sbams

Life involves crossing roads. We deal with it.

PayItForward

There's 3 malls now.
"Across the road"
- KOMTAR JB City Center
- JB City Square

New mall
- Zenith Mall
I think only some restaurants were open. Have not went inside to look.

sandyph

it's much better now compared to few months ago, most of it because of the Zenith mall completion. It makes the side walk much wider

datexan

you walk out the front door, cross the road at the crossing to the left, cross the side street and walk down a couple of hundred meters, there is a covered way with steps that take you to Jalan Wong Ah Fook

wantan

thanks all ! checked in today ... didn't know there will be a chinese festival which shuts off the roads this week :P

maverick17

Stayed here last weekend on points. Most of the comments here are about coming from Singapore, but I flew into JHB (Senai International) on a flight from SGN, so thought I would give those details. AirAsia has a Singapore bus once an hour on the hour, where I assume I could get off at Sentral/CIQ area, but I didn't want to wait. No free wifi at the airport that I could find, and I don't have int'l internet on my Viet sim, so Grab wasn't easy to use for me personally. Taxi fare at coupon desk was 44 MYR, as compared to the 35 or so I read Grab would be, so I thought it was close enough and took it. Very easy, counter near the door and they knew the DT. No hassle from touts, taxis directly across from the exit. Driver was nice and I enjoyed a chat with him on the 40 min drive to the hotel. Going back it was 5:30 a.m. when I left the hotel, front desk said Grab was best, and indeed no taxis visible in the area. It was 30 MYR and about 25 min with no traffic. JHB is an ok airport, given it is tiny. No lounges AFAIK, just 4 gates. Gate deplaning on arrival. For departure even though we were given a gate, the aircraft was parked back 50 meters from it and we went down the stairs at the end of the jetway and boarded the airplane via movable stairs fore and aft.

Used to go to the DT KL for weekends, but haven't been in a year or 18 months I suppose. Was always upgraded there to executive level even though I'm just gold. Was prepared from comments here that I might not get upgraded and I wasn't. I didn't push it even a little, and just assume it was full, but I did notice breakfast was not busy and the hotel in general didn't seem busy. However, I did notice they have a benefits graphic displayed at the check-in counter noting golds can receive upgrade to executive level. Given the discussion here a few pages back that it is only a deluxe upgrade maximum, I was slightly surprised. But in practical effect I have no idea if it ever happens nowadays to get upgrades as gold and maybe that chart is standard nowadays. Arrived at 12:30 and had to wait until 2 p.m. to get into a room. I thought the food in the Makan kitchen was better quality than that in KL, although slightly fewer options it seemed to my non-foodie memory. The new tax discussed in the other thread was charged, 20 MYR for two nights. But cc payment was an option and I did get a receipt for it. Anyway, the hotel is as described elsewhere in the thread. I thought it was sufficient for the brand level expectations on hard product, staff was pleasant, but they didn't put in any effort at making it stand out.

Probably won't come back at current levels of 10k points and the inconvenient flight times from SGN. But it was sufficient if you will be in the area.

jxd

Bad news, the DTJB is now 20k per night, which is ridiculous given that the DTKL is still only 10k per night. The DT Melaka has also been upgraded to 19k per night.
Won't be returning to the DTJB or DT Melaka any time soon.

aaronx88

Maybe too many people are taking advantage of the low redemption points needed for DTJB. Melaka also increased to 16,000 pts per night. KL and Penang still remains 10,000 pts and who knows how long it might last.

ashkale

cash rates r way better, the melaka property has quadrapled in 6 months? its a very poorly run hotel with no lounge and in one corner of the town. will avoid dt melaka for sure.
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jxd

I would say 10k is a reasonable redemption rate for the property which nightly rates going for 260rm (s$90/us$62).
20k is bordering on ridiculous.
In comparison, the hilton garden inn Singapore requires 20k and it's nightly rate is around s$150/us$110.

LarryU

I completed a one night stay at the DoubleTree a couple of weeks ago and thought it was a great hotel. I was there on a very busy Saturday night but was still provided with a nice, upper level corner suite. I felt the lounge food was somewhat mediocre but all of the staff were pleasant throughout the hotel.

In my opinion, breakfast at the Makan Kitchen was superb, with a wide array of good quality cuisines of various ethnicities, including Chinese, Malaysian and Indian. After passing through the Malaysian immigration gauntlet, the hotel is a very easy walk from Johor Bahru City Square and a 5-10 minute walk north to the Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman Glass Temple. The morning I checked out, I attended a huge birthday bash for the main deity at the Old Chinese Temple, just 10 minutes walk to the south.

Here's a five minute video and slide show of a corner suite and the executive lounge:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qg...w5gCAhX3RvZof9

I'll try to upload a video of Makan Kitchen shortly.

LarryU

Here's a 12 minute video and slide show of breakfast at the DoubleTree's Makan Kitchen:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1y5...ZMf5kRbxCmCKBO

Guy Betsy

DTKL now 20K

ashkale

Been a while..

shuigao

Any easy way to message the hotel for special requests? The hhonors app only gives a phone number but I'm anti social and prefer written communication wherever possible 😂