DoubleTree by Hilton is located at the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur City. It is about 20 mins walk from KLCC and the Petronas Twin Tower. The hotel is rather far from everything else, however the hotel does provide shuttle service to KLCC , Chinatown and other parts of the city. There isn't much eateries around the hotel, there is a Dome cafe on the first floor of the hotel and some other restaurant that are part of the hotel. To taste local food, one would have to venture out of the hotel.
The room we were assigned is the Terrace Suite. I was pleasantly surprised at the room. The room suite was large and contemporary in design. There are 4 sections in the suite. The corridor from the door into the living area was rather large. However there was not much displayed there other then a painting, I thought this is a rather waste of space. The living area has a couch, a working desk, a refreshment area, with a TV. At first glance, the TV seemed to be off centred from the couch as it is facing the work desk. However the mounting on the TV allowed it to be swung facing the couch for occupants to enjoy the show. At the working desk, one can find USB as well as HDMI outlets. There wasn't any instructions on how to connect the TV to the HDMI, after some exploration, I managed to found the switch is located on the side of the TV. This means one would have to swing the TV out and press on the switch on the TV. Rather inconvenient. There are limited powerpoints in the living space, and one can only find one beside the desk. There is, however one more just below the desk (meant for the desk lamp), however it was placed in such an awkward position and makes it hard for one to plug anything into it, unless the study table is shifted. The refreshment area has a espresso machine (which makes great espressos). The room came with 2 capsules of espressos for guests to enjoy. beside it was the ice bucket and the flask. The area is rather cramped up and has only one socket. This means that guests can either use the espresso machine or the flask at one time. The mini fridge is just below the espresso machine counter (and beside the chair by the working desk).
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| View of the living room and the study desk of the suite |
The sleeping room has a king sized bed and an armchair, other then the large wardrobe with the safe. The design is simple, yet functional. There is also another TV in the bedroom, however unlike the one in the living room, this TV is mounted to the wall and cannot be swung. Guests can forget about plugging your HDMI into this TV.
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| The bedroom |
The next area is the Bathroom, which can only be access by the bedroom. The bathroom serves its function and was rather bright. There is a spacious bathtub in the bathroom and it was placed inside the wet area, together with the rain shower, of the bathroom. At first I thought the placement of the bathtub is rather weird, however after using it, i thought the design is rather functional and intuitive.
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| Bathroom |
The Terrace is a large area with a couch and a couple of arm chairs. The terrace is facing the Petronas Twin Tower, and makes it a great place to hang out. The side that is facing the road is very windy and one can hardly hear any traffic. The view from the terrace is just stunting.
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| The Terrace |
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| The Terrace at night |
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| View of the surroundings at night |
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| View of Petronas Twin Tower from the Terrace |
The lounge in the hotel is a fantastic place to rest and recharge. The quiet lounge is large and has a terrace that faces the Petronas Twin Towers. Staffs at the lounge are very friendly and welcoming, never stingy with smiles and checking out how one's day was. They are also full of suggestions that gives guests valuable tips on what to see and where to go in the city. The lounge serves finger food during afternoon and evening time. The food on offer is fantastic and delicious, always being topped up.
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| Signature cookies |
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| Afternoon Tea at the lounge |
The hotel has a salt water pool on level 10, which has Jacuzzi in it and a small pool by the side for kids. If one were to suntan here, one would be disappointed as the placement of the pool does not permit direct sunlight to enter the "valley" where the swimming pool is located. There is also a small gym next to the pool. The equipment of the gym is rather limited and feels boring.
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| View of the swimming pool |
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| Gym |
Heartware
First impression of the hotel was excellent, from the porter at the door of the hotel, who approached me as I was alighting the cab from airport, offering to help with my luggage to the check in staff at the lobby, whom despite being rather busy, still persist in helping us check in with a smile, offering the infamous cookies that they offered to all guests checking in. I was initially being assisted by Abigail and her colleagues, whom after offering me the cookies told us that she will be expecting me at the Executive Floor Lounge after I checked in. However the service standards went down south as I was waiting for my room. As I opted for the eStandby Upgrading offered by the hotel, which gave guests an option to upgrade room at a discounted rate. I opted for either the deluxe suite or the Executive Suite. During check in I was confirmed with the executive suite was available for me and was told that the hotel needed another 5 to 10 mins for the housekeeping to get the suite ready. My wait extended from 5 to 10 mins to 3 hours! Being hungry and tired, I told the staff at the check in lobby that I will be going for our lunch and be back later. I managed to get our room after our bite, and confirmed to the staff if I have gotten the Executive Suite, but the staff was muffled in his reply. When asked if there are any lounge access with our room, all I was told was that our room is on the highest level of the hotel but I would have to pay extra for the lounge access. Thinking that I was assigned the Executive Suite, having no access to the lounge was not much of a big deal. However upon entering the room was assigned, I was shocked to learnt of the room that was assigned was the normal deluxe room. I was rather irritated by the fact that the staff did promised Executive suite at the point of check in and made me waited for 3 hours, end up I got the deluxe room instead. To be frank I felt rather cheated at this point and went to the Executive lounge to get the room issue resolved, after failing to get anyone on the Careline that the hotel has.
At the Lounge, another staff by the name of Khalid, listened to my ranting with empathy and was shocked of the situation that we were in. He quickly worked to resolve the issue and found a deluxe suite for us, on top of that he offered late check out. However my outbound flight schedule does not permit for the late check out. Instead of leaving it as that, I was informed that Khalid will be making special arrangement for me and invited me to the lounge for refreshment, while he get the housekeeping to get ready my suite. At this point I saw Abigail at the lounge and she learnt of our situation and apologised for the foul up. Abigail wanted to take full responsibility of the foul up, however I explained it was not her fault. Despite that she still took responsibility of the situation, and quickly checked with Khalid of the status of my room. After 10 mins, both Khalid and Abigail approached me and told me they explained my situation their duty manager. The duty manager agreed to upgrade me to the Terrace Suite at the price of the upgrade to deluxe suite! I was surprised at the commitment by both Khalid and Abigail had displayed to salvage the situation. The service recovery displayed by both staffs was timely and excellent.
Overall
I had an enjoyable stay at the hotel. The staffs were caring and observant and welcoming. They had excellent service recovery, which is essential in the service industry. The room is absolutely stunting with great views and the sleep quality is excellent.
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