But not if the front desk receptionist sits behind a brass rhino and you're surrounded by life-sized golden elephant and monkey sculptures.
Bold and whimsical designs like these make boutique hotels stand out among the giant hotel chains in Singapore.
Here are our favorites:
Hotel Vagabond
The newest kid on Singapore's boutique block is designed by Jacques Garcia of Paris's Hotel Costes.
Hotel Vagabond's a little bit of Paris in Singapore, or more specifically in Little India/Kampong Glam.
Ground floor public space is alluring -- dark lighting, bold decorations and red velvet drapes.
It comprises a bar segueing into a Salon and the 5th Quarter restaurant, which focuses on smoking, curing and pickling.
Art is predominant here from the rhino check-in desk and elephant sculpture seemingly crashing through the lobby wall to the video installations in the loos and the lift.
The 41 rooms are similarly "maximalist" and stylish: every space of wall crammed with pictures and richly hand painted screens.
