ftrichard

The Aloft is a nice hotel and good value on points but for a Platinum you don't get any evening drinks or food and that's why I like about being SPG Platinum.

Le Meridien lounge was refurbished last year and I've not stayed since the refurb but it had an excellent selection of food and drink (including sparkling) before the refurb.

The Sheraton also has reasonable food in the lounge and free flow booze for a couple of hours but not as extensive as LeM. Good view from the Sheraton lounge especially (as someone has said) during thunder storms.

Rooms are better/newer at LeM and breakfast in the buffet is excellent at both.

LeM (and Aloft) location is better for the airport train which is walking distance. Sheraton location isn't good for anything really apart from the new mall across the road unless you really need that location in KL.

MSPeconomist

There's a monorail station right outside the Sheraton. In addition to the mall, the side street is a zone of restaurants and bars.

When I stayed here, there was a server pouring and mixing drinks in the lounge during happy hour. It wasn't self service, even for wine.

estnet

OMG soooo sorry!

I WAS ABSOLUTELY TALKING ABOUT LE MERIDIEN NOT THE SHERATON!

Shouldn't post totally jet lagged

As for the Sheraton I totally agree it is not good and haven't stayed there for years due to bad everything including children using the lounge as a playground and throwing food, screaming, etc without any intervention from staff.

Again apologies.

josep

Thanks for the replies - looks like Le Meridien or Aloft are a better option for me given the convenient location to access the airport. I'll probably stay at the Aloft as it is running at half the points that LeM; will report my experience in a few weeks time.

Dendrite

One of the perks of Sheraton was the Twin Tower view, but this is now blocked by Platinum building.

cln

Had a stay before New Years Eve. we had some minor issues but everything was professionally handled by Mr Fairos the executive lounge manager. Some years ago I posted that I wouldn't return to this property because of the noise of the nearby bars/nightclubs. There is no more sound at night and we had a good sleep.
Actually Mr Fairos made this stay perfect by taking good care of us at all times.

yosithezet

I think I have about 20 stays at this property over the past 5 years and the lounge staff has always been great. Glad to hear you had a good stay.

ftrichard

Haha. All those terrible nightclubs in what used to be Asia Heritage Row are now dead and buried and the street is being regenerated with nice cafes and what passes for fine dining restaurants. The rowdy/violent/prostitute-fuelled nightlife has moved to Changkat and the sophisticated nightlife is at Trec.

I've always quite liked the Sheraton and its lounge. Not the most sophisticated hotel in the city but value for points stays and mattress runs (and the booze is real booze - I read that the Renaissance lounge down the road has that artificial blended industrial alcohol "spirits" that are a real health hazard and curiously not available in countries with legal food standards.)

bedelman

I'm at the property now. Room is fine. Nonetheless, I'm underwhelmed.

Breakfast in the main area (level 1) was too crowded, with disorganized staff failing to keep even the basics available. I wanted a glass of orange juice which is about as basic as it gets. But the orange juice jug was empty... and when someone eventually refilled it, there were no clean cups available. Come on! Meanwhile the man making waffles made them much more slowly than customers scooped them up, not because he had too few waffle makers or the process was inherently slow, but because this didn't seem to be a priority for him. And there was no chicken curry in the chicken curry pot, and so on across the offering. Lots of choices, in principle, but no fun with half the items unavailable. Staff didn't seem to see anything out of the ordinary. And only perhaps 2/3 of seats were taken. I wonder how it would be with more customers. Second day breakfast had fewer customers but just as many shortages (in fact I'd say even a bit worse).

At the pool, I was puzzled to find no button to turn on the hot tub jets. I asked an attendant. "It's on a timer." OK, but it's 7pm now and the pool closes at 8... shouldn't the jets be turned on? He suggested I write to the manager. Very odd.

Some other glitches including room inexplicably not ready for us upon a 4pm check-in (fortunately just a few minutes delay), and a leak around one window (slowly damaging wood trim, but not hurting us). These we can more readily accept.

Seems like the bottom line is poor management -- fine physical plant, but senior managers not pushing section managers to get line staff and processes organized properly. A shame.

Wish I had taken the sage advice in this thread to stay at LeM instead.

ftrichard

For a points stay as a Plat I would choose the Sheraton as it's way fewer points but for cash there's no competition. I stayed in LeM KL in March and got the best suite in a LeM I've ever had (including LeM Bangkok which is my favourite hotel in the region) and the lounge is just excellent with long happy hours, proper food and quality booze including sparkling in the evening.

Sorry, just rubbing it in there :-).

Bravada04

Just want to confirm that the Club Lounge has not changed in any way and also offers complimentary alcohol (Beer, wine)
I just read a review on TA that the lounge did not provide complimentary alcohol with a cost attached to the same?
I understand the Le Meridien has much more positive feedback but we are flying into KUL then off to Langkawi and flying back through. I wanted to try the Sheraton out coming in and then the LM going back out.
We will get into the hotel probably around 10:30 - 11:00 p.m. Is there local pubs, street cafes within close that we could pop in at this time? Not interested in nice restaurants as we enjoy diving into the culture with the locals and just watching life go by on the streets.

puchong

If you exit the Sheraton Imperial and turn left (I think, but am not sure, it is called Jalan Doraisamy), after one block you will see a couple of nightclubs on your left. Further down on the next mail crossing, there is yet another one. I have passed these places numerous times (on my way to look for some good Mamak food) but never ventured in.

ftrichard

The road on the left of the hotel as you exit is being regenerated into quite nice restaurants and bars. It used to be KL's premier nightclub street "Asia Heritage Row" but that fell out of favour years ago and became quite notorious. Anyway, it's going upmarket now and there are some nice places there. Don't know about at 11pm though and whether it's positioning itself as a late-night destination. For that you're better off getting an Uber to Changkat (Rabbit Hole or Havana) or heading to Trec which is a new upmarket late night development. Personally, I'd go to Rabbit Hole in Changkat. It'll take 5-10 minutes in a car at that time.

Kenji

there are a lot of pubs and bars just on the back of the hotel at heritage row. Just turn left from the main entrance or take the rear exit doors. 3 min walking. An other option is Jl. Ampang with more fancy upscale clubs and bars on the other side of Jl. Sultan Ismail. 15 min walking time. It's Asia, so dun worry about closing times...

lcpteck

Do Platinum members get to eat breakfast in the restaurant or it's only limited to the Club Lounge?