[top photo: A room in Festive Hotel. The family-friendly hotel has designed most of its room with loft beds for children, while parents will have separate sleeping chambers.]

By Tay Suan Chiang

When Resorts World at Sentosa opens next year, young visitors can crash out in their own loft beds after a day at the Universal Studios theme park.

The family-friendly Festive Hotel has designed most of its 390 rooms with loft beds. Parents have separate sleeping chambers.

For the kids, this means climbing a ladder to their private space for the night. Each loft bed can sleep two children.

Mr Patrick Burke, 51, principal architect at American firm Michael Graves & Associates, which is the architect for the Resorts World, gave the media a sneak preview of the rooms in three hotels at Resorts World yesterday.

The other two hotels are Maxims Tower and Hotel Michael. He said: 'The Festive Hotel is about having fun, and loft beds allow families with kids to share the same room.''

A room in the Maxims Tower.

The $6.59-billion casino development is the firm's first project in Singapore. It is also doing the interiors for five of the six hotels on the site.

The three hotels which had the media preview yesterday and Hard Rock Hotel Singapore, which has its own team of designers, are scheduled to open in the first quarter of next year. They will account for about 1,350 hotel rooms out of the 1,800 rooms at the resort. Two other hotels will open later.

Mr Burke, who designed the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels in Florida and Hotel New York at EuroDisneyland Paris, says the perfect hotel room is one that is 'warm and inviting and makes the visitor feel at home'.

A bathroom in Hotel Michael.

But he throws in little surprises to cater to the needs of target guests.

For example, the loft beds and bright colours in the Festive Hotel make it fun for youngsters.

The 120-room Maxims Tower, aimed at high rollers, is furnished with deep woods and rich colours such as red and gold. The bathrooms come with a personal steam room.

The Hotel Michael, which has 470 rooms, is named after the famous American architect Michael Graves. All the rooms will come with a circular shower decorated with blue mosaic tiles, a replica of his personal shower room.

Resorts World at Sentosa says room rates will be announced at a later date.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.