Thursday, April 19, 2012

Traders or Hotel Maya...?

We%26#39;ve got an overnight stay in KL at the end of our European honeymoon (we decided to break up the flight home to Australia) arriving early morning on 8 August and leaving 9.30pm the following day. This gives us two full days in KL, which is great.



We want to have dinner in the Petronas Towers (apparently there%26#39;s a great restaurant up there) and therefore ideally want to stay somewhere close.



I%26#39;ve found Traders and Hotel Maya to be the best funky/modern looking hotels that don%26#39;t have a million rooms (we%26#39;re not big on those huge hotels) and both are in a good location and with great rates, but now I can%26#39;t make up my mind which one to choose!! It seems some Traders rooms have views onto the Towers, which would be lovely, but Maya looks more stylish.... can anyone help me please?!





Also, can anyone advise the length of time and cost from the airport to downtown KL? We%26#39;d probably do either taxi (preferably) or train, depending on the price difference of course.





THANKYOU!



Traders or Hotel Maya...?


Hi julesy, firstly, there is no restaurant up at Petronas TWin Towers; the restaurant which is revolves, and known as Sri Angkasa is up at KL Tower (Menara KL).





Traders, from its Sky Lounge do offer a good view of the Twin Towers, but not the Kl Tower.





If you wish to be close to a shopping scene, then I would suggest Traders, as it is close to Suria KLCC. Why? because when you arrive in Aug, it is still the Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival. Traders also provides a complimentary buggy service to Suria KLCC incase you do not wish to take a 15-18 minutes walk.





Hotel Maya is an exceptional boutique hotel, but really sad in respect to its location, next to a Chinese school and also Malay cemetry.It is about 10 minutes distant by walking to the Twin Towers, and about 20 minutes walk to KL Tower.





Room views wise-Traders has a higher notch- Twin Towers, KLCC Park, city view, whereas in Maya, with Renaissance further up, and next to it another building, views are somehow obstructed.





Airport transfer:-



Road:- with opening of a SMART tunnel, travel time into KL%26#39;s GOlden Triangle shall be reduced, so most flight from Europe comes in just before 0700am(or few minutes after 0700hrs), your journey duration should be about 1 hour +/- 20 minutes.





On presumption, that there are only two of you, however, your luggage size, may not fit into the budget category taxi, I suggest taking the premier category airport taxi, which costs about RM98.00.





for your info:- the rail, which is the KLIA Express, takes 28 minutes into KL Sentral, then another 30 minutes to either one of these hotels.



KLIA Express fare is RM35.00/person, and by a taxi coupon from KL Sentral-RM7-RM10.





In terms of convenience, best to take the airport limo-remember to purchase your taxi coupon before exiting onto public arrival hall.





If the Malay cemetry and Chinese school is fine with you,then Maya is nearer to two public mode of transportation, viz. monorail and light rapid transit (LRT), at Bukit Nanas and Dang Wangi respectively. It is also close (across the road) to a Theathre Malay restaurant -Saloma which on nights, cultural dance performances are held, and adjacent to Saloma is also the Malaysia Visitors Centre, where there is ATM machine, money changers, tourist information desk, handicraft centre.



Traders or Hotel Maya...?


Can%26#39;t speak to the Traders at all but we stayed at the Maya a couple weeks ago for 2 nights and loved it.



Extremely stylish and well-run hotel with great shower, tub, bed, furniture, extras (espresso machine in room!) and one of the best pools I%26#39;ve ever had the pleasure of swimming in.



Also the cooked-to-order breakfast and buffet were excellent.



Its about 10 minutes by foot from Suria KLCC. There%26#39;s a bar with outdoor seating on the 13th floor that has a great view of Petronas Towers but our room did not. But previous poster is right --besides Suria there%26#39;s not all that much nearby.




WOW!! Thanks for both of your super-informative responses!!



I%26#39;ve written down all the info on how to get from the airport to the city - I hadn%26#39;t realised it was so far! At least now there%26#39;ll be no surprises when we get there....



As for our accommodation I%26#39;m as confused as ever. They sound to be relatively close to each other and I guess it will come down to whether or not we want the view of Petronas Towers from our room or not. Given we%26#39;re only there for one night and we%26#39;ll be having dinner at the revolving restaurant (sorry, I thought it was in the Towers!) we probably won%26#39;t have a load of time to be admiring the night views from our room anyway, so perhaps I will just go with Maya%26#39;s funky rooms. I%26#39;ve read that noise can be a bit of an issue though - the building has been renovated but the soundproofing of windows hasn%26#39;t been done... do you agree with that, having just stayed there?



Shall look forward to further response(s)....! :-)




You can definitely hear some traffic noises --espec motorbikes--and the call to prayer at 5am--on the 19th floor where we were. You%26#39;ll hear the birds in the cemetary too.



But we didnt find it to be too distracting. There is a club/disco called Zouk across the street and if something is going on there I imagine it would be audible, it didnt seem to be open when we were there.



The hotel interior itself was very quiet.




Thanks for that update on the exterior noise....



I%26#39;m extremely excited to say I%26#39;ve managed to land a sensational rate through the hotel for a Deluxe Suite - they%26#39;ve got a promotion on at the moment apparently and so now we%26#39;ve got the Deluxe locked in we will definately be assured of Petronas Towers views! Fantastic!! Given this (I assume) means we%26#39;ll be up on the higher levels, the noise factor should be lessened even more. Hey, we%26#39;re only there for one night so I%26#39;m not sure why I made it such an issue....!!



Thanks again for your advice - much appreciated - we%26#39;re very much looking forward to our stay at Hotel Maya..




HI Jules,





I can see the others have already given you excellent info on both properties and it wouldn%26#39;t really matter which one you pick, they are both excellent choices. Hotel Maya is actually a top 5* hotel, whereas Traders is labelled as 4* (but will get 5* rating). Traders is the 4* brand of the Shangri-La group so cannot be branded higher!





You will definately not be disappointed with the Maya. I have seen all of the room types there and they are what I would dream of for my own apartment!





Book the revolving restaruant now to avoid disapointment however the food is a bit lame, the views will make up for it. Alternatively just go up to the viewing platform and go somewhere else for dinner.





Jamester - KL




Thanks Jamester!



I have booked Maya and am very excited about not only the fantastic rate I managed to land, but also can%26#39;t wait to check out the hotel and KL in general!



Interesting that you find the food average in the revolving restaurant.... we just thought it would provide a great view (which I%26#39;m sure it does) and generally a restaurant in such a location has food to match. Perhaps not on this occasion. We have already booked but will look into that further. Thanks again!




Maya was known as the Park Inn previously...now that it%26#39;s refurbished, it%26#39;s gone all boutique-ish....you%26#39;ll enjoy it.





Zouk is short distance from Maya, you won%26#39;t miss it , it%26#39;s got a futuristic globlule like shape,totally white....next to it is the Saloma Malay restaurant and the tourist centre. if you want to sweat it out, try the zouk, there%26#39;re actually two clubs , the zouk and velvet underground. Zouk is more mainstream, top hits R%26amp;B with a funky twist. Velvet is acid jazzy, big beat kinda of thing. It%26#39;s only RM90 for both clubs.




Julesy,





The food in the revolving restaurant IS very average indeed. The food in the revolving restaurant in no way, shape or form matches the views. For the price of the buffet dinner in the revolving restaurant, you can have the buffet dinner in top hotels, renowned for their food, like the Shangri-la or Mandarin Oriental. The food in these hotels is MUCH better, the service much better, better ambience etc than in the revolving restaurant. With the revolving restaurant you are paying (through the nose), purely for the views. That鈥檚 not to say I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 worth doing, it is, kinda worth doing鈥?as long as you know the food/service/ambience etc is very so-so. You dine in the revolving restaurant for the views, not for the food. It鈥檚 not bad food or anything, just very very average and vastly overpiced for what you get. I had a similar buffet meal in a 3 or 4 star in KL but it cost on a third of the revolving restaurant鈥檚 price. What i would do in your shoes is... go up the viewing deck of the tower, see the views, then stroll down to the Shangri-la and have the buffet dinner in their Lemon Garden Cafe. Costs the same as the revolving restaurant and is MUCH superior.




Just what food is served at the revolving restaurant? I always thought it%26#39;s a Malay restaurant. You can%26#39;t go fine , with Malay food dining I%26#39;m afraid...

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