Amara Singapore


yappie2012

New Member
hi all,

I just had my site visit with Violette last evening. Indeed, she has a warm personality.

I'm also seriously considering Amara to hold my banquet but i'm pretty concerned abt the ceiling ht cos I tend to develop headaches in cramped places very easily. =(
 

shannat

New Member
yappie: hmmm, i think though amaras ceiling is not very high, but i think it is still at a comfortable level. and the ballroom is pretty big, so wont be tt cramp ba??
 

darlingwedprep

New Member
Can BTBs advised if you guys bargain extra night stay for the brides and groom and also complimentary 1 night stay for helpers? Hehe... thanks for your advise
 

shannat

New Member
nope. i didnt bargain extra night cos we intend to get another hotel for the next 2 nights. hehe. bt i think if u hv 30 cfm tables, will hv an additional night stay.
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sunglider007

New Member
Hi ladies,I'm a 2012 BTB. I will be having my wedding banquet at Amara! Got Violette to help in the coordination.

She's friendly and accomodating
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Keep you ladies posted on the progress. I'm currently doing some research on bridal shops and their services.. hehe
 

clyeo

New Member
Hi ladies

I've juz viewed Amara. The place is nice,got a big ballroom (low ceiling tho)& the poolside is nice.

However, was very disaapointed coz my co-ordinator forgot all abt the date I gave her way earlier b4 appt and thus, was a wasted trip!
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sunglider007

New Member
Hi Shanna,

My date is on 22 July 2012.. I have shortlisted a few bridal shops .. probably will be going to try out their gowns before signing up the packages.. btw, have you sign up any packages yet?
 

jenny_zhenni

New Member
Hi Elaine... yeah, i also heard that's gonna take for one year but i asked them that it's not gonna affect coz it's at the far end of facade.. so, no worry lah... we can only for the best lor..
 

missoct

New Member
Hmmm...so Amara Tanjong Pagar is really undergoing Renovation...dunno will affect much or not..

Have not been there recently to check out...
 

jenny_zhenni

New Member
Really...? But, i was told by my coordinator, Afifah, that the renovations taken place at the shopping centre only.. and, she said that it will not affect the hotel as it is at the end of facade...
 

jenny_zhenni

New Member
hi cher, the bridal suite is very nice.. my coordinator, afifah brought me to view the bridal suite.. beautiful.. you can ask the coordinator to bring you..
 

shannat

New Member
yeah, the Bridal Suite is quite decent.. have 2 bathrooms with 2 bathtubs!! :D but its not very big though.. my sis one @ hilton was much bigger. but still, i think its good enough...:D
 

jacindasoh

New Member
Hi
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I am a BTB in Dec 2012
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anyone had their wedding at Amara before? How was the actual day flow of event and food?

Please advise! Many thanks
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jenny_zhenni

New Member
Heyy hi ladies!! I heard hor theres a wedding show on 4 sept leh, 1st prize to bali leh, maybe i want to try out the food & see2 look2.. aiyahh!! should have sign on this day lehh, bali some more.. you ladies wanna join me for the wedding show??
 

jellyfish1234

New Member
Hi all,
Amara is in my shortlisted list of hotels. I have met up with Violette, and have a lot of confidence in her.
For BTBs who have booked Amara, can share with me if you asked for extra perks to the package that was given? I would like to know what extra perks we can get other than what they offered.
 

jenny_zhenni

New Member
Wow! First prize to where?
Don't worry.. She is wonderful coz she keeps on reminding me as and when and especially now my wedding is next year but still she touch base with me.. We are like friends now!!
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anyway, jean, have you choose your bridal boutiques?
 

meowmeow83

New Member
thanks =) first Prize to Bali for pre wedding shoot from Amara wedding show =)
ya i have choose my bridal le is Julia Wedding news
what abt u?
 

summer54

New Member
Hi everyone, I have just finish my wedding dinner last weekend and really want to compliment to Violette(coordinator), Jeffrey(banquet manager) and their team for their great effort and always willing to go that extra mile to accommodate our request for the past months. On the night itself, both Violette & Jeffrey have constantly telling us to relax and enjoy ourselves. This really helps to ease the nervousness we had. The dinner banquet went through well and smoothly. Food wise are good as commented by some relatives and friends. Overall our experience with Amara Hotel has been very pleasant and wonderful. Totally have no regret in choosing the venue for our special day.
 

mingyi

New Member
Hi all,

Feel that I should share a very unpleasant experience I've encountered with Violette especially with those who have yet to book your banquet with Amara.

Planning for a dream wedding and finding a perfect venue is every woman's dream.

I had just started sourcing for the venue and shortlisted Amara Hotel as a possible venue.

Went down for a site visit this Wed with my HTB and met up with Violette.
We were quite pleased with the venue and all and thus made a tentative booking for our wedding diiner in Jan 2013.
We were told that we will be given a week's time to make a decision.

<quoted>
Kindly note that tentative booking has been made and can only hold for 07 days.
<unquote>

However, I just received a call from Violette informing me that she has another couple wanting to book the ballroom on the same date and I had to give her an answer within 24 hours!

I was so caught by surprise and requested if we can have a few more days to consider and she said ok.
Minutes after, she called again and told me I HAD to reply her within 24 hours as the other couple is chasing her.

I started to reason with her that since she had committed a grace period of 1 week shouldn't she abide to it?
Then she told me that this is the practice of ALL hotels in Singapore.
If that's the case she should have told me beforehand when we make the tentative booking.
She then started to turn nasty and offered me 48 hours instead.

Since this is a major decision and I do not wish to rush into making a hasty decision thus I told her if that's the industry standard which she mentioned then she can jolly well cancel my tentative booking.

Throughout the whole conversation, she was not apologetic at all and sounds like I'm being unreasonable. I got so pissed up and I hang up on her.

Shortly after I received a sacarstic sms from her as shown here informing my tentative booking had been cancelled.

1812663.png


I felt totally disgusted with her unprofessionalism and bad attitude.
Earning money (in terms of a firm booking) is their ONLY concern.
So much of their promise <quote>It is certainly our pleasure to present you our best service in making your celebration as a memorable and joyous one.<unquote>

This experience is truly a memorable one!

I would strongly urge all couples who have yet to make a booking to consider carefully before making a tentative booking so that if you are "forced" to make a decision within 24 hours you will not be so shocked like me.
 

meowmeow83

New Member
wow i meet her b4 she show mi to the bridal suite.
she quite friendly . but that was too much . how can decided within 24hr. that not fair for you.
cool down kk

cheers
 

shannat

New Member
previously i made a tentative booking with my coordinator afifah too, and she also kept the date for me til the end of the one week. but she mention if there were ANY couples who is keen to place a deposit on my date, she will inform me n i will need to let her know my answer.
i agree that she shldnt hv "forced" an answer out of u within 24 hrs and shld also stick to the few days since she alr gv u her word but i feel that u are also in the wrong for just hanging up on her just like that. it is very rude and though u might be the client, but it is still not nice of you to do that. how would u feel if your client just hang up on u when they r pissed off?
anyway, we r just hearing your side of the story, so we cant judge what really happened in the conversation.

so, hope u find the hotel that u like.
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mingyi

New Member
Jean >> Yup she was quite friendly when I met up with her too. I could have accepted the 24 hrs if she did her part to inform me beforehand of such a situation so that I could have prepared myself for it.
Btw, you are so lucky to win the first prize! ^^

Shanna >> You are so fortunate that your coordinator informed you about that.
Yes, I agree it's wrong of me to hang up on her but I guess anyone else might have did the same thing as me if it happened to her/him.
Btw, I have been in the sales as well as customer service for some years. So from a customer service point of view, I really couldn't accept her behavior.
Actually the intention of my post is just to highlight to the potential couples about the 24 hrs grace period and not to prove who is right or wrong here.

Thanks! I've already found a venue so I should be vanishing from this thread soon haha...
Btw, saw from the earlier post that your wedding is in 3 months time, have a great one &amp; congrats!!
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michi

New Member
Hi Mandy, i feel sorry for u &amp; totally understand the bad experience you have encountered with Violette.I'm also another of her victim, imagine she showed her unprofessionalism &amp; nasty attitude on my wedding,just few hours before my banquet starts. What else can be worse than that??

I had my wedding last month with Amara, indeed the Banquet team has done a good job especially Jeffrey &amp; Allan. Overall my wedding was a success &amp; glad most my guests enjoyed the food and the programmes we've planned. However, nobody knows that just few hours before the banquet starts, i actually cried &amp; was very upset with the wedding team, it was my WEDDING NIGHTMARE.

Ladies, if you are considering to hold your wedding at Amara, PLEASE THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU REGRET! After i've signed with them, then i realised the management is very inflexible. Do note, you've to pay the banquet bill on the wedding night, while most hotel allows you to settle the bill before check-out. Also inflexible on the menu, especially after food tasting, if you require to make changes, mostly cost will be incurred or else the dish will end up looking bad &amp; not presentable on your wedding. Have you ever seen a menu with 2 vegetable dishes &amp; strictly not allowed to change 1 of them to other type of dish, only vege to vege. The wedding favor, invites may not be the same as what they've showed you. I was told that this year there are new &amp; more choices of wedding favor. However upon my selection, OMG the nicer choices are mostly no longer available while the newly added favors are almost CMI. The colour of the invites I wanted are no longer available too. I was having a fairytale, ivory, gold &amp; pink theme. With all the sudden changes 3 months before my wedding, i was left with limited choices &amp; later was told that i can top up additional $$ to have the favor that fits well for my theme. Have you ever heard of couples topping up extra for wedding favor, just because the choices given by hotel are AWEFUL!

Amara wedding team &amp; the coordinators are very unprofessional. The 2 coordinators do things differently, having their own set of rules &amp; almost double standard. Coordinator A will be a NO to everything, she can't make the decision in almost all of the request. While coordinator V can be almost a yes to everything, she is able to accept certain request &amp; give suggestions. But why a same request has a different reply from both coordinators? Why they do not have a set of standards &amp; rules to follow, while some say yes &amp; some say no. Isn't that very unfair to us as customer, or rather it depends on your luck or the mood of the coordinators. I experienced it when i've changed from coordinator A to V, just 3 weeks before my wedding. Many couples are requesting for Coordinator V &amp; while previously i was still trying to be patient &amp; have faith with Coordinator A, until a certain limit that i longer can stand anymore.

Coordinator A did not turn up on my food tasting, i've to call her twice to explain &amp; remind her on my request, also to fix for final appointment. She assured that she will get back with alternatives during our final meet up, which was 3 weeks before my wedding. As we had the 9 course menu, me &amp; family felt its difficult to digest 2 solid vegetables dishes at almost end of the whole course, therefore seeking Afifah's help &amp; advice for other alternatives or request for cheaper meat dish if possible. During the meet up, to my surprise she did not come up with any option. Just a No &amp; next option is to pay extra! I was so furious as it was 3 weeks to my big day &amp; yet she gave us an empty promise. I immediately feedback to his superior &amp; the reply from the wedding team was:" If you go to market..chicken &amp; vegetables, which are more expensive?'' This is the kind of reply the gave to customer! When my menu was already on the higher cost, i was merely asking if i change the vegetable dish with crabmeat to a cripsy chicken or something at lower cost! I was so disappointed with Afifah's &amp; requested Violette to assist me instead. At first she was good, prompt in replies, giving me alternatives on the dishes but if she feels she's right, she will argue back &amp; show no mercy.

On my wedding day, something went wrong. The front desk staff gave my bridal suite by mistake to another couple. The manager upgrade us to the club suite quietly while trying to cover up their mistake. Imagine after my shower, when i need to use the mirror then i discovered there is no dressing table for me to makeup! It was a round long desk, with high arm-chair, small round mirror &amp; dim lamp light. I've called Violette to check, i don't blame her when she has no idea about it. I've given suggestions, trying to accommodate but later felt that things still could not work out. My sister spoke to Violette on the phone, asking her if she can come up to take a look at the room. Her reply was to ask my sister to go down to talk to her &amp; naturally my sister's reply was to insist she should to come up to see the room instead as we are already late, but her reply was saying that my sister was rude on the phone! When she came up, she felt there's nothing wrong with the club suite, and claimed that she know the room very well in a RUDE manner. She don't feel apologetic, did not help to solve my problem at all &amp; showing attitude to a very upset crying bride. Besides the dressing table, there were no wedding display on the bed, only 1 bath tub, and yet she insisted everything are the same as bridal suite or even better?

This issue delayed the time for my singing &amp; march-in rehearsal. The gloomy sad bride has no time to change, wearing pajamas with swollen eyes walking around the hotel &amp; ballroom. While Coordinator V was busying attending to another new couple at a corner. This also resulted me to be late for my makeup, but luckily my makeup artist was fast enough to complete in time. Else i couldn't imagine what could have happened! Through out my wedding, i did not see her helping out nor solving my problems when there are hiccups. What is the point of having coordinator presence at the banquet? She can tell me its not completely her fault but its her attitude that pissed &amp; upset me just hours before my wedding. At least the front desk manager came to apologise twice for his mistake, and we accepted.

Although the management gave us some sort of compensation but that does not mean i will be happy. Wedding is a once in a lifetime event, and because of a small issue, which the coordinator &amp; team did not handle it well &amp; causes the bride to have an unforgettable bad experience during her most special day. Even in my wedding photos i can see that my eyes are swollen &amp; puffy. How are they going to compensate that? I felt so upset when ever i think of this incident &amp; i feel like crying. Even now i'm typing while shedding tears........
 

michi

New Member
This is how the dressing table in the club suite looks like!

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While Violette's can insist &amp; tell me both the club suite and bridal suite has no difference!
 

michi

New Member
Oh ya, when i was still liaising with Afifah &amp; was checking if there's any better rates for guest room. What she did was sending amara website link to me, saying the rates there are cheaper, and expect me to book the rooms myselfs from the website! Isn't that ridiculous??
 


sept_09_bride

New Member
MC Queen... i feel sori for ur encounter too... my wedding is juz next week.. i hope no hickups on the day itself..

for me, coor V handle me the v v 1st time i called up amara hotel...she's v v nice n helpful.. since day 1 i spoke to her till nw.. she's there during my food tasting, any moment i needed to speak to her, she's there too.. she's there to mk any ammendments to my request too..

i myself is a v fussy bride.. im sure all brides wan everything to b perfect during our wedding day.. i have a poster photo, and she helped me find ways n means to hang it up during my food tasting.. coz i bring ov n see wat she can do so tat i can hang it up during my AD..

she went all out to help us in any way we requested for.. so far, we r v pleased with her service.. n we DON'T need to fork out any extra $$ for our banquet... juz the price stated... tats all..

it really depend on wat u want n wat u r loking for.. the wedding favours which they show us are nice.. those older ones, alrdy obscelete.. we got new ones though.. mayb ur time, reali in the phase of changing though.. wedding invitation cards are indeed much mre simpler than those 5 stars hotel.. bt well, ours is nt 5 stars hotel.. so reali cant compare so much lor..
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we ended up doing something special for our inserts.. n we receive many good comments on our wedding invitation card as a whole.. it reali depends on wat we want lor..
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oh yah, then to the payment on the wedding nite itself.. hmm.. yah, i also agree tat it post some inconvenience to us too.. bt we manage to get bank to stretch 1 of our credit limits so that we can pay the bills on the nite itself lor. actuali, there are some hotels who ask the couple to pay on the nite itself too.. i was in another chat forum n saw tat some hotels practice this too..

oh yah, i alrdy rom.. bt they still setup a room for us for tea ceremony instead of rom...

relax n cool dwn lah.. wedding is juz a nite.. wat's mre impt is the rest of ur life u gona spend happily with ur hb lor..
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tats my personal feeling towards Amara Hotel and my Coor V...personaly, i reali appreciate watever she has done for me.. i feel tat sh'e reali v v good.. kiping my fingers cross, i juz hope tat all will turn out well nxt week during my AD..

regards to the booking wise, yes.. Coor V did mention to me tat she will give us 7 days to consider, n she will reserve the slot for us 7 days.. bt in the event tat there's another couple also interested in the same date, n willing to commit, she will let us knw n we gota confirm with her within 24hrs.. she did state tat to us clearly..

so overall, i dun hv any problem with her..

tats my personaly feelings n tats my encounters with her since April 2010... its been mre than a yr since i 1st liase with her.. thumbs up for her service...
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so gals, do relax.. dun wori so much esp for those who already signed up with Amara...
 

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