Canarsie

I stayed at this property a couple of weeks ago.

I was four floors down from the floor where the Executive Lounge is located, but I had access. In fact, when I arrived at the property, I was instructed by the front desk personnel to check in at the Executive Lounge. My room was not ready yet, so the Executive Lounge personnel took my luggage aside, showed me to a seat with a window overlooking the highway with a view of the Petronas Twin Towers and the Kuala Lumpur Tower in the distance. They served me cookies and potato chips, as this was during the day and there was no food served at that time. I was also served bottled water, although I could have retrieved my own drink if I wanted to do so. They apologized profusely that my room was not ready yet, but I informed them that it was no problem at all, especially since I arrived early.

After about an hour of waiting, I was given a key to my room. They would not accept any tips.

The room itself overlooked the intersection of the highway with the main road, facing west, or in the opposite direction of, Kuala Lumpur. I was given a fruit plate decorated with a banana, a green apple, a red apple and an orange. The mattress was somewhat hard, and the room somewhat musty, but it was a nice room nonetheless.

As for the location, it is a mere 30-minute or less train ride to Kuala Lumpur City Centre from either the Asia Jaya or Taman Jaya stations on RapidKL line, formerly known as the PUTRA LRT. Taman Jaya is a little further from the hotel than Asia Jaya, but easier to access by a 5-10 minute walk. Ten stops later from the Taman Jaya station, one is at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. I found the trains frequent, convenient and efficient, although crowded during rush hour. By contrast, the Hilton Kuala Lumpur, located at the KL Sentral station, is four stops away from the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. Therefore, unless one plans to use the KL Sentral Station regularly, I did not find the location of the Hilton Petaling Jaya hotel all that inconvenient, especially since, at US$61.06 total, the room rate was less than half the cost of the room rate at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur.

When the Executive Lounge served food at night, it included such hot and cold items as beef satay, potatoes, sliced fish, salads in glasses, and other assorted items. There was enough to make a dinner out of it if one wanted to do so. At breakfast, there were assorted rolls and pastries, hot and cold items, fruit and juices. It was here where I tried dragon fruit for the first time, which was white with small black seeds. It was quite tasty. Both times, there was certainly enough hot and cold food to satisfy my appetite, as well as a nice assortment of choices.

Caution: smoking is allowed in public places, and that includes the lobby area near the restaurant on the ground floor of this property.

Although it could use a refreshing from having a slightly tired appearance, I recommend this property. The service by the Executive Lounge staff was outstanding, the food served in the Executive Lounge was good and plentiful, the room was fairly nice and well-appointed but not as comfortable as I would have liked, and the location is not as bad as has been mentioned in the past.

Keyser

wll be in kl for one night next month....i was wondering if staying here would be worth it....its much cheaper than the hilton kl....my flight gets in at around 11pm & i leave the next morning....how much would it cost to get here from the airport compared to the hilton kl????

Canarsie

It could cost you as little as 8 Malaysian Ringgit for the bus and a few Malaysian Ringgit for the elevated train. I did it, and it was not a problem for me. The train line is rather efficient.

However, if you stayed at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur, you could still take the bus but you would not have to take the train.

The train is about 15-20 minutes between the two Hilton properties.

Keyser

there are 3 other people traveling with me so i assume taking a cab would be cheaper than paying for 4 bus/train tickets....i just wanted to find out how much a cab would cost from the airport to this hotel, as well as from the airport to the hilton kuala lumpur....

mario33

Approx MYR75 for a small cab (airport limo) which might not fit all 4 with luggage, the larger cab will be closer to MYR100. A van will be around MYR150.

Canarsie

...and there is no place to store your luggage if you take the train.

It is certainly doable, but more difficult during rush hour.

mario33

If you are refering to the airport train (KLIA Ekpress), theres ample storage space for luggage. The train will bring you to Sentral (where the KL Hilton is located) and you will need to cab it to PJ Hilton from there.

Canarsie

No, I am referring to traveling on the RapidKL or Putra LRT line from the KL Sentral station, where the Hilton Kuala Lumpur is located, to the Taman Jaya station, where the Hilton Petaling Jaya hotel is located.

The total cost for the one-way trip whose duration is fewer than 12 minutes: 1.60 Malaysian Ringgits, or approximately US47˘.

There is no place to store your luggage, but even during rush hour, transporting your luggage is doable.

The total cost from the airport, if taking one of the airport buses, to the Hilton Petaling Jaya hotel, if taking the train, could be as low as 9.60 Malaysian Ringgit.

kawoh

Getting a cab from KL Sentral is regulated. You need to buy a fixed price ticket and give it to the driver, if you have luggage it will be extra. I don't recall but it will be around 10-12 RM to the Hilton PJ.

1.60 in a cab is unlikely to the Hilton PJ from KL Sentral, it's likely to set you back RM 7 if you hail one from the street.

It's only a few bucks... the Rapid KL (Putra LRT), is about RM2 or RM2.60 from KL Sentral to Asia Jaya (I prefer Asia Jaya, don't like walking down the dark quiet road from Taman Jaya to the Hilton PJ). From Asia Jaya it is a 5 minute walk (across a busy road). You can see the Hilton PJ as soon as you come out of Asia Jaya which makes it easy for first timers.

Note the rapid KL stops around midnight. So you may have to take a cab.

Hilton PJ is much cheaper and they do treat diamond/golds with automatic upgrades to the club lounge floor or thereabouts, free breakfast in the lounge which is great and excellent evening snacks. Definitely great value compared to the typical higher rates (2-3 times higher) at the hilton KL. But the hotel certainly isn't up to the wow hilton KL factor, but it's an older but charming hotel in my opinion with great service.

kawoh

The taxi's at the hotel lobby usually try to extort you but only offering you a fixed rate, it's tiny anyway ie RM10 to go somewhere whereas the meter would be maybe RM4-5.

I'd suggest u just don't bother getting one from the lobby and just walk out onto the street (30 secs) and just hail one there. They will 99% always use meter unless you are going somewhere which is going to mean mega traffic jams for them.

I also find cab drivers are reluctant during peak hours to drive you from KL to PJ, firstly cuz they don't know the area as well and 2ndly cuz they have to deal with all the traffic to get back to kL (it's like a one way trip to drop u there and then no ride back to KL). Such is life. It's always fun getting cabs in KL / PJ ;-)

Keyser

thank you everyone for all the advice....will definitely keep it in mind....

mario33

I am not sure when you last stayed there, but there is a sign outside the lobby requesting guests to pay a surcharge of a couple of MYR if they board a taxi from the hotel. With my little experience of taking taxis in KL, I believe you stand a much higher chance for getting ripped-off if you board a cab on the street than you do from a hotel.

kawoh

I've stayed at this hotel about 10 times, around 80% of the time i've got a cab from the lobby, they've ALWAYS wanted to run it at a fixed price, i remember. I've used them about 6-7 times, and i remember on 4 distinct occassions telling the taxi's to drive me back because they wanted fixed prices ranging from 10RM-40RM to go into Mid Valley / KL.

This is extortion.

You serve a much better chance just going straight to the street and hailing a cab. I've been to Malaysia many times, and whilst I don't live there, I come across to taxi drivers as your typical tourist. The key thing is, let them walk all over you and they will, particularly in a place like Malaysia. Taxi's u hail on the street typically (and i've done it about 10-15 times outside the Hilton PJ) ALWAYS stop if they are empty and are obliging taking you anywhere and will ALWAYS turn on the meter. Sadly, this isn't the case when u pick them up from the lobby. And unless u want a fixed price, they'll happily tell u to go out to the street and hail one. The drivers waiting in the lobby sit there and wait for gullible western tourists to come out and extort a fixed price.

My experience, again, and i've stayed at the Hilton PJ quite alot, including on 2 seperate occasions this year alone.

mario33

My experience with KL cabs are the exact opposite, hailing one from the street (especially at night) almost ensured they wanted a fixed inflated rate whereas there is some form of "control" at hotels.

If the cab at the PJ Hilton refuses to use the meter, dont board (or just get out) and have them blacklisted by the hotel. You dont have much of an option if you are standing on the street for 20min under the hot sun or when the street is getting increasingly quiet at night. At least at the hotel, you can still get a staff to telephone a cab (with a MYR2 surcharge) "if" all the drivers at their taxi rank refuse to use the meter.

danger

Can anybody assist with transport options between Kuala Lumpur airport and the Hilton Petaling? The Hilton website says the property is 45 minutes away but I'm wondering if this is by taxi or train and roughly how much I might expect to pay.