Singapore Airlines offers two first class lounges at its hub at Singapore Changi Airport. This review highlights The Private Room, the exclusive first class lounge for Singapore Airlines first class passengers.
Singapore Airlines The Private Room Review (SIN)
I visited this lounge after stepping off my Singapore Suites flight from New York. You can read about those flights here.
Singapore refurbished this lounge during the pandemic, reopening it on May 31, 2022. I visited the old lounge many years ago and was quite excited to see what the refreshed lounge would look like.
Access + Hours + Location
The lounge is located in the complex of Singapore Airlines lounges in the center of Terminal 3 at Changi Airport. Follow the signs toward the Singapore lounges (closest to the A gates) and then take the escalator upstairs.
After stepping off the escalator, turn left toward the first class lounges (the business class lounge is on the right) and after verifying your boarding pass at the first class lounge entrance, you will be directed to take a second left to enter The Private Room (or in my case, I was escorted into the lounge).
The Private Room is open daily from 5:30 am to 2:30 am. During my last visit I was allowed to sleep there overnight, though I do not know if that is still possible.
While the next-door first class lounge allows access to all guests departing on Star Alliance flight in first class, The Private Room is reserved exclusively for first class travelers on Singapore Airlines (currently only available on 777-300ER or A380-800 jets).
If you are traveling in Singapore First, the access rules are fairly generous:
- Access to The Private Room is granted either prior or after your Suites Class or first class flight
- If you are connecting to another flight from Singapore First/Suites, you can use the lounge regardless of your class of service on the connecting flight, even if you are flying on another airline
- If you are in transit and your flight does not depart until the next day, you can still access the lounge
Seating
At 10,000+ square feet, the lounge seats 80 people.
As you enter the lounge, you will approach a beautiful chandelier. Seating and dining are to the right, a play room to the left, and restrooms and sleeping rooms behind you. The seating is divided into smaller areas that maximize privacy with the dining room behind it.
Cubicles can accommodate around 2-4 passengers each, but are only semi-private. Within them are plenty of universal plugs.
Dining Room
My favorite part of the lounge is the dining room, which offers a la carte dining (and a very small buffet).
- Breakfast – 5:30 AM – 11:00 AM
- Lunch – 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM
- Dinner – 6:00 PM – 2:30 AM
I was in the lounge from about 6:30 am to 8:30 am and breakfast was on offer. Here’s the full menu:
Barista-made coffee is available at a coffee bar and the Dialogue coffee (from Boncafé Singapore) is exquisite…my flat white was perfect and frankly the beans and machine here are far better than the (still respectable) coffee onboard your Singapore flight.
The entire bar area exuded understated elegance with dark marble countertops and carefully-arranged bottles of liquor.
Cereals, nuts, and muffins (adjacent to the coffee bar) were self-serve.
I as not very hungry, I ordered an omelet with fresh-squeezed orange juice. The omelet was excellent, but in retrospect, I wish I had ordered the lobster laksa.
I greatly appreciated the selection of fresh-squeezed juices and the apple juice was perfect (so was the orange juice).
For Champagne drinkers, 2008 Taittinger Comtes was on offer.
Restrooms + Showers
Restrooms are available, along with a trio of shower suites. Both the restrooms and shower suites were well-stocked with amenities like shaving kits, dental kits, combs, and Lalique body lotion.
Nap Rooms
Four nap rooms are available, two with day beds. You can use these rooms for two hours at a time on a first-come, first-served basis. Each room has a desk, while rooms 1 and 4 feature an easy chair similar to the first class seat in the A80 Suite while rooms 2 and 3 feature real beds.
While these rooms are a great addition to the lounge (they were not present before the remodel), each room has a door with a window…anyone walking by can look right in. Also, the lights do not go fully off. I suppose the idea is that with two hours limit you should not get too comfortable…
Kids’ Play Room
A special room for children is available with a high chair and bean bag chair, plus video games and a widescreen.
Service
This isn’t quite like the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt or the Air France La Premiere Lounge in Paris where you have an attendant that looks after you. While staff do roam the lounge, you’re pretty much on your own…and that includes walking to your flight as well.
CONCLUSION
I spent two hours in this lounge and I think that was just the right amount of time…I love how tastefully decorated this lounge is and find the food and drink options excellent. The shower suites and bathrooms are also nicely done. But the nap rooms strike me as quite strange…though better than nothing.
Next, I’ll review the larger first class lounge next door.
Another excellent report! My wife and I got to spend two hours here in the second week it was opened. We had the entire lounge to ourselves while we were there. My thoughts of the place are exactly like yours.
It’s a very nice lounge, but not something that really impressed us. We didn’t like the fact that it had no windows. The service, while good, like you wrote it was limited and basically self serve, so nothing special. The service on the plane is much better. While I love SQ First in the air, once you step off the plane you are on your own and the service experience is no different than for Business Class and hardly any different than for economy class.
It looks tremendously luxurious, but pretty standard for a first class lounge. I can’t help but feel that SQ is still continuing to play catch up to the ME3.
While SQ still delivers a superb product thanks to its service culture and attention to detail, it doesn’t appear to be on the “cutting edge” the way most once thought it was.
I quite agree.
“Restrooms and showers are available, along with a trio of shower suites”
I think more accurate to say “Restrooms are available, along with a trio of shower suites”, otherwise you make it sound like there are additional showers separate from the shower suites.
Are you allowed to bring in a guest?
No guests permitted.
I was just there.. MASSIVE downgrade from the old Private Room…this was clearly a renovation to give more space to the Business Class lounge, which was far more enjoyable. I went for lunch…they said no thewy cannot make a lobster off the dinner menu and the Burger was really bad. Oh well…. Still a relaxing place to wait.
I was there before Covid and while it was nice it didn’t really live up to all the hype. No nap rooms was a notable letdown (no private rooms in The Private Room?) and a two hour limit is far too restrictive even now, the food was almost exactly the same as in the regular first class lounge, it was quiet but not relaxing, and the decor felt like something out of a British private club from 1880. I suppose I now have bragging rights but I’d pick The Wing in Hong Kong over the private room any day.
I think the renovated Private Room only opened in 2022…
True. But even now, would you consider a two hour maximum to be reasonable for a nap in a world class lounge?
I would not.
While just like their other lounges SQ guard access to this one, to me, it’s not a patch on the Lufthansa first class lounges at either FRA or MUC.
Sure, in the air, the SQ suites are better than LH F but the ground service is also a significant part of the F experience and this to me, falls short.
You can actually order anything on the menu at any time.. Although it may take longer than normal for items that are not usually served at that time…
I’ve been in the Private Room a few times (and again, soon). I was underwhelmed. The decor is cold and brittle, completely uninviting. and unrelaxing. No external windows is a shocker.
Service is ho-hum, and sometimes in the wrong register (no smiles, thank you, or use of names). I soon discovered that the trick was to nip into the adjacent First Class lounge and get a good bowl of their terrific fried rice and eat it there and then return to the PR.
This is an own goal for SIA. Does not live up to expectations after the in-air suites experience.
It’s probably not a top-tier first class lounge, but the food and coffee and service were all great during my visit. The sleeping room is certainly creepy, though!