Malaysia Travel Guide
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Sleep Peacefully At Malaysia's UNESCO-Recognized Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion
Originally built as a 38-room feng shui masterpiece for 19th century merchant Cheong Fatt Tze, the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion fell on hard times as its Malaysian Georgeton neighborhood became a mid-20th century slum. Nonetheless it never lost the fame of its singular design, a unique mix of Eastern and Western influences that somehow blends cast-iron staircases and pillars, Gothic windows, Chinese porcelain, and Art Nouveau stained glass.
Some time after its original construction the mansion was coated with its now-famous blue exterior, a mix of lime and Indigo plant die, and became the Blue Mansion. Eventually restorers took over and began transforming it into a modern half-hotel half-museum conservation project, part of a more general city-wide Penang revival spurred by UNESCO recognition.
Tags: Cubicle Dreamin' / Kuala Lumpur Hotels / → All Tags
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: Killer View / Kuala Lumpur Hotels / Shangri-La Hotels / → All Tags
See the World's Biggest Twin Buildings Without Leaving Your Room
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.
It sounds kind of dirty to say that you can see the world's biggest twin buildings without even leaving your hotel bedroom, but in this case it's true in the most non-sexual sense: this photo was shot from a room at the Traders Hotel in Kuala Lumpur by davidduran. And yes, those are the Petronas Towers. Straight out the window.
The Petronas Towers are officially the tallest twin buildings in the world (once upon a time, they were the tallest buildings on the planet — but they've been dethroned by Taipei 101). And you can see 'em pretty well (that is, well enough to tell your friends you "saw" the towers) from The Traders, which is a 571-room Shangri-La property in the middle of the city.
Make sure you ask for a "Park View" room (the "City View" rooms, though they sound better, actually don't face the towers) and be prepared to shell out at least 700 MYR ($200-ish) for it.
[Photo: davidduran]
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 / HotelChatter Reviews / Malaysia Hotels / Taj Hotels / → All Tags
Inside The Taj Rebak Island Resort, Langkawi
Until last week, if you said “Langkawi" to us, we’d have replied ”Datai”. Admittedly, this is mainly because we once had the pleasure of interviewing his hotness Ewan McGregor, and he said that the Datai was his favourite hotel in the world, and we’ve been indulging in poolside cocktail fantasies ever since. But also, the Datai is pretty synonymous with Langkawi luxury.
Langkawi luxury, Datai-style, comes at a price, though – rooms start at $400 and up. We were looking for luxury on a budget, so when we found rates at $121 at the Taj Rebak Island Resort (formerly known as the Rebak Marina Resort), we decided that Ewan wasn’t really worth an extra $300 a night.
We were a bit hesitant on arrival, because the website wasn’t that inspiring, and TripAdvisor had some very mixed reviews. Speaking to locals, apparently it used to be a little grim before Taj took it over two years ago – but none of them had been out since the revamp.
So we were preparing for the worst. As we were being driven from the airport down a grotty, un-paved path to the hotel jetty (it’s the only resort on Langkawi to be on its own private island, so you have to get a boat to and from the main island of Langkawi), we were having doubts.
But then we reached a pretty little gazebo with snazzy armchairs on the water’s edge, and after a short wait (we timed our flight well) we got onto the boat. It’s about 10-15 minutes to the island, and on our way we spied a pod of dolphins. Things were looking up.
Tags: Hotel Video Tours / HotelChatter Reviews / Shangri-La Hotels / Malaysia Hotels / → All Tags
Inside Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa
Ever since a friend of ours stayed here last year and came back declaring it was the “best hotel in the world. Ever” we’ve been intrigued about the Rasa Sayang resort in Penang. Being a Shangri La property, obviously it’s going to be nice. Yet we have an underlying aversion to the word “resort”. Could this one overcome our snobby tendencies?
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: Tune Hotels / Cheap Hotels / Budget Hotels / Malaysia Hotels / Hotel Deals / Hotel News / → All Tags
Tune Hotels Now Offering Rooms for a Penny a Night
Where: Malaysia
We are seriously considering giving up our costly New York rent for the impossibly affordable, recently reslashed down to 1 cent a night deal that Tune Hotels is offering at their Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Sepang, Malaysia locations.
Talk about serious basement pricing! The old 85 cents a night price now seems like a massive rip off with the latest one penny a night deal at select Tune Hotels. Folks! Can it get any cheaper!?
Tags: Hard Rock Hotels / Malaysia Hotels / Hotel Openings / Hotel Pools / → All Tags
Hard Rock (And Pool) Nearly Open in Malaysia
When we first heard about the Hard Rock Hotel Penang--the first Hard Rock hotel to set up shop in Malaysia--we expected it'd be open by now.
The 2008 opening has now slipped back to a promise of a mid-2009 start. They've only just appointed a general manager although he's already busy hyping up the place--with the main message being that the whole concept of the hotel will make it something unique in Malaysia.
What's rocking us more than the whole Hard Rock thing is simply their "free-form" pool. It's the largest pool in Penang, they say, and for a tropical resort area we figure that's actually an impressive title. Doesn't look so huge from the pictures though so we're hoping Hard Rock isn't lying to us. We love great pools.
Tags: Tune Hotels / Budget Hotels / Airport Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Seriously. Tune Hotels Now Selling Rooms for 85 Cents
Where: Malaysia
Despite the worldwide economy in the toilet, one budget hotel chain sure thinks their stuff doesn't stink, so much so it's offering rooms for less than a dollar a night.
Tune Hotels CEO Mark Lankester told the Malaysian news agency Bernama that he is going forward with his plan to have 100 Tune Hotels opened or in development within the next three years, and three of those hotels are opening in the first few months of '09: Kuching, Penang and within the low-cost carrier terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The promotional pre-launch rates for those rooms start at about RM3.00, or roughly 85 cents, for stays between March and October.
That's cheaper than the £1 rooms at Umi Hotels in the UK!
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