Singapore Airlines The Private Room Singapore Changi review

Nestled within Singapore Airlines' SilverKris business and first class lounges, is a much quieter oasis called "The Private Room".
It has a restaurant with a-la-carte dining and plenty of areas to lounge around, but nothing else too unique for a flagship lounge.

The Private Room is only open to guests who are flying in Singapore Airlines Suites and First Class. No other passengers, including Star Alliance first class or PPS Club members, can get in and they are sent to the SilverKris First Class lounge instead.

I stopped by the lounge in early April 2019, before a Singapore Airlines first class flight.

Points Finder Lounge Rating:

How our ratings work

• Pros
• Cons
• Lounge details

What I liked

The outstanding hospitality

One crucial distinguishing factor of The Private Room (TPR) is the excellent service from the staff. From the entrance, you are escorted through to the various SilverKris lounges until you reach the TPR reception.

During this walk, the lounge attendant had our onwards boarding passes and was scribbling our flight details down quickly into her notepad (seen below).

Walking through the SilverKris First Class Lounge, while being escorted to The Private Room

Later on, the lounge manager personally came to find us in the dining room (having never met us before this point) and apologised for a flight delay that would see us boarding at 3:25am.

Since the TPR closes at 2:30am every morning, we were soon the only passengers left in the lounge. Rather than kick us out to the SilverKris First Class lounge next door, they offered us pillows and blankets instead and invited us to continue resting until it was time for boarding.

Service in the dining area was really good as well. Staff would take food and drink orders and bring everything out to you. I felt perfectly at ease and well looked after in this lounge

Dining in the lounge

Most travellers will want to make a quick stop here for a sit-down meal.

Here's a preview of the dinner/evening food menu

The sauteed lobster with linguine sounded nice on the menu but came out a little dry and plain.

The local dishes of assorted satay and tender braised pork belly turned out a lot better

Drinks include Dom Perignon 2009 Champagne, other beers, wines and more interesting beverages like freshly squeezed watermelon juice (pictured above). My dining experience in this lounge was notably better than the SilverKris First Class lounge.

Spacious layout

There's one thing The Private Room has that the SilverKris Lounge doesn't have, and that's a sense of calm.

There were never too many people at any one time, and the wide-open spaces mean you never feel crammed in.

There are two "phone rooms" for taking calls, but could also serve as a private resting area perhaps.

The dining room can comfortably fit around ten separate groups.

There are plenty of areas to just sit and recharge (your phones).

Especially as I was taking a 2:30am departure, it helped that The Private Room was always serene and relaxing.

What I didn't like

Lack of more diverse spaces

To be honest, the lounge could be more interesting. Proper nap rooms would be welcome and are found in some other airlines' business class lounges.

The Private Room is more tailored to relaxing rather than working.

Extra services such as complimentary massage treatments or the like would be appreciated. After all, this lounge is restricted to a very small subset of flyers.

The bathroom layout

Firstly, the good: the bathrooms are well stocked with amenities such as dental kits.

The showers have a good mix of shampoo and body wash.

But I did not like the arrangement of the bathrooms themselves. There are no individual fully-contained shower suites which would be good for privacy.

Instead, in the centre of the bathrooms are some sinks and amenities.

Points Finder Lounge Rating: 4/5 stars

THE FINDER LOUNGE REVIEW PROMISE: Our lounge reviews are based on a visit to the actual lounge during normal operation. We offer an honest and open critique from one of our frequent flyer experts and update with any relevant news as it comes to hand. Being in a lounge should always be more pleasant than just being stuck with waiting at the gate, but we won't shy away from highlighting issues. Learn more about how our scoring works.

The Private Room by Singapore Airlines is a decent top-tier lounge with great service and dining, but is let down by its old-school aesthetics and lack of any other special facilities for Suites and First Class passengers.

Singapore Airlines The Private Room details

The Private Room is open from 5:30am to 2:30am the next day. It's located in the SilverKris Lounge precinct in Terminal 3 of Singapore Changi Airport.

Head up the escalators at the SilverKris sign. A staff member will escort you from the lounge entrance to The Private Room.

How many points can you earn for flying from this lounge?

• If you're in The Private Room, then you're flying Singapore Airlines Suite or First Class. KrisFlyer reward tickets won't earn you anything, but if you happen to be flying on a paid ticket, you'll earn 200% of the mileage travelled.