There are some unusual ways to get married, and the Hilton Petaling Jaya in Malaysia is definitely offering to help you out with one of them: the ol' underwater wedding. Yep, they have a special Underwater Wedding Package for the apparently big enough market of people who want to get married, underwater, in Malaysia.
The first catch is that you have to invite at least 60 guests, but only 8 of them can be underwater including the bride and groom.
If you're a cost-conscious traveler with a penchant for far-off lands, adhering to your budget is about to get much easier--in about three years, which, if you're really that frugal (or broke) is about how long it takes to afford that plane ticket to Phuket anyway.
Tune Hotels, the á la carte budget hotelier, is currently expanding its inventory from three to about 100 hotels in the coming years, with properties planned in places like Phuket, Jakarta, Bandung and Bali. The Bali property is expected to open by 2009 and will be Tune Hotels' first property outside of Malaysia, according to The Edge Daily, an online Malaysian business site that sat down with Tune Hotels CEO Mark Lankester earlier this year.
The paper also learned that the hotelier is looking to make its debut in Singapore, but interestingly, not on land:
When asked if this meant the acquisition and refurbishment of a cruiser or a partnership with cruise liners, Lankester said: 'I would not say this concept is too far off.'
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.
It had a previous life as the Merlin Inn Resort, but now the Cameron Highlands Resort in Malaysia got a full refurbishment along with some new owners and now sounds like a pretty good spot for a relaxing and slightly exotic holiday.
The theme, as this week's Sydney Morning Herald review makes clear, is tea. Malaysia's most famous tea brand, BOH, originates from the Cameron Highlands area, and there are still many plantations there today. Now at the Cameron Highlands Resort you can indulge yourself with options ranging from the simple drinking of tea to its use in the Spa Village: you can start a treatment with a tea bath, for example.
Surrounding the resort (amongst the tea) are a golf course and beautiful rolling hills. Service is personalised--there are just 56 rooms there--and fast internet access is also in place. And there's still enough British influence, apparently, that you can always find someone to offer you a biscuit and a cup of tea.
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....
We reported very briefly on the The Datai Langkawia while back when a top hotel inspector added the place to his top hotels list.
But now we want to take a closer look. For starters, the Datai is located within a tropical rainforest on the northwestern tip of the island of Langkawi (off the coast of mainland Malaysia). So already you have an amazing location to work with.
Inside the hotel, there are four different types of accommodations--deluxe rooms, pool villas, superior villas and suites--yet all of them have at least a bedroom and a living room area, along with technological amenities like a BOSE stereo system and get this, complimentary high-speed internet.
More about the hotel can be found on its web site where cutesy little poems like this one deliver the information you want to hear.
Blended to echo nature, mixed with style and fine traditions, It maintains quality and excellence as its overwhelming missions. Look around you and you’ll notice subtlety and air, Of a hotel-experience that is beyond all compare.
Elsewhere on the resort you will find a golf course, a spa and four dining options. We are pretty much sold on the resort just judging from the pictures alone, but luckily the TripAdvisor reviews stack up as well. Everyone praises the location and the service. In fact, the only thing wrong about the resort is that it's not a great place for singles.
Naturally, the place has won some accolades and the folks over at Five Star Alliance named the hotel as one of Malaysia's top luxury picks. Another sign that this place is as good as it looks? The candid photos on TripAdvisor which are notoriously crappy (think blurry snapshots and pointless portraits) look like near perfection so you can imagine that this place is even better in real life.
Unfortunately, you may want to wait another year before heading here. The resort is starting a series of (needed) room renovations in May. It will still be open during the renovations but we say wait until December 2007 when its completed to enjoy the full effect.
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?
As winter storms brew here in the Northeast, our search for the perfect overwater bungalow is intensifying. Know an overwater bungalow resort hotel we need to check out? Hit us on the tip line.
Pangkor Laut is an island off the coast of Perak in north-west peninsular Malaysia, reached by ferry from Lumut, it is, for the most part, a low-key tourist destination.
Pangkor Laut Resort includes 148 Malaysian-style budget luxury villas. Here you can do yoga every morning, take a walk around the island, take an open air shower, or just lay in the sun and await your complimentary water.
Whatever you do, you will have the option of booking one of Malaysia's few over water bungalows, if you stay here. However, be ready to share your secluded bungalow with the fauna. Monkeys and birds are the most prominent house mates at Pangkor. Scroll down and check out the YouTube video to get a sense of what your furry Sea Villa roomates will be like.
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by amandak
