Zinzan

It's the Ringgit.

Thanks for your report. Any idea how many "Residences" they have?

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Thanks. According to the floor plan there are 9 Residences per floor and a total of 8 floors.

This morning I woke early and my internet connection was not working. The Lounge is nice with great views. The food presentation would probably be nice also if it were fresh. I've had a couple other issues with the Hotel. I can not say I would stay here again. And I would definitely NOT take a upgrade to a Residence if I were to return. A upgrade to a Residence is the highest you can receive and is offered to SPG Ps if no other suites are available.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

Check out. The Hotel provided the lowest level of service I have ever received in a Asia hotel. Very disappointing. No hair dryer in room, toilet runs, no ppv tv, tv runs in and out of stereo / mono mode and no luggage rack.

I ended up paying for the buffet breakfest which was so so. No hash browns or bacon. Things not kept stocked. They did take off the internet charge which I never got working again.

I requested a late check-out two times. I received calls from different staff members asking me when I was checking out. They push you along. This would not be my first Starwood choice in KUL. IMHO FYI

jkc22

RTW....your experience is not unique. I stayed in this hotel last December as well as early January. I've had problems with check-in, housekeeping, restaurant, executive lounge, Service "Express," health club/pool, check-out, and billing.... Basically all kinds of wrong that can ruin a stay happened during my visit.

I've notified SPG Customer Service while I was at the hotel. Although they truly tried to correct the issues, a lot of them remained until I checked out. It seems that my 5-page letter to Mr. Bundgard has not changed the services much at the hotel, which is disappointing. The hotel does have the potential to be a great hotel in KUL, as during my stay I actually checked out other hotels in the vicinity, and found them to be no better -- actually much worse.

All in all, I suggest you write a letter to Mr. Bundgard and share your experience with him. He is truly concerned about improving the services at the hotel. I believe the more comments/suggestions he gets from frequent guests, the more likely they can improve in the future.

BTW...I was hoping for a residences room while I was there but was told I had to "pay up" my suite rate. I declined, of course. It now seems like a wise decision, afterall.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

I was conveyed to me that senior management was concerned. They asked if I would be available to comment. No one called. The Residences are nothing. Everyone just go for the view. FYI. There are a couple of huge vacant lots in front of the Hotel. So that view may not last forever.

ryan754

At the Westin KL right now, got an Exec Suite for entertaining. All I can say is what a great hotel. The people here are the best. The room is awesome. Three dudes and eight Norweigian Chicks, and a few other mixed races Just have to rave about what a great place this is. This is one of my top ten.. Will report when I have time

jkc22

I would say the SI service is better than the Westin. However, the Westin has a better location for shopping, dining, etc. OTOH, the Imperial is near evening red light entertainment.

The suite at the Westin is very large and very contemporary -- almost W like. I believe the suites end in "07" and has a view of the twin towers from the living room. The bedroom, however, faces the "heritage" side and has view of old buildings and a nightclub.

There are a guest and a main bathroom, with the main bathroom equipped with a soaking tub with electric blinds and floor-ceiling windows throughout. Living area has a large oval dining table with 6 chairs, a bar, large living room, and work desk area.

There's also a desk in the bedroom. Doors are made the sanded/frosted glass type, as are the closet doors. However, the suite at the Westin has only 2 TV's when it comes to entertainment. There are no CD or DVD players in the room, whilst the Imperial has DVD's.

The Westin does have some service issues, but it is undeniably one of the better hotels in KL already. I don't really care much for the decor of the Imperial, so my preference is towards the Westin. However, you should not expect a problem free stay.

cranrob

I will be staying here in a few weeks. Has anyone gotten a Platinum Suite Upgrade?

Vulcan

Yes. I was there for a night about 3 weeks ago and received a large, one bedoom suite. The living room had wrap around glass in about 1/2 of it, with a view of the Twin Towers out the side. There was a table for six also, and on it was a large fruit assortment and a Chocolate "thing" (one of those fancy sculpted triangles, circles, etc that you see in magazines.
All in all, an excellent stay.

Swanhunter

The Sheraton Imperial was always a great place to stay - excellent service, good rooms and some fantastic rates (USD60 and up!). However the GM has now moved to one of the Starwood properties in Vietnam (Hanoi iirc) so it will be interesting to see if the standard is maintained.

The Westin does have a MUCH better location though!

jpatokal

Malaysia is an Islamic country and you won't find pork products of any kind in most hotels. Mutant substitutes known as "beef bacon" and "turkey bacon" are often provided though.

Although I agree that the Westin KL's breakfast buffet isn't worth the rather steep price on your own dime...

estnet

Westin still has a LOT of service issues and IMHO doesn't match up to the Sheraton in service, follow through, etc. Decor is personal - Westin is quite modern and stark - to the point of being uncomfortable (at least for me - example - nice leather chairs, etc with no cushions anywhere - so if chair is too big (as it was for me) very uncomfortable. A TREMENDOUS lack of attention to detail - which I discussed with a manager who seemed interested (not realizing that these issues had been brought up many times before)

My level is Platinum - so relevant to ug, etc.

Room - ugraded to suite (after 1st being denied on 1st stay- but when I pointed out suites were available on the web for sale one was found! Have had suites on each of my subsequent stays without problem)
Heavenly bed is WONDERFUL. Tub is large, marble edging but VERY high to step over edge (so if elderly or short or..... great potential for fall).
Sitting couch in bedroom actually had throw pillows on my first stay - none on second (shouldn't housekeeping notice?) and 2 on my 3rd stay.

Living room dining room with large table.

Amenity was plate of fruit - no chocolate anything on any stay so far.

Items I noticed were missing by noting that they were listed as chareable if you took them - scale (well not sure I want to know how much I've gained) -and mug -club director seemed surprised when I mentioned there weren't any (3/3 stays) - shouldn't the hotel have these things 9 months after opening?

Temperature control did not work in 2/3 suites it was VERY COLD. Only way to control was turn on/off or fan speed. Engineering tried but didn't fix it.

Lounge - nice, very sparse and uninteresting breakfast (nothing made to order), but certainly nice for free.
1 hour free internet access/day on their computers. Wi-fi free at the moment but not working in lounge only in 2 areas that are awkward to use (lobby and upper ground floor)

Evening cocktails with wine, etc. no champagne. I was unimpressed by selection of food - but again for free I can't complain (or course had I been paying it might have been different).

In room hispeed (didn't use it) charged at 60 rn (about US $15).

Liked - 3 pieces of laundry free/day (or stay?). Free wi-fi even if in limited areas. One hour free use of computers in lounge. Courteous staff in lounge However- DON'T use the laundry. They shrunk or stretched 50% of the things I sent (including all I had previously washed myself without problems). It wasn't just me- other guests complained as well

Annoyances- total lack of follow through - had to request most things at least twice after they weren't done for over 2 hours. No apparent quality control or desire to maintain upkeep, etc.

Food tray noticed on floor of hallway - still there 6 hours later when I came back (no it wasn't mine and there had been maids cleaning rooms - if it wasn't their job shouldn't they have called room service to pick it up?)

Misinformation given constantly regarding monorail - kindly intended but an "I don't know or I'm not sure" would have been much better than REALLY wrong info (eg monorail stop for Sheraton - which is acutally a 30 second walk. Was told it was "quite a walk" - and it would have been if I had used the station he said which was the one AFTER the one right outside the hotel.

No umbrellas available at conciege desk (five minutes after it had started raining).

Well you get the idea

bernie

Just stayed there 1o days ago. Got ug to a suite with view on the Petronas Towers without even asking. Rooms are nice & big. Service could be more attentive but it overall was a nice experience. Location is excellent. And hey ... it was a 70 $ stay. Rates started as low as 45 when I last checked.

cranrob

I'm staying at the Westin now. I was upgraded to the Executive Level - not a suite, but a large room on the 32nd floor with a view of the Twin Towers.
Platinum status very well recognized, and service has been excellent.

My only complaint are the elevators. I need to insert my room keycard to get to my floor and the executive lounge. However, half of the card readers aren't working, and many of the buttons don't work either, so half the time the elevator starts serving someone else before I can enter my floor number.

sllevin

A co-worker and I were there last month for a couple of days. So we went with the 2 bedroom residence, since that was cheaper than two rooms.

From the two bedroom (which are are the end, I believe the *07 rooms), you could see the towers from the couch in the living room, and from the second bedroom. Service was decent, although I agree the breakfast buffet is to be avoided unless it's included in the room rate. There weren't any instructions on the high speed internet -- we just figured "D" was for data and plugged a cable in.

Downside, as mentioned -- no PPV. Upside was the DVD player which was region free and would play our US DVD's. Food prices overall were really quite fair.

If you're interested in pictures, go to http://www.milkduds.com/~thumper/LON-SIN-KL/

And look for the images that have "KL" and "hotel" in them. There's about 5 or 6.

Steve