Pros: 1. Great location to Bugis (2 shopping centres and Bugis Street), Haji lane (bars), Liang Seah Street (China hotpot, grilled fished, desserts) 2. Staff were friendly and efficient 3. Has a rain shower Cons: 1. Had issues with the booking so we ended up staying at the hotel twice. App was prompt to resolve the issue. 2. We chosen to have a staycation at Populous Hotel as the price was affordable and we wanted to celebrate our anniversary together. The rooms on the website and the gallery looked really bright and spacious. However, we were disappointed to see that the room was extremely cramped and small. The first time we stayed in the standard room (no window #513) - spacious room but the smallest bathroom ever. The glass panels separating the bathroom and toilet made it even more cramp. There are no place to put the shampoo and soap. Layout was similar to the adjacent Hotel 81 but it cost more ($100 online and $75 using the last minute deal on the hotel website). The second time we stayed in the Standard Queen Room (with windows #401). The room was even smaller than the previous but the bathroom was slightly more spacious. However, the view was a construction site and the Hotel 81 signage. 2. Both times, there were issues with the air-conditioning. It was blasting cold but towards the middle of the night it was really warm and stuffy. Temperature could only be adjusted from the front desk too. Thus, the sleep was uncomfortable. 3. The walls are extremely thin and non-sound proofed. With or without windows in the rooms, you would be able to hear the sound of the construction site, cars zooming last on the road, other guests talking and laughing loudly. My partner and I are pretty heavy sleepers and yet we were still woken up by the loud noise. Unfortunately, on our second stay, there were two groups of people staying in the two rooms adjacent to ours. They were screaming, shouting, laughing and singing throughout the whole night. By 5am, I was so frustrated and called the front desk and luckily the noise level went down immediately with the front desk intervention. However, we were still kept up for another hour due to the busy roads (yes at 5am) before we were able to sleep. 4. We booked our stay from 23-24April. Wi-Fi was extremely slow and my partner who was doing some work on the laptop had to go down to the front desk and even to the bus stop outside the hotel to load some documents. Moreover, we were not able to access the internet after midnight because the system deem that we are checking out on 24 April and hence we did not have access to the Wi-Fi? We were due to check out at 12pm on 24 April but to have the Wi-Fi be cut off at 12am seemed ridiculous to say the least. The front desk agent was quick to resolved the problem however, it was done by giving us the Wi-Fi password of the adjacent room? 5. Pillows are extremely soft. Once you lie on it, the pillow will deflate so much that it feels like you're sleeping on the mattress. The staff were also prompt to provide extra pillows upon request but it was still too soft? The linen and duvet also felt scratchy and slightly itchy so I am not sure if there are bed bugs? 6. Populous's furniture and in room amenities are slightly nicer with lamination but it was probably the same furniture (TV, mini bar etc). Wear and tear could be seen everywhere and dust was also in sight on every surface. Mini bar in the room was barely working on both our stays there. It was barely able to keep our mineral water cold. Ice cream melted like crazy too. 7. No amenities. Just a basic room and an in-house restaurant. We did not dine in there but it seemed pretty decent with large variety of western and local dishes. Affordable prices too. Overall, we will not be staying in this hotel anymore. Even with Epic Sale or Brand's own last minute sale, we were not able to justify the price for what we have experienced there on both our stays. The room standard and layout were similar to other Hotel (now Ibis Budget) just beside this hotel. Their prices are 50% cheaper. We have stayed in those hotels before so you're paying for a higher price for a lower quality. 😰