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News: British Airways Singapore lounge reopens, new Hilton on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah

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News in brief:

British Airways reopens its lounge in Singapore

British Airways reopened its lounge at Singapore Changi Airport yesterday after a closure of exactly a month for refurbishment.

This is good news for British Airways passengers because, even though Qantas and Qatar Airways operate lounges you can use, they can restrict access at peak times.

No press release has appeared yet with formal photographs, but a reader send us a picture of the celebratory cake.

The oneworld website has not yet been updated with opening hours and still shows the lounge as ‘closed’. The lounge is in Terminal 1 on Level 3.

British Airways Singapore lounge

Hilton adds a new resort on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah

Hilton has added a new hotel in Dubai – Tumbi West Palm Beach, image above.

This is described as ‘located on the trunk of Palm Jumeirah, steps from Palm Sand Beach’. Some rooms are sold as having sea views although it is not on the beach itself.

The 171-room hotel has joined Hilton’s Tapestry Collection. Tapestry Collection is the 3-4 star equivalent of Hilton’s 5-star Curio Collection. Both brands allow independent hotels to join the Hilton ‘system’ without having to rebrand or meet strict ‘brand standards’, although obviously there are still strict quality standards in place.

In terms of location, it appears to be almost directly behind IHG’s voco Dubai The Palm. Being off the beach may save it from the noise issues which plague the voco – the website used to say “Due to the bars and beach clubs nearby, you can expect some noise in certain rooms. If you are a light sleeper, we suggest you use the ear plugs.” although the warning now appears to have vanished.

One point to note is that the hotel is 100% alcohol free.

You can find out more on the website here.

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Category

British Airways and Avios, Hilton Honors

Comments (33)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • JC says:
    11 Dec11 December 04:38

    New lounge shame about the rest?
    Is the BA Singapore lounge food going to be as bad and as Spartan as the UHP junk food BA are now serving in premium cabins? You know, the egg and pancakes junk? What horrors wait once the co-op Christmas school dinners slop runs out?
    Maybe Grenada motorway services can run BA’s lounges so it matches the bad in board offer?

    • sigma421 says:
      11 Dec11 December 07:01

      Compass, which was the catering division of Granada once upon a time did run the catering in the BA lounges when T5 opened. At the end of the day, what is offered has far more to do with what BA specifies than any greatness or otherwise on the part of the provider (BaxterStorey was generally better regarded than Compass but things went backwards at the changeover because BA cut the budget)

  • Dominic says:
    11 Dec11 December 05:26

    Perhaps I’m missing something, but why stay on the Palm and go for a hotel not on the beach? It says they have a beach (or access to one?), but struggling to find photos.

    I live in Dubai – feels an odd choice of location if not in a beach hotel.

    • Rob says:
      11 Dec11 December 05:47

      Near a beach but with the pricing of a hotel not on a beach.

    • blenz101 says:
      11 Dec11 December 06:59

      If you know West Beach you will know none of the hotels are actually ‘on the beach’ as the boulevard separates them all. In every single case you leave the hotel, cross a public walkway and enter what is effectively a 1.5 km manmade beach with each hotel having its own loungers outside their property but the whole beach itself being fully public.

      I think Dukes is the first hotel in that area of the palm that actually has hotel>pool>direct beach.

  • W says:
    11 Dec11 December 05:56

    I was in the T2 Plaza Premium last week they seem to have had a mini refurbishment with some of the older furniture replaced

    • John says:
      11 Dec11 December 07:45

      They probably needed to remove those wide armchairs to make way for a few hundreds stools. Any improvements in food? Breakfast has been diabolical in recent years.

  • Barnaby says:
    11 Dec11 December 06:44

    Lets hope that the food and service has improved in the Concorde room (is it called that).. We had a soiled menu thrown towards us with no conversation or greeting. Left and went to Qantas where the service was great.

  • Ian says:
    11 Dec11 December 06:59

    Curious why the version of this on Google news says Virgin Red has dropped Greggs?!

  • Barry says:
    11 Dec11 December 08:10

    I didn’t know Hilton positioned Curio as 5 star and Tapestry as 3-4 star.

    I thought they were equivalent to each other. LXR is luxury, by comparison.

    • BBbetter says:
      11 Dec11 December 09:55

      JDB will be here with the hotel dictionary shortly…

      • JDB says:
        11 Dec11 December 10:16

        Haha! Certainly expressions like 5 star or luxury (supposedly above 5 star) are totally meaningless these days, just like ‘premium’ sausages.

      • Aston100 says:
        11 Dec11 December 18:13

        Bloody hell, you weren’t wrong.

  • Thaliasilje says:
    11 Dec11 December 08:15

    How did the Plaza won any awards is terrifying. It’s terrible.

    • sigma421 says:
      11 Dec11 December 09:20

      I feel Plaza has gone downhill over the years (and Aspire have upped their game a bit). Pre-No. 1 and Plaza Premium in the UK, contract lounges could be truly grim.

      • Thaliasilje says:
        11 Dec11 December 09:32

        Honestly, if airlines were offering £20 Pret instead of lounge I would take it virtually every time.

    • BBbetter says:
      11 Dec11 December 09:54

      You have to remember that plaza lounges were good as they refused priority pass before Covid. They were quiet and food was good.
      Since Covid, they’ve been forced to accept PP as travel was still recovering and also cut corners in F&B to reduce losses.
      I hope they can soon stand on their own feet and stop accepting PP again.

      • Thaliasilje says:
        11 Dec11 December 11:43

        I don’t disagree but at the same time we have to remember that covid was in 2020/21, and soon it will be 2025.

      • Brian says:
        11 Dec11 December 13:56

        I wonder if there is any possibility of Plaza Premium going back to not accepting Priority Pass but continuing to accept Amex Platinum?

  • Occasional Ranter says:
    11 Dec11 December 12:26

    Qantas lounge in SIN was really good on my visit on the 8th. Tasty food including some appetising salads, friendly staff, tables cleared promptly. By the time I left at 10pm it was absolutely full, as it had all the ba12 and BA16 passengers as well, but the staff were still coping.

    • Occasional Ranter says:
      11 Dec11 December 12:32

      In contrast, the food I was served in J on the BA flight itself was really poor. I asked for the veggy curry, it took a while to turn up because, the BA attendant explained with a laugh, she’d given it to someone else by mistake…
      Couldn’t eat the breakfast, scrambled egg resembled some kind of 2 part epoxy resin gone wrong, bacon and sausage anaemic, croissant leathery. Not sure if there was supposed to be fruit but never saw any.
      Not that bothered though, my philosophy is that BA is a budget airline that offers me a lie flat seat for a lower price (via Avios) than the competition.

      • Steve says:
        14 Dec14 December 20:57

        Agree. Was on BA12 that same flight, departing SIN 8th Dec. Food wasn’t good at all, dinner (supper) and breakfast; steak was like leather, jus was watery, hot breakfast was anaemic… but did get fresh fruit and it was lovely!

        Qantas lounge was good. Also went into the Qatar lounge, which was amazing. Dinner in QR was a saviour that evening.

        BA arrivals lounge breakfast was good and made up for the poor food onboard CW.

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