For the second half of our stay in Kuala Lumpur, we opted to try something new, and went with the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, located right beside the convention centre, and adjacent to KLCC itself.

This was a Hyatt Prive rate, which can be a tremendous value, but of course needs to be booked through a travel advisor (link here to our – very excellent, if I may say so – choice), and was a King Club Room, with lounge access, a hotel credit, and upgrade confirmable within 24 hours of travel advisor request to the hotel (which was confirmed pre-arrival as a ‘Garden View’ upgrade).

I’m not a huge fan of going to reception just to ask what floor the club lounge is, to then travel there to check-in, to then travel onwards to wherever the room happens to be – so we checked-in at reception, not that there was any offer either to check-in at the lounge. We were quickly allocated a room, informed about the credit, club lounge facilities, and sent on our way.

The reception at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur is on the top floor, so in all instances, quite frustratingly, you need to travel to the top floor, to then travel back down to your specific room.

Our room was clean and fresh – but the layout is quite bizarre. The bathroom, in entirety, sits right behind the bed area. To one side was a storage room, then the toilet, and then to the other side, backed up to the bedhead side, was the shower (the glass of which could be frosted on-demand using some wizardry), and then the sink quite close to the bedhead on one side.

Perhaps this layout is to many guests’ likings, but it wouldn’t be mine. I found it quite disturbing – and not suitable for two people, if one has the audacity to shower, or even wash their hands, late at night when the other is trying to sleep.

Further adding to the weirdness, our TV was on but displayed nothing but a slightly haunting grey screen.

The bedroom as such was standard, framed on both sides by suspended bedside tables, and with a chaise longue by the floor-to-ceiling windows that I spent some time lounging in, and catching up on blog posts several months’ overdue – much like this one.

Our view was also decidedly not anything approximating a ‘garden’, as you can see, so I proceeded at cocktail hour, to firstly visit the club lounge reception counter. I’ll be honest, I was disappointed by the response – that the upgrade, which had been assured, had just not been honoured, but that we’d been given a ‘nice room on a high floor’. That may be the case, but why do hotels try to not honour perks without at least being forthcoming about it? It's not a good look.

We were seated by the window (because we pointed out the window seat, in spite of being initially told there wasn’t one…) and I do have to say, despite the initial hiccups in terms of service and room layout oddness, the view from the lounge over KLCC really is something special.

Cocktail hour itself was a great benefit, no doubt, with plenty of food choices that were alternated every evening, and a wide selection of beverages on offer – with staff generally pro-active in offering refills and ‘last calls’ over the several nights we stayed there.

Two members of the team in particular, whose names I didn’t manage to get, were very proactive, chatty, even offering to make Vannesha a last-minute gin & tonic right before closing time as she arrived back from a trip, and offering a Valentine’s gift for her, given the day it was.

Speaking of exceptional staff, ‘Lester’ who seemed to work daytimes in the club lounge was another tremendous asset to the property – talkative, pro-active (at times nearly pushing food on me whether I wanted it or not), professional, and another great personality to have in the lounge. If only, in many cases, these three could have always been everywhere.

The club lounge generally is a lovely space, with plenty of seating, something to eat and drink at all times of the day, and wonderful views.

We had breakfast all mornings in the main restaurant, and while there was plenty of choice, it got exceptionally busy at times, and at times, staff attitudes and pleasantness just wasn’t consistently wonderful – I think back to when the breakfast was ‘officially’ over one morning, and one member of staff gestured, very visibly, to the others in a line the arrival of closing time with two arms crossed over each other in the air and started saying ‘finish’. Perhaps not exactly the epitome of 5-star can we agree?

We also made occasional use of the pool, which was a tremendous size, nestled neatly in beside the building with views across the surrounding skyline.

As I alluded to earlier, Vannesha went for a trip – and so I made excellent use of the dining credit on a burger, poolside, along with several glasses of wine, while telling myself ‘this is the life’ repeatedly. I must say, the food (for being a poolside bar menu) was excellent; fresh, very hot, and delicious. And I’d no complaints – predictably – about the wine either.

The gym and spa/sauna area were also excellent, with plenty of equipment and as far as I could see, never any major peak period for use of equipment. And who can complain about this jacuzzi in the mens’ changing area? Again, completely unused every time I saw it – except for myself obviously.

So in conclusion, I was left slightly conflicted by our stay at the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur. Some of the staff were fantastic, and the amenities by and large are wonderful. But the upgrade fiasco, the weird room layout, and some of our initial staff interactions left us feeling there was just an element of polish missing from the experience notwithstanding the few shining examples.

Would we go back? Yes, probably if the price was right – but there are definitely areas to improve.