Keen to try out somewhere new on yet another visit to the Malaysian capital, I was delighted to have the opportunity to book into, and sample, the Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur – a property highly regarded for its premium location, and immense service.

Our booking, as with Powerscourt, was handled by Steve, our friend and travel advisor – who managed to get us a great 3 nights for the price of 2 rate, including a raft of other perks.

Upon arrival, earlier than the stated check-in time, we were quickly welcomed to the palatial reception area. Our benefits were quickly re-confirmed, and a letter outlining all of the perks provided, before being told that our room was upgraded to a Park View Deluxe (as opposed to the originally booked City Deluxe) and available immediately – always a very welcome piece of news!

Check-in was prompt and we were quickly escorted to the lifts in no time, and sent on our way up to the room on the 16^th floor.

First impressions of our room were very positive – it was spotless, very well kept and more than spacious enough for our brief 3-night stay.

The view meanwhile looked out over KLCC park and the neighbouring convention centre, across towards Pavilion and Bukit Bintang to the right.

Meanwhile, the bathroom consisted of both a bathtub and individual shower cubicle, along with sink and washroom. Again, spotless and more than enough for a few nights stay in the city.

The room also came with a fruit basket, personalised welcome letter, two bottles of local non-alcoholic beverage (Tapping Tapir), Nespresso machine and a (chargeable, sadly) mini-bar.

For a stay in which we pretty much came and went in and out of the room several times throughout each day, it was everything we needed – and service was outstanding throughout. The room was always completely made-up upon return from breakfast, while my one ad-hoc request to replenish the shower gel was seen to by the time we returned within the hour.

Service, in fact was a major highlight of the stay generally; we actually said a few times that arriving back into the reception was more like performing a military platoon inspection such was the volume of hotel colleagues’ standing by greeting guests' almost in unison.

Likewise, we were remembered and very enthusiastically greeted both mornings at breakfast, and asked how our previous days’ had been, and – with a wild early morning departure at 4.30am on our last morning – to my real amazement, offered coffee and pastries to go, even at that early time despite not being part of the breakfast hours. It seemed like no request was too much trouble.

With all those breakfasts and general Malaysian dining taking place, the gym had to be visited several times throughout the stay – and it too was kept spotless, very well equipped with multiple areas and multiple of each machine type, with no evident crowding at any time.

The pool however has to be a real highlight of a stay at the Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur. Perched on the edge of the 3^rd floor, the infinity pool offers stunning views out across KLCC park and the neighbouring surrounds.

Though the area gets busy, pool staff were very happy throughout the day to move me to shadier areas whenever they could, or at least to offer (which, given my complexion, I really should’ve taken up), as well as constantly bringing all guests iced water and anything else from the bar menu they fancied.

I enjoyed more or less one whole day to myself down at the pool and it was such a treat to sit and relax, take in the sun, and do absolutely nothing other than swim, eat, relax, and repeat.

Speaking of eating, we didn’t dine in the hotel beyond the breakfast – though I did sneak in a delicious steak sandwich by the pool on my appointed ‘day of do-nothing’.

Again, it was such a treat and the service was excellent – with the restaurant manager even swinging by to make sure I’d a bowl of water to rinse my hands, and taking an interest in whether the steak had been cooked to my liking, was there anything that could be improved, how had I found the service, etc. A very welcome change from the more usual ‘how was your food’ of most hotels.

Overall, the Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur would be a top contender for us for any future stay (of which there are bound to be many) – it was one of those very rare occasions where I’d be struggling to find problems, and despite being our base for a very fast-paced city break, was a thoroughly relaxing and enjoyable stay.