Tag: Malaysia Hotels
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The World's First Harrods Hotel To Open In Kuala Lumpur
What's better than a Harrod's store inside a hotel? How about an entire Harrod's-branded hotel?
That's what Qatar Holding—the luxury department store's new owners as of 2010—have in mind, and they're certainly not wasting any time. Construction will start next year on the world's first Harrod's hotel in Kuala Lumpur, in the Bukit Bintang shopping district, says Bloomberg.
The building will house 300 hotel rooms, apartments, and, of course, retail outlets—most likely full of stuff we couldn't afford back in London and probably still won't be able to afford. But it's still fun to look!
Hotel News / Malaysia Hotels / Luxury Hotels / Langkawi Hotels / Free WiFi / → All Tags
Luxe in Langkawi: Malaysia's New Seri Chenang Resort
Malaysia is heavily courting tourists with the opening of several new resorts. One of them is the Seri Chenang Resort & Spa Langkawi, opening June 30th. The property, located on Langkawi Island on the Malaysian Peninsula, promises to be quite luxe, though determined to add a heady mix of Malay culture to the guest experience. In other words—don’t expect a holiday where your only foreign interaction is with the staff and a plate of noodles.
Tune Hotels / Hotel Fees / Malaysia Hotels / Hotel News / → All Tags
Holla'! Tune Hotels is Doing Away With The Room Administration Fee
For being the hotel snobs that we are, we actually dig the "no frills" concept of Tune Hotels. And despite having a room that was only slightly larger than a sleeper cabin on a train, we really enjoyed our stay at the Tune Hotel Westminster in London. The price was right and the room was rather cozy.
But the one thing that did sort of irk us was all the add-ons that the hotel charges, mostly before you even get there.
However, Tune is finally doing away with one fee--the room administration fee. In conjunction/celebration of the new Tune Hotel Bintulu opening in Malaysia, Tune Hotel is dropping this fee across all 12 properties starting today. And you can thank Tune expansion for that.
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.
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.
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 . 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, 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 feeling a bit grim.
But then we reached a pretty little gazebo on the water’s edge, with snazzy armchairs, 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.
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?
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!?
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.
Airport Hotels / Hotel Awards / Malaysia Hotels / Pan Pacific Hotels / → All Tags
And the Award for Best Airport Hotel Goes To...
It's been a fruitful year for Kuala Lumpur's Pan Pacific International Hotel, whose 441 rooms essentially sit just off the tarmac of the city's airport. After winning "Best Airport Hotel in Asia" for the seventh year in a row, the full-service property has just claimed the additional title of "World's Leading Airport Hotel."
With open voting hosted by by Business Asia Magazine, ballots "... are cast by 167,000 travel professionals in over 160 countries across the globe with winning categories covering all sectors of the global travel, tourism and hospitality industry." So you see, this was way more than a suggestion box in the hotel's lobby.
Other World winners include:
World's Leading All-Suite Hotel - Burj Al Arab, Dubai, UAE
World's Leading Boutique Hotel - Saxon Boutique Hotel & Spa, South Africa
World's Leading City Hotel - Swissotel Krasnye Holmy Moscow
World's Leading Design Hotel - Adam & Eve at Belek, Turkey
World's Leading Hotel Brand - Marriott Hotels Resorts & Suites
Check out all of the winners, even regional, at The World Travel Awards website.
[Photo: The Pan Pacific Hotel]
Malaysia Hotels / Asia Hotels / Casino Hotels / → All Tags
Malaysia's First World Hotel is First in Sheer Size
Who doesn't love superlatives? We're crazy for knowing what's the most expensive, tallest and most haunted of hotels, but the simple title of largest hotel goes to the First World in the highlands of Malaysia. As the star attraction of the region known as Malaysia'a answer to Las Vegas, the First World boasts a staggering 6,118 rooms, having surpassed the MGM Grand's measly 5,690 in 2006 for an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Hotel Openings / Malaysia Hotels / → All Tags
Water Ski World Cup Speeds Up Putrajaya Opening
The Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside Hotel isn't really supposed to be ready until January 2009, but there's nothing like the smell of publicity from a nearby world sports event to get hotel management talking about a soft opening.
Located on Putrajaya Lake in Malaysia, not too far away from Kuala Lumpur, the resort includes a spa, five restaurants and 283 rooms split across four different accommodation wings, each with a different slant on the Malaysian multi-ethnic theme. With a few different purposes in mind, the resort also has more than twenty meeting rooms plus an outdoor amphitheater for 250 people.
With the International Water Ski Federation holding the fifth leg of the World Cup at the water sports complex next door in early November, the folks at Pullman Putrajaya Lakeside obviously decided it was worth trying a soft open. Their website isn't showing any availability for November or early December dates yet, but with the Waterski and Wakeboard World Cup happening on November 7 - 9, we're expecting some rooms to pop up closer to the time when they're sure they'll be (partially) ready.
