Singapore on a Budget: Hotel Mi Bencoolen Review

Rating: 3/5 (Decent price to value for what it is. Room is super small and A/C a bit finnicky, but it was fine for the price and it’s right next to Bencoolen MRT stop)

Price Paid: ~$120USD per night booked through Agoda (I generally don’t book through OTAs but when there are no points deals / loyalty plays, I generally resort to them. Agoda had the cheapest prices for my dates)

Introduction

For my quick trip to Singapore from NYC, I needed some last-minute lodging. I had just a few days to find a hotel. I actually thought about staying at a hostel but am sad to say: I may be too old for that. To be fair, Singapore is not a very hostel-centric city (especially compared to nearby Southeast Asia neighbors).

Given this trip was unplanned and last minute, I wanted to minimize cash spend. I lived it up on my flights here (JAL business, which was incredible), but this is where my stash of points started to run out. I was here for five nights and didn’t have enough IHG / Hyatt / Bonvoy points for any decent chain hotels, so my last resort was to check the OTAs. I ended up finding a decent deal on Agoda (which I’d recommend for finding cheap last minute hotel rooms) for this hotel, which had decent reviews online. It wasn’t cheap per se ($120 USD per night), but was cheap enough by Singapore standards. All I really needed was a bed and good access to MRT, which is where this hotel delivers. However, for anything else, I wouldn’t go out of your way to stay here.

I didn’t care about my hotel too much because I was going to be out exploring the city all day – see here for my one day layover guide to Singapore and my longer 3 day city tour guide.

In this post, you’ll find:

Getting to the Hotel & Check In

Getting to this hotel from Changi was straightforward – it’s a straight shot from the Expo station to the Bencoolen stop, around a 14 minute ride on the downtown line. The Bencoolen stop is literally right next to this hotel, which is a big selling feature. It could not be more convenient. However, I will say that this specific MRT stop is kind of a pain, in that it’s insanely deep in the ground. You have to take multiple super long escalators to reach the surface. It was so deep I had to look it up and turns out – it is, in fact, the deepest MRT stop in Singapore. No dig on the hotel though, and luckily it’s all air conditioned which is what matters for Singapore.

The check-in area is kind of funky with cartoon-ish artwork. It kind of felt like a place geared towards kids. Again though, I just wanted a comfortable bed, which is what this hotel had. Check in was quick, and soon enough I had my card key and was off to my room on the top floor.

The hallways were standard and bright. I could tell the rooms were pretty small because of how close the doors were to each other.

Room and Property Review

Now on to my room. I was on the top floor on the corner, which I initially thought was nice…

Upon entering, my first reaction was how small the room was. To be fair, it’s Singapore, but this place was tiny. Even my room on my previous Singapore trip at the Holiday Inn Express Clarke Quay felt materially bigger. I started to regret not booking that hotel at this point, but it was quite a bit more expensive for these dates. Outside of the small size though, the room itself was nice enough.

Another thing I noticed was that the room was quite warm, despite A/C being cranked up to the max. What I noticed is that the air conditioning worked fine, but because this room was at the corner, the walls were getting baked by the Singaporean sun all day. They were literally warm to the touch, and that heat would win its fight against the A/C during the day. That was fine though since I was out all day every day, but something to be aware of if you plan on spending any material amount of time inside the room during daytime.

The bathroom was small but functional. No complaints here.

The plus of being on the top floor was a view directly outside of the cityscape.

There aren’t a ton of amenities at this hotel, but there is a pool. It’s surrounded by the hotel and neighboring buildings, and doesn’t give the most peaceful or relaxing vibe. It’s a fine place to drop into if you want to cool off for a bit, though.

The gym was not offering much either. They had some nice landscaping but other than that it was extremely bare bones and was too cramped to fit more than one or two people in there comfortably. Doing cardio in this environment with a stranger would be kind of awkward. Unfortunately, I did not being my running shoes on this trip but figured walking 10k+ steps per day would suffice.

Things to Do Nearby

And now, most importantly, things to do nearby. This hotel is not much of an attraction in and of itself. However, the big plus side is proximity to the MRT stop. The surrounding neighborhood is decent with coffee shops and tons of shopping and good food.

If you’re here for one day, check out my one day layover in Singapore guide. If you’re here for 3+ days, check out here for a more full itinerary.

Here are a couple of must-sees in Singapore that I enjoyed on this trip:

Conclusion

Overall, this hotel is ~fine~ if you need a cheap-ish bed to sleep in Singapore and a very convenient location near an MRT stop. If you’re looking for luxury or a place that has a lot of amenities to enjoy, this is NOT your hotel. For a home base to just sleep in though, this hotel does the trick.