We and the kids enjoyed a restful and joyous 4D3N stay at our favourite hotel. We appreciated the granting of our email request for an upgrade to the suite (with its 2 sofa beds).
During our stay, I had an insightful chat with Mr Ridzi, the Director of Operations, and Mr Martin, the GM, about what the wonderful product and team they oversee and also suggested some observations/improvements. I appreciate the lengthy and very precious hour long dialogue where many of my curious questions about hotel operations were graciously answered.
After I gave feedback about the lack of children amenities or welcome snacks, we came back to two gigantic chocolate pinatas filled with snacks that the kids couldn't wait to smash open.
Staff: 6/5 – At all times of the day, there are many staff stationed at the lobby to welcome guests. Yup even at 11pm, there was impressively a greeter, a security guard and 2 check in counters open. The hotel staff are spirited/motivated/courteous. The positive and welcoming atmosphere perhaps is aptly captured by my 5 year old remarking that “Malaysia hotels are friendlier than Singapore hotels.”
Facilities: 6/5 - The sprawling swimming pool with water slides that stretches across the concourse of both R KL and 4 points KL makes the other hotels look like theirs are puddles in comparison. The dry and wet playgrounds are similarly impressively large and in great condition. I understand that the pools are cleaned daily. The size of the dry playground is the largest that we've seen in a hotel. The arrangement for a complimentary Kids Club is also really unique, usually only seen in resorts. When asked about the lack of lift door sensors and malfunctioning arrow displays and buttons, Mr Ridzi explained that the lifts were not merely being upgraded but replaced.
Pricing: 5/5 – similarly priced to the far inferior Sheraton just down the road that is lately infamous for its underwhelming product customer experience.
Location: 3/5 - Not as centrally located as many other Marriott branded hotels we've stayed at, for example, St Regis/Le Meridien, Westin, JW. But taking grab is relatively easy outside of rush hour, and KLCC is within walking distance for those who don’t mind the trek.
Food (Breakfast @ Restaurant): 3.5/5 – The taste/spread is pretty much on par with or slightly better than the offerings at Westin/JW/Sheraton but trails the excellent LM KL and SR KL’s breakfast in terms of food quality. Highlights include the delicious gluten free chocolate chip cookies and the red apples (a rarity in Malaysian hotels from our experience) that we could churn into fresh juice. The ever-friendly Indian Chef recognized us on our first day back here (even though we last came a few months ago), and on day 2, he already had bananas ready for our banana Prata/Canai. We appreciated
Food (Family Lounge): R KL’s Family Lounge is always a trailblazing pioneer in KL, with a specially curated menu that parents and children would welcome. Whereas other Marriott’s evening cocktail often have adult-focused menu that are largely spicy, here there’s fries, nuggets, pasta etc. I appreciate the many games like mini soccer and basketball stations, which our kids had a blistering time playing with the chef and lounge staff (rather than eating their dinner) =D I understand from Mr Ridzi that he is overseeing the purchasing of more family friendly furniture so that’s something we can look forward to. This arrangement of a separate family lounge still allows business travelers to dine at the executive lounge without the chaos that kids inevitably may bring.
Some areas whereby R KL could do better:
-Frustratingly, Platinum Elite (PE) and higher Bonvoy members are restricted to the executive lounge for the complimentary breakfast benefit, unless the booking includes breakfast. Mr Martin explained that severe overcrowding at the restaurant led to long queues and unhappy/frustrated guests, and therefore the arrangement was made for crowd control - PE+ members have a less extensive breakfast spread but at least a high quality experience is maintained at the lounge/restaurant. However, for our kids, the buffet breakfast is the highlight of every hotel stay – the live stations of waffles, prata/canai, noodles, fresh fruit juices etc. that likely wont be available at the lounge; to be restricted to the lounge breakfasts especially for long stays is quite the downer.
-Do consider building an alternative walkway and ramp to the monorail station whereby we don't have to walk past two rows of smokers (currently we have to jump down a ~50cm drop)
-Parking for inhouse guests is a RM10 per day, although multiple entries are permitted with the new camera recognition system (as far as I observe, almost all other 5 star hotel offer complimentary parking for guests)
-The lack of towel rings/hooks to place towels to dry our hands
-The lack of a towel hook near the shower/long metal handle to hang the towel - one would have to walk across the entire toilet dripping water everywhere to retrieve a hung up towel
-Empower/assist the staff at kids club to request parents/older children who talk loudly (at a volume of shouting) to tone down or leave the kids club. The noise who overwhelming on a Monday with 3-4 such families inside, and other 4-5 more well-mannered/considerate families.
-I highlighted to Mr Ridzi the barely-functioning/well-worn condition of the many toys and games in the kids club, which he explains usually get worn out within 2-3 months of daily play. I trust that he will make the necessary updates/replacements.
-Make more exciting/interactive board card/games available for lease (with a monetary deposit to ensure pieces do not go missing) – not the boring games like risk/monopoly but like Scrabble/Catan/Ticket to Ride? A possible location to play the games could be outside the kids club or at the family lounge?