SkiAdcock

Hotel website:

https://www.marriott.com/hotels/trav...ph-collection/

Category 3. Has exec lounge. Open daily.

"The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur opened its doors in December 2012 and includes the meticulously restored iconic Hotel Majestic building. Built in 1932, the original hotel became one of the great landmarks of Kuala Lumpur in its time. Located minutes away from KL Sentral, the Hotel features 300 luxurious rooms and suites. The Majestic Wing houses the Suites with Butler Service, The Colonial Café, The Bar and The Tea Lounge while a new 15-storey Tower Wing houses the Deluxe Rooms and Suites, Contango Restaurant, 13 meeting rooms, a pillar less ballroom seating 1,200 people, a gymnasium and a swimming pool. Other facilities include The Majestic Spa and The Smoke House."

15 floors , 188 rooms , 112 suites

JHake10

Just stumbled upon this hotel looking at options in KL. Stayed at the JW last time, and while it was OK, I wasn't too impressed. This hotel looks really nice.

Anybody have experiences here?

frequent-traveller

thats actually good news.
i only can talk about our experience almost 3yrs back in may 2014.

the hotel was new and and had that time good comments and belonged to the ytl group.
ytl also managed the starhill gallery down below of the Jw Marriott K.L. with the Shouk restaurant

before stayed always at the Jw Marriott K.l., but in 2014 decided to book the majestic hotel.

It was not important for us to earn points or keeping status with Marriott. It was important to have a nice vacation for a good value of money.

That why we booked the Majestic
Booked that time a standard room which was good enough incl. Breakfast and dinner buffet. Was a special offer on Hotels.com that time. On other sites you only got for the same price only the room without breakfast.

jst. Checked my email reservations from 2014 and had a daily roomrate of 156,- USD/night incl breakfast and dinner buffet.

We decided that time to try something new. We didnt care about the Room upgrade in the Jw Marriott K.l. And Lounge and complimentery Breakfast when i was Platinum.
we never regret to have choosen the majestic.

we took the new wing. Room was always clean and modern and big. Definately better than the JW marriott. Hotel breakfast wasnt crowded as in the Jw marriott kl. where the staff was just doing their job. Breakfast choice was good and everything freshly made also special wishes for our little daughter that time.

And the dinner buffet was so delicious. Alot of international choice, seafood alot....., malaysian dishes etc.... free flow of drinks.

for that time roughly 160,-usd/night a very good deal.
Not sure how much it is nowadays.

pro: - better room compare jw marriott
- good quality breakfast and less crowded
- better service compare jw marriott
- bus shuttle to Starhill Gallery (Jw Marriott)
and Kl Sentral. Not sure if they still provide

cons: - slightly away from the shopping malls, but did not disturbed us, especislly when we had anyway dinner inclusive.

ftrichard

This is interesting. The Majestic is one of those classic Asian hotels like the Oriental in Bangkok, Raffles in Singapore or the Eastern and Oriental in Penang. However for many years it was abandoned as a hotel until YTL acquired it and made it into what it is today. Which is to say, there's the facade of the old hotel where all the pictures are taken and you stay in a brand new wing bolted on the side just like the Oriental in Bangkok and Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh.

When it reopened some four or five years ago it was a member of the Leading Hotels of the World. I've just checked the LHW web site and it's gone from there now. It's no surprise that it's joined a Marriott brand. YTL has a long history with Marriott in Malaysia: they own and manage the JW and the Ritz-Carlton among other non-Marriott properties in Malaysia and beyond. So the Autograph Collection is an obvious choice for them if LHW wasn't working out. I'm guessing that YTL needs an international brand to promote the Majestic in KL because of the fierce competition in this city and although the obvious brand for it would be Raffles they are clearly not going to get into bed with Accor. I'd have put it more a Starwood Luxury Collection but that's probably a non-starter now for obvious reasons. YTL's Majestic Malacca (a new block bolted on the back of a restored colonial house) has seemingly not joined Marriott - no doubt because there's little competition in Malacca and it's always full of Singaporeans escaping for a weekend of cheap food.

For me, the best thing about the Majestic in KL is its buffet restaurant Contango which is always full. Can't remember the price but they are the only one in KL with a free flow wine option - eight wines in self-service dispensers all evening. I've got extremely drunk there before now and the whole thing has only come to about £30 which is a bargain.

I didn't find the rooms to be that exciting - somewhat cheaply finished as though they got concerned at the last minute how much they were spending fitting the place out.

MSPeconomist

Do the same folks own the Majestic in Singapore?

ftrichard

No. Singapore's New Majestic Hotel is not owned by the Malaysian conglomerate YTL. Interestingly, though, the New Majestic is a member of Design Hotels along with its sister property the Wanderlust and Design Hotels is affiliated to SPG so in a very roundabout way the hotels are vaguely related.

ftrichard

Marriott people: please help me understand this.

I am considering staying at this hotel next Monday and having a few friends over for dinner at Contango (the buffet). I've just asked the online chat support and they've told me that the only spend that will qualify for points is the hotel room rate. So, for example, if I pay for eight people at the restaurant and put that on my room to settle up upon check out the next morning then I will not get points for the restaurant spend.

Is this really true? That's how it is? Points only for the room rate and no points for other spend? Thanks.

SkiAdcock

If the restaurant is part of the hotel's restaurants & not a 3rd party one & you charge the dinner to your room, you should receive points for the spend. Autograph Collection properties you get 10pts/$$ on all spend, not just room only.

http://www.marriott.com/marriott-rewards/earn/hotels.mi

Cheers.

ftrichard

Ah, well, your reply makes sense from both a commercial points of view (encouraging guests to spend money on high-margin items at a property) and a loyalty point of view (encouraging us to turn up in the first place).

However, I eventually found an email address for The Majestic and they have just replied. Apparently not. Contango is very much their own buffet restaurant however no F&B spend there qualifies for Reward Points. Just the basic room rate.

This may be normal for Marriott hotels I don't know. I'm an SPG crossover and we get points on pretty much all spend at any brand of hotel and even get points on F&B when we're not staying (the exceptions being F&B outlets that are clearly not managed by the hotel or on-site activities that can be charged to the room like diving provided by third parties). I look forward to this brave, new mean-spirited future with dread.

SkiAdcock

It's not the norm. The property is making up its own rules. Autograph Collection properties you get 10 points per $ spend, whether that be the bar, restaurant, room service, etc. Sometimes you won't get points on 3rd party options (parking run by 3rd party provider, some celebrity restaurants that are 3rd party), but unless it's something like that you will get the points.

You can do a few things:

a) contact Marriott Rewards & let them know this property isn't complying w/ Marriott brand rules;

b) print out or bring up on your smartphone the T&Cs & show the property you should receive points for all spend;

c) host the dinner, charge it to your room, & see if the proper points do actually post when the stay posts. If they do, great. If not, send Marriott Rewards cust svc the folio & just tell them the points didn't post properly & ask them to adjust the points to the proper amount;

d) do any or all of the above.

Cheers.

ftrichard

Sharon, you're a star.

With this new information I replied to the hotel asking them to clarify the policy because it was my understanding that F&B spend while staying at Autograph hotels were eligible for Reward Points if charged to the room. I asked them to clarify this with the Marriott liaison people at the parent company YTL (who also own and manage the JW and RC properties in KL so will know what they're doing).

And there we have it: a nice reply apologising for the incorrect information and confirming that the cost of the meal would be eligible. Great :-).

So, thank you.

SkiAdcock

You're welcome. Glad it worked out. Keep the email response stating you'll get points in case there's a hiccup.

Cheers.

potm

Checked into the Majestic today. Have stayed at the Stripes and Ren over the last couple of days. Wow is my initial reaction. Very beautiful hotel and rooms.
I'm a gold member and the benefits note a 1 level upgrade. I only booked the base room but was very impressed with what I got. Food in the lounge is brought to you so no self serve buffet. The attendants are very good though.
I have not stayed at the JW Marriott yet but the Majestic is definitely my favourite one so far.

CJKatl

I stayed here last month and was also very impressed. The hotel is beautiful. The service was wonderful. I was upgraded to a very large suite on the 12th floor, corner room, with 1.5 bathrooms. The master bathroom had a large soaking tub. A front desk clerk gave me a tour of the hotel, which, again, is beautiful.

The hotel has a free shuttle to/from Sentral Station. There is an express train to/from Sentral Station and the airport. The KL airport is quite far from the city, so this makes getting to the hotel easier than just about anywhere else in KL.

You can easily walk to Chinatown from the hotel, but the hotel is a little isolated from most things.

There is a small, free standing building off the hotel with billiard tables where people can smoke. I do not smoke, but saw the room and it's pretty nice. So for those who do smoke, you don't have to stand outside the front door sitting on a metal bench.

The CL is nice, but I didn't like having to order. There were two selections in the evening: a sandwich plate or some hot finger food. I ordered the latter and got the former but didn't say anything. I just went ahead and ate the sandwiches. It seemed to be a language issue.

hockeyinsider

So where do I stay? I will be in K.L. for 3 1/2 weeks at the end of August through September. I may take a couple days off and go to Georgetown, Malaysia, or jetset to Cambodia or Burma.

Otherwise, I'll be in K.L. I have meetings until about 10 a.m. and then again from 4-7 p.m. I'm hoping to get some sun during the day and be by a pool. Besides having a pool that gets good sun, the most important aspects for me are a decent breakfast and 1-2 complimentary drinks at night. I'm not adventurous when it comes to food and prefer Western food.

For what it's worth, I have platinum status, enough points for a couple weeks of free nights, and several free Marriott and Ritz-Carlton nights from credit cards.