A decade or so since I first stayed here, this hotel remains my favourite Hyatt in the world. I could happily spend weeks here at a time.
Check-in was a little slow and I was told that mobile wallets aren’t accepted for guarantees which meant I needed to handover cash. The welcome note from the lounge manager includes a club floor benefit of two pieces of laundry which is always appreciated. Luggage also took a little longer to arrive than I would have liked but I think this is probably a result of the extra journey required from the ground floor, up to the lobby and then down to the guest floors.
I applied a suite upgrade award and received the fantastic grand suite king. Waiting in the room was a welcome note from the GM, a whole fruit plate and a small box of hotel chocolates. The suite was showing signs of wear (e.g. the ceiling above the shower was bubbling a little and one of the wardrobe doors came off its track quite easily) but is still a first-rate use of an upgrade award. The shoeshine service that was previously offered seems to have gone (unless housekeeping simply didn’t restock the bag and card).
The Grand Club remains a wonderful place. Although I think the evening spread has been slightly pared back, it is still extensive. I’ve commented before that I think the hotel does itself a bit of a disservice by making it so good. One of these days, I’ll restrain myself from filling up in the lounge and actually eat at JP Teres or room service. There’s not a huge selection of alcoholic beverage but the food, view and ambiance certainly make up for it.
Breakfast in the restaurant (available for club guests or at least for Globalists) is still phenomenal. You really need a golf buggy to get yourself from one end of the buffet to the other. It was impossible to get a hot cup of tea, which always annoys me and I found it odd that there’s no salt and pepper shakers on the tables. It’s just incredible the amount of food and the variety that’s offered day after day. It does get busy and hectic, though. I’ve taken to having the bulk of my breakfast in the restaurant before retiring to the lounge for coffee and a Danish where it’s far more relaxed. The breakfast in the lounge, though, is still a very good offering and better than what you’d find in a lot of lounges.
The F&B poolside menu has been vastly expanded since my last visit several months ago. With cocktails for MYR38, smoothies for MYR22 and a scoop of ice cream for MYR8, the prices are all very reasonable.
The hotel seemed to have embarked on a big sustainability drive in recent months, going so far as to (digitally) publish a
booklet about all its alleged green initiatives. Like most hotels, it claims to be green when it comes to housekeeping, but, again like 99% of the hotels I stay at, it’s all lip service (or maybe lies). Despite the little card by the bed saying towels and bed linen are only changed after every three nights and despite the feelgood booklet proudly proclaiming similar, my bath towel - left hanging every day - was changed no less than eight times in four nights (courtesy the very nice evening turndown service). It’s appalling and marred an otherwise fantastic stay. I also fail to understand how the standard operating procedure for any hotel, let alone one that shouts its alleged green credentials, is to leave turned on every conceivable light in the room after housekeeping.
On this occasion I took the train from KLIA2to KL Sentral for MYR55, then an “executive” taxi for MYR40. The whole journey was about an hour. Grab was showing MYR65 but, in my experience, the travel time can be quite a bit longer and I’ve always struggled with getting sufficient airport wifi coverage at the rideshare collection point. Going back to KLIA2, I took a Grab to KL Sentral for MYR11 and the train for MYR55.
Take me back any day of the week.