Kuala Lumpur Travel Guide
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Fantasizing About Hangin' With Sharks In Kuala Lumpur
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving company's dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway; at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
With some friends hanging out in Kuala Lumpur this week, without me, pretty much the only revenge I can get is by daydreaming of staying in a hotel that's far superior to their youth hostel. Getting a killer view will probably help to make my pals jealous, and so the choice comes down to the swimming pool and tennis courts of the Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur or the view of the famous Petronas Towers from Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur - two hotels which, incidentally, are the current top two on the TripAdvisor list.
Tags: Raffles Hotels / Kuala Lumpur Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
Raffles Opening Not-So-Soon in Kuala Lumpur
Management at Raffles Hotels continue to sit in a room and throw darts at a globe – in other words, they've just announced yet another new Raffles in another new corner of the world. This time the dart has landed on Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
The Raffles Kuala Lumpur won't be ready until 2011 but they're promising to bring "unparalleled service" to KL. This new hotel will include 200 rooms and suites and will be found in the main business district of the city, within the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, one of KL's enormous shopping mall complexes.
Six different restaurants and bars sound like you won't need to leave the hotel for your entertainment at all – and one of them has opened already. Café Stelle is billed as a "light and refreshing" Italian café and they say it'll be an indication of the great service the Raffles Hotel itself will offer come 2011. It's been open for a few days and can be found in the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.
Finally, there'll also be a Raffles Amrita Spa at the new Raffles, and although we've never had the pleasure of a treatment at an Amrita, we've certainly heard on the grapevine that they're not unpleasant. It's just a pity 2011 sounds so far away.
[Photo of KL Pavilion: Filo.mena]
Tags: Malaysia Hotels / Boutique Hotels / Hotel Openings / → All Tags
The Club at Saujana Is a Quiet, Posh Kuala Lumpur Alternative
Labeling itself a "boutique resort," the Club at Saujana is a great compromise if you're wanting or needing to stay in hectic Kuala Lumpur but want a place to sleep that doesn't exactly feel like KL. The Saujana complex where the Club belongs is half an hour out of downtown KL and half an hour away from the airport, so if your plans can accomodate it, this is definitely the quiet way to stay in the Malaysian capital.
The Club at Saujana has 105 rooms set in the middle of a tropical garden and two 18-hole golf courses. Inside, it sounds it's got one like one of those "no expense spared" kind of designs: rooms are "lavishly made with terrazzo floors, marble, and Burmese teakwood, with designer fabrics and European glassware."
Room rates start at 700 Ringgit (almost $200) for a basic Club room, but that includes breakfast and WiFi — so, really, not so bad. They also have a Weekend Escape deal going right now: if you stay over a weekend, you'll score complimentary minibar goodies and cocktails, plus "culinary highlights" in the lounge each evening.
Tags: Hotel Video Tours / Tune Hotels / HotelChatter Reviews / Kuala Lumpur Hotels / → All Tags
Inside the Tune Hotel Kuala Lumpur
So uniq isn’t a fan of the Tune Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. But it must be doing something right, because it’s about to open three more branches, and then some, across Malaysia. Here’s what we thought.
Tony Fernandes is a clever man. Not only has he pioneered low cost flying in Asia and now cross-continent to Australia and the UK, but he’s also started the Tune hotel brand – a bit like an even more budget easyHotel.
The idea is simple – charge rock bottom prices for a room (current offers range from 0.05 Malaysian ringgits, or $0.01) to a max of about 75RM ($20). Keep said room as basic as possible. Then ratchet up the bill by charging for the extras, and top up by turning the hotel into a giant billboard with ads everywhere –from the rooms to the lift.
For instance, we just spent three nights there. Our room rate? 75RM, or $20, a night. But add in a service charge, tax, admin fee, wifi, aircon and towel rental, and we spent 382RM ($104) in all. Was it worth it?
Tags: Tune Hotels / Guess The Hotel / Budget Hotels / HotelChatter Reviews / → All Tags
Guess the Hotel Revealed: The Tune Hotel Kuala Lumpur
Last time we wrote about Kuala Lumpur’s Tune Hotel, it got a roaring thumbs up. But while its success is about to spawn three new hotels (in Penang, Kuching and KL’s low cost airport), is the original starting to let itself go a bit?
We only ask because when we first arrived, we were a bit disappointed. For a start, the room is small. We paid a little extra (£25 a night, rather than about £22) and ordered a double for ourselves because we read on TripAdvisor that the singles were really weeny – but we still got a bit of a shock.
Tags: Cubicle Dreamin' / Malaysia Hotels / → All Tags
Cubicle Dreamin': Hotel Maya Kuala Lumpur
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Amanda K heads to Kuala Lumpur. Enjoy.
A good friend of mine just came back from a ten-day stay in Malaysia. Apart from raving about the shorts-and-T-shirts weather (where I am we only have rain and cold right now), she told me that I simply must make a trip to Kuala Lumpur soon.
If I could go tomorrow, I think I'd try the Hotel Maya. I kind of like the way they describe themselves as a "boutique urban resort", which seems to take the best of all worlds to create a sanctuary inside a busy city, but perhaps without feeling so resort-like that you never want to leave it and see the real city outside.
The Maya has a special "Visit Malaysia" deal which sounds good: two nights accommodation, early in-room check-in from as early as 7.00am, return transfers to the airport, breakfast each day, one dinner and a floor butler 24 hours a day; that'll put you back 1388 Ringgits in the smaller rooms--a very reasonable $400.
And the Maya also has a spa center so I can relax properly after pounding the city streets.
[Photo: Stéphanielp]
Related Stories:
· Eating It Up in KL [lifestyle+travel]
· Kuala Lumpur Hotel Reviews [HotelChatter]
Tags: Malaysia Hotel Reviews / Amazing Race / Hotel WiFi / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / → All Tags
Amazing Race Hotel Update: Free Internet at the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur
Once again, we check in on the Amazing Racers' latest pit stop. As usual, we leave every detail and ever pregnant pause of Phil's up to our sibling Jaunted while we take a look at which hotel we would choose to stay in at each pit stop.
This week, the crew landed in Malaysia where they could gobble cookies or "apply batik to fabric". We, on the other hand, would rather stop in at the Ritz-Carlton in Kuala Lumpur, mainly because it's a Ritz we can afford. Rooms average about $183 a night and are extremely spacious. You also can order your butler around, relax in the hotel spa, or around the pool, shop at the luxury mall next door and get this, according to one guest surf the internet with the hotel's free broadband internet. We never thought we'd see the day....
Related Stories:
· Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur reviews [TripAdvisor]
· Chasing Racers: The TAR map [Jaunted]
Tags: Malaysia Hotel Reviews / Singapore Hotel Reviews / Hotel Openings / Tony Fernandes / TuneHotels / → All Tags
Tune Hotels In-Tune With No-Frills
This week we decided to take a look at some of the newer hotels that have opened up in Malaysia and Singapore, which we know is bit of a random decision. But we're always trying to broaden our hotel coverage, so if you know of a can't-miss hotel in either country (or really, anywhere for that matter), hit us up on the tipline with your suggestions or questions.
First up is Tune Hotels chain, which is expected to open next month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and with four other locations in the country expected to open by 2008.
The man behind Tune Hotels is Tony Fernandes who helped bring low-cost aviation to Malaysians through AirAsia. His vision for Tune hotels centers around the capsule hotels (popular in Japan) and the idea that everyone should be able to afford a clean, hip and comfortable hotel stay at low prices. Indeed these prices are low, ranging from US $3- $30.
Yet keep in mind that the hotel will operate on the "no-frills" level to keep those prices low.
Tune Hotels.Com operates a "no frills" concept, therefore there are no telephones, television, radio, safe, mini bar, tea and coffee making facilities in the rooms.
You may also be subjected to some advertisements from other companies displayed in the hotel (We have no doubt there will be some AirAsia cross promotion.) Something to look forward to? All rooms have their own bathrooms and housekeeping cleans on a daily basis. However, one thing to note is that Tune Hotels will not provide refunds for any bookings made.
So far, Tune Hotels look like they will have a lot of personality to make up for the amenities they lack inside. The company's colors are bright red and white which they have used for the hotel's exterior so you will always know where the building is. Their web site is engaging with each aspect of the hotels' information depicted in a different manner, such as the "Vision" page in the comic book style (minus the pows! and ka-booms!) We particularly like the tabloid theme for the "Mangament Bares All" aka the "About Us" page.
Our only question is, if these are capsule hotel rooms how come the web site keeps showing a father and a son in a pillow fight? Can there really be that much room?
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Room with an Anti-View: Mandarin Pacific Hotel
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Oh what a difference the word "Oriental" makes when it comes to hotels.
This "view" is from the Mandarin Pacific hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The parking lot and run-down buildings are certainly not part of the view from the 20th floor of the nearby Mandarin Oriental.
Related Stories:
· Ripper Doc photostream [Flickr]
· Killer View: Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur [HotelChatter]
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Room with a Killer View: Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
If you aren't afraid of heights then you will enjoy this view from the 20th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.
Otherwise, we suggest booking a lower floor as we ourselves are starting to get dizzy.
Related Stories:
· Running Bull's photostream [Flickr]
· Mandarin Oriental reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotel Heaven / → All Tags
Best Biz Hotel in Asia
Asia knows how to do a good business hotel. And by Asia--we mean the continent. If you don't agree, you haven't been doing the right business or at least haven't been doing it in the right places. And when Asia's leading travel trade newspaper TTG Asia, named Hilton Kuala Lumpur "Best Business Hotel in Asia," you know it's gotta be extra good.
This particular hotel has only been open for business a year, and is already making top marks. TTG Annual Travel Awards have in their 16 years of existence created a "benchmark for hotel excellence." Over 7,200 of TTG's readers voted this years winner from 17 different countries in the Asia-Pacific.
The Hilton's new General Manager, Paul Hutton commented on the accolade,
Apart from providing excellent facilities and a comfortable atmosphere, I believe the formula to our success is also reflected in the serious commitment of every team member towards delivering the Hilton brand, customer services and hospitality to all our guests and customers alike. We've had a great start and year and we hope this is an indication of greater things to come. Our achievements and successes demonstrate our winning formula. Backed with a great team, we look set for a bright 2006.
Oh yeah, and guests can't stop talking about this hotel either:
I stayed at the Hilton in October 2004, and have been talking about it ever since. Amazing room, the perfect bathroom. The swimming pool was large and beautifully designed.
Related Stories:
· "Best Business Hotel in Asia" [Travel Blackboard]
· Hilton Kuala Lumpur Reviews [TripAdvisor]
Tags: Hotels / → All Tags
Hilton Kuala Lumpur: Now With Free Goldfish
The Kuala Lumpur Hilton has gone sexy.
In an effort for the Hilton Hotels Corporation to shed its stuff conservative image, the Kuala Lumpur location opened in December featuring "42-inch flat-screen TVs in every guest-room, mini LCD TVs embedded in shaving mirrors, glass bathroom walls that slide fully open, innovative restaurants and the funkiest bar in town."
Other niceties include hardwood floors for a "residential feel," glass walls between the bedroom and the bathroom, and a good-looking staff (An image consultant advise staff on hair styles and make-up and come in every week to do haircuts for free.)
A recent guest also revealed a Hilton amenity, called "Lifestyle Boxes."
"All rooms come with lifestyle boxes, which were a unique idea, in these boxes labeled business, relaxation and leisure were items to borrow or purchase to enhance your stay. For example the business box came with free use of office supplies but for a deposit you could use a mobile phone and only be charged for phone calls via a pre-paid phone card. The relaxation box came with free jet lag bath salts to use. Or as I did, I ordered a complimentary pet goldfish in a bowl, which was relaxing to look at for the duration of my stay. My fish was named Dee Dee and I got attached to her."
Uh-oh, free goldfish, better keep the frat boys away.
Related Stories:
· Not Your Usual Hilton [Trip Advisor]
· Hilton Takes It To The Hilt With Kuala Lumpur Hotel [HotelNewsResource]
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