Of all of Singapore's big hotels, only one shows all its rooms and restaurants are blocked out for the week surrounding June 12, when U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to meet in the city.

The booking crunch at the Capella, which sits in the middle of 30 acres of lawns and rain forest on the resort island of Sentosa, just south of the city, is among a handful of overt signs that Singapore is preparing for one of the most controversial summits since the end of the Cold War.

Kim Chang Son, director of North Korea's state affairs commission secretariat, and Joe Hagin, a deputy White House chief of staff, met at the hotel after arriving in the city-state in late May to work out security and logistics measures.