Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby

All over the world, there are remarkable hotels,

born of bold vision and daring endeavour.

Oh, my goodness, look at that!

Whether it's an epic structure housing a sky park the length

of the Eiffel Tower...

This is definitely the biggest space I've ever been inside.

..or a glass box perched in the cloud forest...

-Look at that view.

-Wow.

..they're all products of innovation, creativity

and hard graft.

The people running these hotels

strive to create the perfect sanctuary.

But what does it take to offer once-in-a-lifetime experiences

-in stunning locations?

-To build a hotel in a place like this,

everybody thinks I'm crazy!

In total we have about 160,000 pieces of uniform.

Oh, my word.

I'm a restaurant writer, newspaper columnist and critic.

I have opinions on just about everything.

What a mad place to build a hotel.

Feel like Scott of the Antarctic.

And it did not end well for him.

And I'm a chef who has worked at the top end of the hospitality industry

for well over 20 years.

How many opportunities do you get to cook breakfast

with elephants and giraffes?

We'll travel to amazing hotels in every corner of the world...

..to spend time getting to know the people working away

behind the scenes.

When did you last have a full night's sleep?

-I don't remember.

-Really?

-Yes.

-What motivates you to work so hard?

-BOTH:

-The kids.

I will sacrifice everything for them.

Join us as we venture inside...

..the world's most extraordinary hotels.

Singapore, a bustling city state in the heart of south-east Asia.

Located on a tiny island just off the tip of Malaysia,

this place takes urbanisation to its extreme.

Ancient temples are dwarfed by towering modern skyscrapers.

Singapore has long been considered a stopover point,

rather than a destination.

But this might soon be about to change,

thanks in part to one of the most ambitious hotels in the world...

..Marina Bay Sands.

Wow, I mean that's really extraordinary.

It just looks like a 22nd-century Stonehenge.

With a spaceship on the top.

Three towers soar to 200 metres,

supporting a futuristic garden in the sky,

all at a cost of over £3.5 billion.

It looks like Noah's Ark has been stranded by the subsiding of the

floodwaters on top of three massive skyscrapers.

And it's inside this colossal structure

that WE will be put to work.

You feel like you're in a modern cathedral, having to always look up

-and admire.

-I think this is the...

definitely the biggest space I've ever been inside.

It's just extraordinary.

It's like a giant greenhouse for growing people.

This is architecture for giants.

The space is filled with the works of famous sculptors

like Antony Gormley, as if this were some gargantuan art gallery.

And it's a little intimidating.

I have no sense of where the...

where reception is, or how I check in or how they'll know who I am.

Do I just go and say, "Hello, it's Mr Coren"?

And they go, "Ah, yes." Or is it...? Very, very...

Very... Are these the rooms? Is that walkway, is that how you get around?

So I've only been here 15 minutes and already I'm lost.

This hotel aims to blow your mind

and ensure that your every consumer whim is catered for.

Under one roof, there are over 60 restaurants - yes, 60 - catering

for up to 40 million visitors a year,

which means you can eat cuisine from pretty much anywhere in the world

-at any time.

-There are flashy boutiques for shopping addicts...

..and a museum showing exhibitions on everything from the Titanic

to Impressionist painters.

It's home to two theatres with combined seating for nearly 4,000.

And for gambling junkies, there's one of the biggest casinos

in south-east Asia.

But before we plunge into hotel life, we've been told there's a

spectacular showpiece that's as long

as the Eiffel Tower is tall, up in the sky.

-Look at that view.

-This is extraordinary.

So they're going to swim off the edge!

That's just weird.

That's just so strange.

In Gulliver's Travels, one of the less-known travels, Laputa,

the floating island, a thing that he imagined as the craziest thing

you could possibly have,

and here we are in Laputa.

This is the longest elevated infinity pool in the world.

It's the length of three Olympic swimming pools.

Wow! How much does that water weigh on top of this building?

-Oh, my word.

-There's a thing that I read...

-Oh!

-There's a thing I read

in...I can't remember where, about the jacks that they have under

the hotel to keep it level,

because, obviously, it's so high that if it tilts the teeniest bit

off its axis, all the water empties out into the city.

To be exact, over 500 jacks precisely regulate the level

of the pool, stabilising over 1,000 tonnes of water on a windy day.

It's just a complete reinvention of what a swimming pool is.

It used to be a place that you just dunked into

to get cold on a hot holiday.

Now it's a thing that expands to infinity over the edge

of a 57-storey hotel with a view of a financial district of one of the

giant Asian economic tigers. It is an extraordinary thing.

Giles and I are going to join the 9,500 people that work here.

But first, I'm collecting my uniforms for the various departments

we'll be working in.

-Hello, Helen.

-Hi, Monica.

-Hi, how are you?

Good, good. Welcome to wardrobe.

-Oh, wardrobe?

-Yes.

-I like this wardrobe.

This wardrobe is one of the most hi-tech uniform departments

in the world.

The Singaporean with her finger on

the technological pulse is Helen Tan,

who's been mistress of the wardrobe since the hotel opened in 2010.

-Yes, Mr Handsome.

-Yeah, I want to take a look.

-There.

-Yeah, in here is somebody.

He looks good.

They look professional with our uniform

and we want them to look nice.

If it's not OK, we will do some alteration for you over this side.

A little bit. A little bit, it looks nicer.

More sexier!

ALL LAUGH

Helen's devotion to making sure all staff look their best

means she's rarely off duty.

If I see somebody wearing a uniform that is,

you know, not in very good condition or doesn't fit them well,

I will tell them, "Can you please come and get a change?"

So in total we have 18 conveyors.

-18 of these?

-Yes, 18 of these. With every conveyor we have 620 slots,

which means that we can accommodate

-620 team members' uniform.

-And you've got 18 of them?

Yes. In total,

we have over 160,000 pieces of uniform with approximately

-600 different designs.

-The maths is making me dizzy.

160,000 items of uniform.

-Yes.

-And to keep track of all these pieces, a cunning piece of kit.

We are actually using these RFID chips for all the uniforms.

-You put that in all the uniforms?

-Yes, yes.

-And you can trace it anywhere?

-Exactly, yeah.

Can I get one of these for my daughter's clothing?

With Helen's help, I'm putting together housekeeping

and butler's outfits and, of course, chef's whites,

all clothing Giles and I will need as we get stuck into hotel life.

We have the shirts for you.

For me?

But how do over 9,000 staff collect their uniforms every day

without it turning into a scrum?

Simple - computerised self-service.

So what you have to do is, just to scan this, tap this on here.

You can see, "Processing request."

Logging in with your unique code tells computers to transport your

personal bag to your door.

"Please open door and retrieve items."

-Yes.

-MONICA GASPS

-That's it.

-And it's there!

-So there is your bag.

-The grey one.

-So you can... Yes, you can take out the uniform.

Can you imagine having a wardrobe system like this at home?

The dream!

'Right, next stop for me is the kitchen.'

The commander-in-chief in charge of this army of staff is president

and CEO, George Tanasijevich.

He's been with Marina Bay Sands from the beginning,

when the hotel was commissioned as part of the government's drive to

triple income from tourists over a ten-year period.

George is affectionately known as "Employee Number One",

and he's very tall.

All these people around us have no idea that you're

-Employee Number One, do they?

-I guess not.

They don't need to know that, though.

I suppose they don't. But it must, I suppose it must cross their minds,

who's behind all this?

Well, probably. But I think they're more focused on all the exciting

attractions and amenities that we have here for them to enjoy.

Marina Bay Sands opened in 2010.

For George, filling the 2,500 hotel rooms every day

is the top priority.

And the star attraction for visitors

seems to be the swimming pool in the sky.

Some people think it looks like a ship,

some people think it looks like a surfboard.

But it was a great concept.

And it literally draws millions of people a year.

Even if you aren't staying in the hotel, you can book a table at the restaurants that are up there.

This may be a triumph of architectural design,

but George knows it's the power of social technology

that's putting the pool on the world stage.

People bring their cellphones and they take their selfies.

It's not really for swimming. It's for selfies, isn't it?

It just seems that this was built round about the time that Instagram

was starting. I mean, I'm sure it was coincidence

but it's amazing free advertising.

-Yeah.

-I mean, everybody wants a selfie.

Most hotels have to pay bloggers to take selfies.

You just get millions of Instagram hits every day.

Well, that's true. We've been able to attract a lot of media attention

and get the word out throughout the globe that Singapore's a great place

to travel to.

The hotel accommodates more than one million guests a year.

And depending on your budget,

there's an array of rooms to choose from.

The cost of a basic room at the hotel starts at around £300 a night.

And if you'd like to go presidential,

you're not getting much change out of £10,000.

This gets you two lounges, three bedrooms, a gym,

a sauna and even a karaoke room.

A feng shui master was involved in the design to help harness positive

energy flowing through the rooms.

Suites like this one even come with their own dedicated 24-hour butler,

providing services ranging from the delivery of gourmet food

to personal shopping.

I'm off to be suited up for a butlering job.

But they've clearly got some issues in the measuring department.

I know, I know. I look amazing.

I look... I mean, basically, I can wear anything.

I just look like a sort of giant schoolboy.

It's like Tom Hanks in Big.

I've just - bloop! - overnight. Look at the cut of those trousers.

That is the kind of thing you get your mum to narrow.

'So it's a quick stop-off with Helen for adjustments.'

-Hi.

-So how do I look?

How does the uniform fit you?

You comfortable with this?

-I think I'm comfortable. Is this how...? Does this look right?

-Yes.

-Do I look smart?

-You look very handsome.

-Do I?

-Yes!

-Oh, thank you very much.

-You look very nice, too.

-But we need to do some

-little adjustment on this.

-Ah, my tailor has arrived.

-Yes, your tailor is here.

-Hello.

Helen refuses to let a single item of clothing leave her domain

without it being perfect.

Her tailoring team are constantly fixing and adjusting

the thousands of uniforms.

Is there anything you can...? The trouser's a bit of a bell-end,

as it were. Bell bottom is what I was looking to say.

We can do some alteration for you.

We take in a little bit.

Does my...does my...does my bum look big?

Oh, y... No.

-No?

-Fine.

-Is it OK?

Is it good?

That's the main thing.

But how do you go about providing an intimate VIP guest experience

if your hotel is the size of a small city?

I'm about to find out from head butler Jeremy Cheah.

So the day normally starts... A lot of our guests are still asleep.

We rush to set all the vacant rooms.

They're asleep because they were up late on the tables.

Yeah. And they'll start to probably be up at about 9:30am.

Waking up with a hangover, "How much did I lose last night?

"Oh, my God, ten million. I think I'll shoot the butler."

Jeremy leads a team of discreet, resourceful butlers.

Like all Singaporeans, he did national service.

And for Jeremy, this involved becoming a special forces officer.

The uniform may have changed, but he still demands total commitment

to the mission from his team.

5188, my NDA guests,

I want them out ASAP.

OK?

You check into one of the most iconic hotels in the world.

You have a butler that is well-trained and who is taking care

of you 24 hours a day.

You're spending top dollar to be staying in one of the suites.

Jeremy's dedication to service is absolute,

ensuring that his guests want for nothing.

A lot of our guests, they can be quite demanding at times

so you have to just bite the bullet

and do the things that they want you to do.

I think the most unique one that I clearly remember was a gentleman

who wanted us to arrange a wedding banquet in four hours.

Wow, he must have had a good night on the tables the night before.

The suites that Jeremy's team look after are often used by the casino's

high rollers. And the casino generates about 70%

of Marina Bay Sands' revenue.

So the ones who are here for gaming...

-Gosh, mostly they're here for gaming.

-That's right.

And they don't pay for their rooms?

-Well...

-Some of them do.

-Some of them do.

The ones who promise to lose a lot don't have to pay for the room.

-Well...

-It's funny because it's true.

But I won't answer that.

The hotel tries to anticipate the needs of all its guests,

whether big spenders or those just keen to dodge paparazzi.

This is called the discreet counter.

Aha, so this is where the VIPs come in, round the back and then...

-That's right.

-'A big-shot Chinese businessman is arriving,

'so attention to detail is paramount.

'And the last thing to be done is to arrange his flowers.

'But Jeremy's service standards mean I'm being kept on a short leash.'

-Shall I take these?

-I'll push it, no worries.

I'll push it, it's fine.

She's reluctant to let me wheel this flower trolley.

I mean, they keep trying to grab it.

They seem to think that it's some massive skill

that I won't be able to do.

After delivering flowers to the rest of the suites, maybe - just maybe -

I'll be trusted to fly solo.

I can... I've got this.

-I can wheel it. Honestly, I'm fine.

-All right.

The hotel aims to appeal to guests from all over the globe.

If that's your ambition,

you need to cater for a vast range of culinary tastes,

from Taiwanese to Brazilian and from European fine dining

to Asian street food.

The man overseeing all this is 54-year-old Canadian Chris Christie.

So there is 53 licensed kitchens at Marina Bay Sands,

under my name, that I'm responsible for.

From that we have about 400 chefs.

Obviously, it's a bit daunting when you look at it the first time

and you take a look at how big an operation it is.

Chris has previously worked with some of south-east Asia's

most illustrious hotels,

such as the Langham in Hong Kong

and the Portman Ritz-Carlton in Shanghai.

He wants to show me one of the huge dining areas,

where in a few days' time,

he'll be running an enormous VIP banquet for 1,400 guests

of a major Singaporean bank.

For me, a big night in the kitchen is 100 covers,

so this sounds too good an opportunity to miss.

Have you got a place for one more?

-Oh, love to, yeah, that'd be great.

-Yeah?

-I'll be here anyway,

-so that'd be awesome. Yeah.

-That'll be great.

Oh, I'm looking forward to that.

'If I'm going to help out, I need to know some numbers.'

-How many courses are there?

-Eight.

-Eight courses?

Eight. Eight courses, yeah.

Five different menus and they've got eight courses of each menu

and they've all got to go out simultaneously.

-So you need the amount of staff to be able to do that.

-Absolutely.

So if I'm going to be involved in such a large event,

I need to understand how the kitchens work around here.

So this is, uh, our fish room.

I've never seen anyone prepare a fish with a cleaver.

So as you can smell, this is pastry.

It's a bit early to start dessert, isn't it, chef?

-Never too early!

-THEY LAUGH

Here we go. My favourite room, the chocolate room!

My favourite room, too.

-Hi, guys!

-Hi, gentlemen.

Peanut butter and jam.

-Mmm! There's a bit of saltiness in there as well.

-Right? Yeah.

As well as the number of kitchens,

what's also mind-boggling is the quantity

of the ingredients consumed here.

We average about 500 kilos of flour a day.

-500 kilos?

-For bread. On any given day,

we'll cook between 300 to 500 kilos of rice.

Deep-fried cauliflower today. If we deep fry it, we need 700 kilos.

-700 kilos of cauliflower?

-People love fried cauliflower.

With the banquet coming up in a few days' time,

I'm going to have to get used to working on an epic scale

the way Chris does.

In terms of numbers of actual rolls or loaves of bread,

I would say we're probably preparing and serving somewhere around

8,000 to 10,000 individual rolls on a daily basis.

-Is that all?

-So it seems like an enormous amount,

but really, if you look at how many restaurants we have as well.

Chris, it's an enormous amount.

Yeah. It's a big amount, absolutely, yeah.

As part of the butlering team,

I've headed up to the dizzying heights of the 52nd floor.

Here we are, welcome to our presidential suite.

Head Butler Jeremy is finally allowing me to help.

We're making some last-minute tweaks to the suite

before the arrival of the VIP.

Just requested for 24 bottles of water.

Has he got a bit of a hydration problem, your man? JEREMY CHUCKLES

And does he want them all arranged like snooker balls?

No, this is just how we do it.

-This is our massage room.

-Ooh, lovely.

Are you going to sort me out? Shall I just hop on?

Former special forces officer Jeremy won't be deviated from his mission

to provide perfection. Is the powder room through here, no?

Yeah, yeah. Right here.

It's all about feng shui with flowers.

I think it should go over there to allow the chi to flow round

the corner while you're on the loo.

The flow of positive feng shui is of great importance in this hotel

and Jeremy picks up on every detail.

Oh, you don't like my jaunty angle?

JEREMY LAUGHS Fair enough.

Clearly, as far as Jeremy's concerned, I have a lot to learn.

Preparation is one thing,

but it's when the VIPs actually arrive that the service comes under

genuine pressure.

We've had an urgent food request from a high roller in another suite.

The team of 50 butlers can deliver in-room dining to any of the suites.

Across the hotel, 800 meals are delivered to rooms every day,

but NEVER is the pressure more intense than at breakfast time,

when around 150 meals can be requested at once.

So what he's doing now is going through all the orders to make sure

everything that the guest has ordered is all here.

What else is the guest having? He's got all these chilli sauces and stuff. Is he having noodles?

Yeah, the dim sum. The oil is for the dim sum.

So the dim sum has to be freshly steamed and really hot.

Do they complain if it's not?

Yeah, yeah. After he's ordered the breakfast, how long should it be?

OK. Usually we take around half an hour to 45 minutes, it depends.

Now it's like a breakfast period, it will take longer time.

So usually 45 minutes.

When did he order the breakfast?

Around...9:50. Yeah, around then.

-So he will now...

-Oh, so it's getting now.

-He's been 35 minutes.

-Yeah, 35 minutes.

-It's time to get him his breakfast, isn't it?

-Yeah, almost.

Keeping a VIP waiting would mean failure for Jeremy and his team.

How many more items?

One more item. Let me double-check.

With only minutes to go until we bring dishonour upon the entire

butlering department, we still have to navigate 50 floors and hundreds

-of metres of corridor.

-It's OK. Let's go down with this.

OK. Where are we going? This way.

OK, Giles, this is where we'll leave Jungwon to serve the guest

-because this guest is very particular.

-Are we going straight

-into the room? I can't go out into the corridor?

-We can.

I'll just go as far as the door, yeah?

Which way, right or left?

OK. This is where I move out.

'Made it, with 37 seconds to spare.'

In the basement, Chris has brought me to one of his

most important kitchens.

Hello!

'Dim sum, steamed rice noodle parcels,

'is one of the most requested breakfast dishes at the hotel.'

Look at this.

'If you're going to achieve success in the hotel trade

'in south-east Asia,

'the skill of making perfect dim sum is essential.'

How many years have you been doing dim sum?

-Dim sum, ten years.

-Ten years?

-OK, go easy on me.

-You can see the skill.

-Yeah.

'Dim sum, meaning touch the heart,

'are traditional Chinese dishes dating back thousands of years.

'They're delicate, often filled with prawn or chicken

'and are designed to not sate the appetite.'

The more you can teach one guy to be a master at one specific

skill, it just keeps the wheel working much more efficiently.

'With his grand event only a couple of days away,

'it's an opportunity for Chris to see what I'm made of.'

Jesus!

Whoo! Yay! My first one!

He's going to throw it in the bin now, isn't he?

This is my favourite dim sum, prawn. We could be here all day.

Maybe you want to go do your rounds and come back tonight.

Come back tomorrow morning. Is that too much? It's OK?

'Chris's experts can make up to 5,000 of these a day.

'And I'm beginning to see why it takes so long to master the skill.'

-Get into a pocket.

-Let it hang.

-Yeah.

Press. I should wear my glasses for this.

Looks to me like you're getting the hang of it.

-Whoo!

-All right!

-ALL CLAP

All right. I did this one.

SHE LAUGHS

Whether it's the labyrinth of kitchens or vast atriums,

this hotel is an audacious building.

And whenever he's in town, the man responsible for the design

is to be found staying in his own creation.

Moshe Safdie is an award-winning architect with airports,

museums and skyscrapers to his name around the world.

But he's particularly proud of the ground-breaking technological

achievement of Marina Bay Sands and the SkyPark.

We always work with models.

There was this big chunk of balsawood just the right size

and I placed it on the roof and said,

"Why don't we try doing it up there?"

Instantly it just seemed to make sense.

Away from the pool, the SkyPark is a lush landscaped garden

that is home to hundreds of trees and plants.

But its design was one of the most technically demanding parts

of the three-year build.

There were endless meetings with the engineers.

You know, I wanted to have one body of water,

so we had to devise a way of an expansion joint that won't leak.

So there were a lot of technical issues to resolve.

Plans for the building were initially controversial,

with concerns that it would block the view of the bay.

As we started coming up, physically,

people in town started getting curious.

Then as soon as we put the park on top of it,

the magic started happening in town.

People kind of woke up.

The hotel is hoping it will be seen as a future symbol of Singapore,

with aspirations of becoming an iconic landmark,

like the Sydney Opera House or the Empire State Building.

PEOPLE CHEER

It's all very well making an impression on the skyline,

but when you build in the heart of a city like this,

there's a challenge at ground level that cannot be ignored -

the parking of thousands of cars.

The man tasked with keeping the huge volume of traffic flowing

at the hotel's capacious front entrance

is 32-year-old American George Roe.

We can be parking 200 cars in one hour.

I mean, that's what a normal hotel does in a day.

And for us to do that in one hour, it's really impressive.

George is responsible for over 120 valets

and is often found in the basement,

patrolling the 2,500 parking spaces

in his diddy little electric Hummer.

It's phenomenal that on big nights we can fill up all those spaces to

where we wish we just had one more space.

And when a guest asks for their car,

George will be judged on how soon it's delivered.

Once we get over seven minutes,

we know that we're not doing something right.

With thousands of guests arriving for the big banquet in a few days,

there'll be extra pressure on valet parking,

so I volunteer to be part of George's team to see how they cope.

But first I have to find him.

I was told that his office is easily found

because you follow the sign to the loo.

Bing!

-Giles, how are you?

-Hi. Hi. Very well. Do you know who else's office

was in the little boys' room?

-"Office was in the little boys' room?"

-Well, you know how there's a sign to the gents on the thing?

-The Fonz.

-The Fonz?

-Do you remember the Fonz from Happy Days?

-Yeah, at your age you would remember. I don't remember the Fonz.

-I'm sorry. He was a very cool guy.

Anyway, his office was in the toilet.

You're basically everything with wheels.

That's what we try and say we are. All of the trolleys and then all

-the cars that come in and out of the property.

-Am I going to get to drive something...

-Sure.

-..proper?

-Do you have your licence?

-No.

-That's all right.

-I'm an Englishman, they know I can drive.

George's domain is a 20km warren of tunnels and roads filled with

row upon row of expensive cars.

All this despite Singapore's efforts to control the growth of car ownership.

So just to purchase a vehicle, you receive a certificate.

It's valid for ten years.

Right now it's about 55,000.

-55,000 for permission to own a car.

-Permission to own a car.

-Per vehicle?

-Per vehicle, to own it for ten years.

-55,000!

-Yeah. And that's before you even buy the car.

-Singapore dollars?

-Singapore dollars.

Because this is quite a dream job for a young...

I mean, I'm sure your dream is to own the entire universe

but these guys who work here, let's face it, are never going to have 55,000 for a vehicle.

No. So, I mean, they're getting to...

-To drive, yeah.

-They're driving your Aston Martin, they're driving,

you know, all of the cars.

Yeah, I mean, no question in Singapore that owning a car is a rich man's thing.

If I'm going to be one of George's valets,

first there's the small matter of a driving test to pass.

And my test vehicle?

A typical, everyday Singapore runaround...

A brand-new Italian supercar.

Now... Do you know where the seatbelts are?

-Now, have you driven one of these before?

-No!

So, put your foot on the brake.

-ENGINE REVS OK, cool.

-You know how much horsepower you have?

This is more powerful than a horse?

No! This new technology will never catch on.

-What is it?

-So you're doing 510 horsepower.

You can do 0 to 100mph in 3.7 seconds.

-Is that before I get to that wall?

-Yeah, I think just before the wall.

That's fine, because when we hit 86mph, the flux capacitor

will kick in and we'll go...

Well, if you see here, there's actually the launch,

-so we can launch...

-What does that mean?

-What does the launch button mean?

-It's literally a launch.

Hold on, hold on, hold on!

I just wanted to make you squeak!

'Singapore has one of the highest densities

'of millionaire households on the planet.

'So I could end up cruising around in lots of these beasts at the imminent event.

'If I pass the test.'

Where is your blinker?

What blinker? You mean my indicator?

-Yes, the blinker.

-Don't think it has them.

Where are you going?

I don't know. I thought I'd try and get in the direction of the arrows.

-So, then, go this way, go left.

-There we go.

-Am I going the wrong way?

-Yeah, you're going down the wrong way.

Why don't I go over here? What happens over here? Oh.

'I'd say George has seen all he needs to. I'm a shoo-in for the job.'

-Shall we just park...?

-Try and park here.

Yes, shall I just whip it in like that and go, yeah, boom, handbrake on, done?

Job's a mighty fine one.

OK, boom, that's really good parking, surely?

-Parked like a true Brit.

-Yeah, look at that.

Look at that, it's perfect! Boom!

There, what, and then I'm just going to go and play on the tables?

Yes, throw me your keys and that's it.

And then when it's time to get back in, you just run and slide...

Don't, don't!

-What?

-All right, let's go.

-I was going to...

-You're done.

The job of an exclusive valet parking luxury cars is prized in the hotel.

And native Singaporeans,

one of the most educated workforces on the planet,

are usually after those and other plum roles across various departments.

But that leaves a host of manual jobs that many of them don't want to do.

And, without question, the biggest example of this is housekeeping.

Housekeeping has got to be one of the busiest, considering there are

over 2,500 rooms to take care of.

And I'm going to find out how it's done.

'Finding sufficient numbers of quality staff is a constant challenge

'for housekeeping manager Michael Xu.'

Michael, where does the majority of your staff come from?

Singapore? Where are they coming from?

95% to 98% are from PRC. I mean China, China.

So, we do only have 2% or 3% from Malaysia or local Singaporeans.

For over a century,

Singapore has relied on China's large pool of blue-collar labour.

'One of Michael's star recruits is Hong Wei.'

Hong arrived from China five years ago,

and like many others working at the hotel,

he has come in search of a more lucrative future.

OK?

This thing is heavy!

Whoo! Take the door out!

'But how does Marina Bay Sands ensure that Hong and

'the other 360 housekeepers keep on top of their huge workload?'

Housekeeping.

This room is a mess!

'Simple. Using handy, state-of-the-art technology.'

'This app tracks the readiness of each room,

'ensuring not only that high standards are met,

'but their over one million guests a year are never left waiting.'

So, he took a picture, sent it off on his app,

he's got the picture and he can see what's missing in the minibar.

Just great.

'But the reason Hong is a star housekeeper is because

'he likes to add his own personal touch to a room.'

'It turns out, Hong's speciality is towel art.'

That's so cool!

Whoo!

Oh, we've got eyes as well.

'Dedication like this hasn't gone unnoticed by the hotel.'

Ah, well done you.

Yes, very handsome, yes.

A hotel with thousands of rooms

produces tens of thousands of dirty items

that require washing, but Singapore's water supply is under pressure.

The country needs over 400 million gallons a day,

and has to import around half of its water,

so the hotel has been engineered to help conserve what little water

there is through architecture that collects rain for recycling.

But, however good your intentions,

large-scale sustainability can be a constant headache when dealing with

thousands of demanding guests.

Hi, Michael, how are you?

-Are you well?

-How are you?

-Yes, good, thank you.

-Nice day.

-Nice day, sunny day.

It turns out pool towels are a great example

of the environmental problems faced at Marina Bay Sands.

We're joining Michael Teoh for the morning to see first-hand how the mammoth challenge

of providing for guests' needs can be aligned with ecological sense.

How many towels do you hand out every day?

More than a thousand per day.

That's ridiculous!

I mean, imagine the laundry to get all that done.

'To get a real sense of the scale of the task,

'we split up to cover more ground.

'I'm going to be handing out the towels.'

-How many would you like?

-Three towels.

-Three towels?

I get to drive a towel cart, it's all about vehicles for me.

'And I'm with Michael on collection duty.'

Look at all these towels!

Yes. These are the towels.

Just... I've never seen so many towels in my life.

It's towel-mageddon!

-They are just everywhere.

-Right, put them in the towel bin.

The towel bin? No, wait, I'll open it for you.

You put it in. Teamwork.

That's it, that's how you deal with the towel problem!

'My issue is that there is no limit on the number of towels

'guests can ask for, so they don't stop flying off the shelves.'

Excuse me?

Hello. Two towels?

-Yes, please.

-There we go.

Just charge it to your room.

-Thank you.

-Hello!

-One towel.

-One towel.

-Thank you.

Have a nice day.

Hi, how many towels would you like?

-Two, please.

-Two. Have a nice day.

I've been here less than ten minutes and you can see,

my numbers of towels have already halved.

With supplies running low already, we have to pick up replacements.

So, we need to lift this up.

Crack out just a hundredweight of new towels.

-Beautiful.

-This is a total of 180 towels in here.

Wow, and then they go back into these things, do they,

and then they go off to the laundry?

-Yes.

-OK, shall we stand on the back and ride it down the slope?

No? Why is he laughing? That's what I intend to do!

The thousands of dirty pool towels are collected and sent to a very

innovative cleaning plant.

On a daily basis, we wash about 35,000 room linens,

and about 4,000 pool towels.

That's in a day?

-Yes, on a daily basis.

-35,000 pieces of linen.

-What's that, bed linen?

-Bed linen, room linens, yeah.

The pillowcase, the duvet cover, the sheets.

Under the watchful eye of Stephanie Chan,

this huge laundry site has turned to technology to become highly water-efficient.

The company has invested in eco-friendly washer equipment to the tune of over £10 million.

The old extractor that we had used about 16 litres of

water per kg of soiled linen.

By using the tunnel, we only use about

4.5 litres of water for one kg of soiled linen.

So that's about 70% of water reduction.

Once the pool towels are cleaned, they need to be pressed.

It looks easy enough.

OK, can I have a go?

Can I try?

Is that right?

I've got to do it again, all right.

Ahh! No, come back! Sorry.

I'll do it, OK. Right...

I've broken it again.

I think I'm just doing the same towel over and over,

and he's bringing it back. I can't even...

Oh, that one's creased. OK.

OK, you didn't tell me that it's about...

Yeah, you kept that little secret back.

Yes, very good.

Get in!

Did it!

This massive plant, this incredibly mechanised place,

just shows the steps that can be made if a hotel really gets behind the idea of sustainability,

and I know that I CAN drop my towel on the floor

and it will be dealt with in the most sensible way possible.

Singapore is a city state that has learned to look outward for solutions

to its lack of natural resources.

And, as I've discovered in my time with housekeeping,

there is one resource that's particularly sought after.

Migrant workers.

By 2030,

it's predicted that the migrant workforce will make up well over a third of the city's population.

Now I'm hungry, yes, now I'm hungry.

'For housekeeper Hong and his colleagues,

'the city's local food courts, known as hawker houses,

'serve a vast range of dishes and offer a taste of home.

'As someone who works thousands of miles from their own home country,

'I'm interested to see how Chinese migrants like Hong are adapting to life in Singapore.'

-You...

-I eat everything.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

-Is this OK?

Yes. You like?

-Yes.

-OK, you take.

Hi, one of this one, and a little of this one, please.

Thank you.

So, what were you doing back home in China?

-Truck driver?

-Yeah.

How much more are you earning here, at MBS,

compared to when you were in China?

Two times.

Two times more?

'Hong tells me he sends about 70% of his housekeeping salary back home.

'He lives here alone,

'and his young family are thousands of miles away back in northern China.'

So, now that you are here,

how often do you see your families back in China?

'Like so many migrant workers,

'Hong has to rely on technology to stay in touch with his family.'

SHE GASPS

Hello!

Oh, look how cuddly he is!

He is wrapped up like a little marshmallow!

Ni hao! Hello!

Oh, he likes me.

Hello! Don't let me take all the call because you haven't seen him.

Hey!

-Name is Lula.

-Lula?

-Lula.

-Lula!

Really, you are missing out watching your children, you know, grow up.

Hong is making a huge sacrifice,

leaving the children at home back in China to be here,

to provide for their future.

But, actually,

a huge percentage of the workers in housekeeping are from China as well,

and they are all going through the same thing,

leaving family behind.

In fact, because they are here, away together,

they have become their family away from home,

this little network of workers that have travelled here to Singapore.

But it doesn't make the choice to be here any easier.

With the hotel's VIP banquet just around the corner,

every detail needs to be right.

Especially last-minute maintenance issues.

But when do you repair the wear and tear on a luxury hotel of this size?

Well, apparently, you work in the wee small hours

when no-one's around to see.

It's two o'clock in the morning in the hotel that never sleeps,

but does occasionally have a slight rest,

and there aren't as many people as there normally are,

which is a good opportunity for them to do maintenance.

I'm coming to meet a chap called Vishnu, whose job is to change light bulbs around here,

and who is far more used to working these unsociable hours than I am.

Oh, I just banged my head.

Lucky I was wearing a helmet.

GILES GROANS

Hello, Vishnu, nice to meet you.

-Giles.

-OK, are you ready?

Yes, absolutely. My first time in a cherry picker, this is awesome.

OK, now we are going up, so just hold on here.

Yeah.

Right. We're moving. OK.

We're driving along while up here.

Is this entirely safe? Totally not wobbly.

'Vishnu has been part of the maintenance department for nearly four years,

'and in all that time, reckons he has changed nearly 5,000 bulbs.'

This is like bomb disposal.

Yes, exactly.

'But the obvious question is...'

How many Vishnus does it take to change a light bulb?

-Just one?

-Two of us.

-Oh, right.

Do you ever have fun just hitting the buttons and going up and down?

Yes, it's really fun.

As with everything around this place,

each department must cope with challenges on an epic scale.

I might have to get one of these at home.

-It'd be really useful for cleaning the windows and stuff.

-Yes!

'OK, only another 114 bulbs for us to change before the banquet.'

Catering for events like the imminent VIP banquet

involves vast quantities of food.

But if left unchecked,

this could have a profound impact on the environment.

Especially when it comes to one of south-east Asia's staples - seafood.

It's the early hours of the morning, and this is Jurong Fishery Port,

the largest fish market in Singapore.

Wow, beauties.

-I love these.

-Yeah.

-I buy these in packets of 12 for home.

-Do you?

-On the barbecue. Yeah.

Beautiful.

'Whenever they are planning banquet menus,

'this market is a vital resource for exec chef Chris and his seafood buyer, Dennis.'

I've never seen such big mackerel!

-Be happy to pull that up on a fishing line, huh?

-Yeah.

-Look at the crab!

-Yeah, a lot of crab.

Wow, fantastic.

'Although I work with fish every day,

'sometimes I am upset by what I see in fish markets.'

Oh, my God, look at all the stingrays.

I dive, and they go above you,

and they are literally smiling as they are going.

You look at them when they've been killed,

and their mouth goes into this frown, it's so sad.

Some species of stingray are under threat due to overfishing,

as are some of the other fish here.

-This is a red grouper.

-Red grouper is so rare.

It is so rare,

they pay hundreds of pounds for this because it's a rare fish.

There's not many of them left.

I mean, I haven't seen one in years.

Well over...

-Really?

-It's well over 15, 16 years since I've seen one.

Chris and his team are certainly mindful of the limits of natural

resources, yet have to deliver thousands of seafood dishes a week.

Our main goals over the last few years are focused on

the sustainability of the seafood.

Because we're on the sea.

A big part of what we serve is seafood.

So we want it to be, you know, an integral part of our menus.

-Absolutely. It's always... It's about being able to keep it going, 10, 20, 30 years, you know.

-Exactly.

If it continues with some of this fishing that goes on,

the ocean will be empty before we know it.

'Chris has begun working with experts like Dennis on what they say

'is a sustainable seafood policy across his kitchens.

'In their case, using farmed seafood to reduce the impact of fishing

'on the ocean stocks.'

-These are the ones that you're using?

-Yes.

-And they are farmed?

-They're farmed.

-Amazing.

We want to make sure that we are really being responsible for

the environment, we are being responsible for our own livelihood, here in Singapore,

and we want to grow that future.

In terms of the present, the big event is finally here.

1,400 people are about to arrive for the VIP banquet,

involving eight intricate courses,

some of which will involve seafood from the market.

As part of Chris's banqueting team,

it's time for me to crack on with plating up row upon row of starters.

Mmm! Nice prawns!

To cope with the extra volume of VIP traffic that will be arriving

any minute now, I have been taken on by George's valet department.

We have two dinner dances, so we should see a fair bit,

along with our normal Friday crowd.

Although there seems to be a bit of confusion regarding my actual role

around here.

Just so you guys know, we have a new valet driver,

Mr Giles, who will be helping us.

He drove a Ferrari earlier.

I was in the car. He will not be driving any cars because of his experience.

Um...

So, we don't trust him with any of our guests' cars,

but he will be driving a buggy, so, please, hang on,

make sure he goes in the right direction.

And your grooming standards...

Let's zip up your shirt a little bit.

We don't want to see your chest hair.

It looks better when it's down.

No. All right, perfect.

All right, have a good shift, guys. Thank you.

'It turns out my job is to shuttle the valets around.

'So, with Ferraris now off-limits, it's a less powerful machine for me.

'Not that it's any easier to master.

'Luckily, senior valet Henry is here to help.'

No, no, turn it this way.

OK. You didn't say which way we were going.

-OK, stop. Stop, stop, stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop!

-OK.

-AUTOMATED:

-'Five, three, nine, one...'

-Go this way.

-No dramas, it's fine. Don't panic.

Oh, no, it's the plod!

HENRY LAUGHS

Quick, duck, let's go!

Get away from the police.

'I'm meant to transport drivers to car drop-off and collection points across the hotel.'

OK.

-Hi, there.

-Hi.

-You know I charge 5 a ride?

MAN LAUGHS

You've brought a car from the car park, given it back to a customer...

-And now...

-Did you get a tip?

-No, I didn't.

-Oh! What a

-BLEEP!

'To maintain the hotel's high levels of service,

'and deal with the predicted spike in car volumes this evening,

'George is being rigid with his targets.

'Deliver all cars to clients in under seven minutes.'

Now we go back down?

'And he's not afraid to crack the whip.'

-Go, get the guys down there!

-OK, OK!

Shall I listen to him or listen to you?

-How do we get through the barrier?

-OK.

-Less talk, more action!

-Let's go.

-I resign.

HENRY LAUGHS

It's not just the valets who are under pressure.

Down in the hotel's kitchens,

dozens of chefs are working flat out to be ready,

and the clock is ticking.

Next up for me, one of the kitchen's signature dishes -

barbecued chicken.

So, there is a total of 140 chicken that they have got to chop.

They have got about an hour to get it all done.

Sam over here, he is our superstar barbecue chef from Hong Kong.

'With over 40 years of experience,

'chicken master Sam and his team have got preparing chicken down to a fine art.'

They're going to fry it, while it's hot, chop it up,

put it onto the plate, and then into the warming box.

When you use the warming box,

you have got to make sure it's not too hot, otherwise the chicken will dry out.

The Chinese are very concerned about the chicken.

I find it really frightening how fast they can work with a cleaver.

But, you know, they use it all the time.

-Quite frightening to watch them chop with a cleaver and keep all their fingers.

-Yes, absolutely.

They don't even blink.

No.

'The finished result is delicious,

'but will I be the weak link in the chain?'

-You cut or no?

-Yeah, cut.

Off?

-OK. Now cut?

-Right there.

-Here?

-Yeah.

-Whack?

-Yeah.

It's so sharp.

-And then here? No?

-And then...

'It turns out it's not as easy as it looks.'

OK. Oh...

-I'm sorry.

-It's OK.

I'm making a mess of it.

'It may take ME 40 years to portion a chicken with a cleaver.'

MONICA LAUGHS

I like this.

THEY SPEAK THEIR OWN LANGUAGE

That means finished.

'With the cars now coming thick and fast,

'my level of responsibility jumps up a notch.'

Right, I'm now going it alone.

Henry is getting out, I'm going to do it all on my own, not get lost,

and it's all quite busy and, you know,

maybe it's a bit stressful and scary.

'But George is still keeping a tight rein on me,

'locking me into the valets' comms system...'

-Controls your volume.

-Which one is it?

-This one.

-And the talking is...?

-This button. All right, go.

-OK.

'..although, to be honest, it's not exactly helping.'

Oh. Oh...

Whoops! I think you're meant to NOT hit them.

OK, we're loaded. Got a full load.

Hold onto your hats, I'm a little bit faster than the average scooter driver.

Oh, it's faster down the hill with all these people on board.

Is it possible to flip one of these?

Do they roll or not? Are they quite safe?

-'Giles, have you dropped off your drivers?'

-Er... Where's my button?

Not yet, just about to.

'George to Giles.'

I don't know which button it is.

I'm here. I can't find the button, George.

But I'm here, it's all fine.

-Just watch the show and you'll find out.

-'Giles, answer your walkie!'

I'm trying, I can't find the button!

-It's on the right.

-Where's the button?

Which button is it?

Is it...? It's all a bit of a head screw.

Right, see you later.

Look, Giles to George,

it's all fine I just couldn't find the button on my walkie-talkie.

I've found it, I've dropped them off, it's great, they've had the time of their lives, over.

Back at the banquet, 1,000 prawn dishes must be made,

and as it's the main event, each and every one must be spot-on.

This is so awesome!

Look at that.

Yum!

This is not easy, huh?

Whoo!

These guys are tough.

They are strong. This is heavy.

'The end result... Not bad, if I do say so myself.'

The dishes reach the exacting but appreciative room of VIPs

without a minute to spare.

At last, I'm getting the hang of it,

and fast becoming a vital member of the team.

HORN HOOTS

Come on, they're all in my way. Only muppets use the barrier.

Through the gap...

Nice one. OK, we're going to cut seconds off.

Red light on, green light on - go, go, go!

Another victorious mission.

They said this would be stressful. Frankly, I've got the wind in my hair,

I can go wherever I like, and I'm taking this baby into the lift,

up to the 57th floor, and straight into the infinity pool.

HORN HONKS

The guests have been well fed,

and the drivers reunited with their cars.

'We've nailed it.' You survived.

-You survived!

-Oh, how was your evening?

Really good, really good.

It looks like organised chaos, it really does.

But it runs a very smooth operation.

It's funny, I mean valet parking, I guess it's like a big meal.

You take it for granted, but with these kinds of numbers,

-it's mind-blowing.

-Stressful.

Stressful. BEER stressful.

-Let's go.

-Or in your case, wine stressful.

-Wine stressful.

It seems that to cope with the numbers it attracts,

this hotel has to run like a military operation.

Back in civvies by the pool,

it's a chance to recover from the hotel's front line.

This place is nuts,

but the operations that make it work and run smoothly,

like a machine, is pretty impressive.

The old image of the duck paddling serene on the surface,

and the feet moving underneath.

I think if you wanted to set out to make one of the biggest hotels

in the world with one of the biggest casinos, with 2,500 bedrooms,

if you want to do that, this is the way to do it, isn't it?

It is that. You can't help but admire it.

It sort of scares me if the whole world turns into massive complexes like this.

As great as it is, you know, this is almost another planet.

You say that, great as it is, but you could not say that this place does not reflect at least

one side of Singapore.

You know, a country that has grown incredibly fast, incredibly high,

built on a lot of foreign investment.

This is, in some ways,

a microcosmic version of Singapore of the last 25 years.

And as the Government's plan to increase tourist revenue seems to be

working, with growing numbers of people flocking here,

it looks like the charming,

hard-working staff we have met at Marina Bay Sands are going to have

to keep on paddling, possibly even faster, for many years to come.