Singapore built the world's first bubble facility so people can travel for business without having to quarantine - and it's in an expo center. We got a sneak peak of the rooms, facilities, and food.

Right now, travelers coming from any country can apply, with the exception of those coming from the UK and South Africa. But approval is not guaranteed; Singapore will consider factors including the COVID-19 status of the traveler's country and the departure country of other travelers staying at the facility at the same time, a publicist said.

They may be able to skip a two-week quarantine, but those who stay at Connect@Changi should prepare their nostrils for multiple COVID-19 PCR tests.

Before leaving for Singapore, guests must take a COVID-19 PCR test in their country of departure within 72 hours of their flight. Once they arrive at the airport in Singapore, they'll be tested again. And while staying at the Connect@Changi facility, guests will be required to undergo additional PCR testing at the on-site testing center on days three, seven, and 14 of their stay.

That means that a five-day stay would require a total of three COVID-19 PCR tests.

The center is a five-minute drive from the airport.

When Connect@Changi is fully completed later this year, it will have the capacity to accommodate roughly 1,300 business travelers at a time, according to press materials.

Due to the uncertainty of the pandemic, project developers don't know how long the facility will be open, a publicist told me. But once it's no longer needed, it will be demolished and the expo center will return to its former operations.

The guest will receive their test results via text message in about six to 12 hours, after which the traveler is allowed to leave their room, a publicist told me.

If the test comes back positive, the traveler will immediately be transported to a medical facility in Singapore and the Connect@Changi will follow all of the Ministry of Health's contact tracing and testing protocols.

Before the pandemic, most business travelers to Singapore stayed for under five days, so Connect@Changi expects most visitors to the facility to stay for a similarly short duration.

Each room also has its own thermostat so travelers can adjust the temperature to their comfort — no small benefit in Singapore, where the weather is hot and humid but the air-conditioning can be aggressive.

Despite the careful details, however, there's no disguising that this is still in the middle of an expo center.

One of the project's partners, SingEx, which runs the expo center, will provide the meals.

An executive from Germany, for example, could meet with their colleague from Switzerland and work together at the table above.

The floor is carpeted with artificial grass, but the greenery surrounding the courtyard is real.

Free WiFi is available throughout all common areas, meeting rooms, and guest rooms.

In the courtyard and throughout the rest of the facility, other signs remind travelers to maintain a distance of one meter from other people.

Up to two people can work out in the gym pod at a time.

Connect@Changi expects business travelers to use the facility for things like meeting a job candidate in person before hiring them or signing legal documents.

Guests can book meeting rooms through the mobile app for an additional cost of between roughly $15 and $150 per hour, depending on the size of the room.

This room is available only to guests staying in the facility, not outside visitors.

If they want to conduct a lunch meeting, travelers can arrange for meals to be sent to the meeting room.

When not eating or drinking, however, both guests and visitors are required to keep their masks on at all times.

Staff is regularly tested as well.

For safety reasons, there will be no in-room housekeeping throughout a guest's stay, although guests can request extra towels.

That's certainly not what travelers will find at Connect@Changi. But they will find what appears to be an efficient, COVID-free bubble that could be a model for other countries hoping to open up safe business travel. The facilities are not luxurious, but they are comfortable enough and provide the necessary amenities for a short work trip.

"Ideally, you would like to have people free to move around, do what they want to do and spend where they want to," Temasek's senior managing director, Alan Thompson, said at a media briefing in December. But, he added, Connect@Changi is a "good alternative option" as the world works to eradicate the virus.