The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore's Room 517 is this month's Room with a View.

This view across Singapore's Marina Bay didn't exist two years ago. The Marina Bay Sands casino-resort, capped like a space-age Stonehenge with a 1,115-foot-long cantilevered park, opened in June 2010. (As if that's not impressive enough, it's topped by the world's highest outdoor pool, with a vertigo-inducing infinity edge.) Just 15 days later, the comparatively compact Fullerton Bay Hotel opened across the bay (its rooftop pool is, rather modestly, just seven floors above the street). Such is the pace of growth in this island city-state, where public servants earn private-sector wages—a policy trick designed to attract the best and brightest and discourage corruption. Since 2002, Singapore's per capita GDP has doubled to nearly $44,000, rivaling that of the United States. Tradition, which still has a foothold here, is best enjoyed at lively hawker centers serving street food a short metro ride from Marina Bay. But in Singapore—even in the seemingly permanent shadow of a 2,561-room resort—it's important to remember that the view could change tomorrow. (For more on the Fullerton Bay, see "Hot Hotels.")

There are 100 rooms; doubles are $354 to $496. Room 517, a Bay View room, is $456 (65-6333-8388).

Photograph of Room 517 by Justin Mott.