Travellers' Checks | Singapore to get first Andaz hotel in Southeast Asia

Hyatt’s “luxury lifestyle” hotel brand Andaz arrives in Southeast Asia next month, a decade after it was launched in London. The first Asian Andaz properties were opened in Shanghai (2011), Tokyo (2014) and Delhi (2016), and from November 15, the culturally inclined Andaz Singapore will be “inspiring fresh perspec­tives” from within the DUO mixed-used skyscraper development (top), next to Bugis MRT station.

This is only the second Hyatt-branded hotel to open in Singapore. The first was the Hyatt Hotel, which opened – strange as it may sound – close to half a century ago, in March 1971. The hotel was only partially completed at the time, with 200 of its eventual 900 rooms available.

Hugo’s Grill was advertised as “The Finest Restaurant in the Far East”, while the adja­cent Hugo’s Bar reverberated to the “jumpy music” of the Blue Star Sisters. (Born and raised in Hong Kong, the five multi-talented siblings had been transferred from the Hongkong Hyatt’s Polaris nightclub).

The hotel fully opened in October, with a portable television and stereo record player in every room. A few years later it was renamed the Hyatt Regency, and it was finally upgraded to a Grand Hyatt (above) in 1998.

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