Travellers' Checks | The boutique hotel in Singapore’s ex-backpacker hub Bencoolen Street where you WhatsApp the staff for anything you need
Once known for crash pads such as Peony Mansion and Goh’s Homestay, Bencoolen Street has been spruced up into a chic urban area
Singapore’s Bencoolen Street was Backpacker Central in the 1980s and ’90s, with Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia on a Shoestring sending us penny-pinching readers off to semi-legal “crash pads” such as Peony Mansion and Goh’s Homestay. These days, the street is altogether more respectable, with not a mouldy foam mattress in sight, but it’s still a popular place with tourists in search of affordable hotels.
The latest is 30 Bencoolen, which opened recently in the old Bayview Hotel building after an extensive, year-long renovation. The emphasis at this 131-room hotel with rooftop pool is on hi-tech communications, with staff reachable via WhatsApp, and an in-room monitoring system that lets maintenance know if anything needs fixing.
