receptionist from those hotel reviews sites) and within 10 minutes, we're done and was shown to our room by the bellboy.
The room was actually pretty good. Seriously, I already prepared for the worse, but this is not what I expected after reading all those reviews from TripAdvisor.com, etc.

The Hotel where I'm staying, Excelsior Hotel

Peninsula Tower, another hotel under the same management.

 

 

 

The bathroom was also clean and spacious enough.

 

And the view quite good as well.

 

 

And the location of this hotel is perfect. the nearest MRT is City hall MRT station, which is 8 minutes walk from the hotel. And the nearest shopping mall is Raffles City Shopping Centre, which is about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. The next shopping mall after Raffles City is Marina Square, which is another 10 minutes walk from Raffles City. If I know earlier, there's actually an underground shopping centre connected with City Hall MRT station and Suntec City Mall called the CityLink Mall.
It's so convenient that I can't help feeling proud of making this decision to stay in this hotel. And since breakfast is not provided, we asked the concierge if there's any place for us to have early breakfast and he directed us to a small diner just across the hotel main entrance where we can have self-served ready-cooked fried noodles, rice, fried eggs, toast bread, starting from SGD2. Cheap and nice, too.

Overall Verdict:
I really enjoy my trip here. The hotel is good. No problems encountered so far. Location is convenient to malls as well as MRT station. No problem with food as well. Both my mum and I are satisfied and happy.

Groupon Deal - Yishensu, 3 Dish + 2 Rice for RM24

Today, I checked the Groupon page and I was drawn to their interesting and enticing deals.
One of the ad that caught my attention is a food deal from Yishensu, which is one of my favorite vegetarian restaurant. RM24 instead of RM48 for:

Vege Crispy Goose (RM12 value)
+
Braised Mushroom with Broccoli (RM18 value)
+
House Signature Emperor Tofu (RM18 value)
+
White rice for two people

Cool! I immediately purchase it without a second thought. They do provide a few options to pay, but I opt to use the offline payment system, where I pay via ATM transfer (I guess I have difficulty trusting websites, sorry)
After 3 days of waiting, the voucher is finally ready to be printed. A week later, I called to make a reservation (as indicated on the Fine Print of the webpage, I must do reservation 3 days in advance), however the person-in-charge said it's not necessary because it's a weekday and it won't be crowded. So fine, my mum and I just walked into the restaurant and I present the voucher to them. We ordered two glasses of Chinese tea (as it's not included in the deal) and waited patiently for our food to serve.
The food came out perfect. It's all delicious and the portion is just right. All came out piping out, much to our satisfaction.

 

Overall Verdict:
Very satisfying. My mum also enjoys the food very much. She said if there's another similar deal as this, must remember to take her along =.=!

Mayflower - Case Close

After one month of negotiations, both Mayflower and I have come to a conclusion. I will get to stay in Peninsula Excelsior Hotel, with airport transfer to and from the airport and hotel. I'm glad we manage to settle this matter out of court and I'm thankful that I can still go for my Singapore trip.
As soon as I get the confirmation email and letter from Mayflower, I immediately logged into the Consumer Tribunal Claim online and closed the file with immediate effect.
These whole experience has really awaken me and taught me a valuable lesson. I doubt I will ever support Mayflower after this incident, but that does not mean other travel agencies will not do the same to me. The best advice, to be extra careful with their marketing gimmicks and to ask questions on the package as thoroughly as possible to avoid any misconceptions.
Now I hope the hotel I'm going to stay is good and worth my money and my effort.