My plane arrives late at the main Singapore Airport in March 2026. I understand that transit hotels are only for people with a plane to catch/boarding pass. If you have no connection, transit hotels are not available. Wondering if there are other options available for a person who arrives late and does not want to negotiate the city in the dark while half-asleep.

I have stayed in the Transit Hotel without an onward ticket. I stayed airside, didn't collect my luggage, checked in and stayed overnight. The next day, I went down to collect my luggage (it had been taken to left luggage), and went into Singapore for a few days.

Alternatively, there are hotels right at the airport, landside, but they're quite expensive as I recall.

A taxi from Singapore airport to downtown only takes 20-30 minutes and is not particularly expensive. What do you plan to do the next day?

If your budget allows, the Crowne Plaza at the airport is the option we would recommend. Or simply take a taxi into your city accommodations (easy if it's a hotel with 24/7 reception, not so easy if it's a short-term rental that has check-in time restrictions and/or charges for arrivals outside their approved check-in times). What would price difference be between taking a taxi to your city accommodations v staying in a transit hotel?

It's not a problem arriving into Singapore late. I've been back and forth regularly since the late 1990s. My Singapore Air flight usually arrives after midnight and I either check into the Crown Plaza Hotel, basically connected to the terminal, get a taxi from Changi and be driven to the closest hotel in the airport area, or if I'm going to actually stay in Singapore for some days before flying on to another S.E. Asian country, then I just alert my hotel in Singapore that I will be arriving really late as there are some hotels which have a cut-off time for check in.
I use Singapore Air as my round trip location from and back to L.A. Changi is so easy and efficient. Singapore is very safe. I'm female and travel solo. I have also stayed at the transit hotel many times, but when my onward travel destination was connected on the same ticket as my initial international flight to Singapore. And if I want to collect my luggage, due to my onward flight not leaving for hours after an after-midnight arrival, then I just collect it, go through customs, and check into an airport-area hotel to sleep. I usually start and eventually end my regional longterm travel in Singapore.
Happy Travels!