After a wonderful stay at the Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur early last year, we booked ourselves in again, once more opting for a ‘Premier Selection Suite’ for our pre-Christmas visit.

We deliberately opted for the larger suite given that we’d have to both “work from home” if we can honestly say that when working 8 timezones away from home, and both had hefty meeting schedules so needed the space – which we knew the suite offers.

We arrived quite late in the evening after our circuitous route via Doha and Muscat, but we were checked in quickly and both very warmly welcomed back, which was a lovely touch. We were also allocated our previous room, 2616, which was a lovely gesture showing thought and memory for what we’d enjoyed previously.

As always, the Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur lobby was looking as grand, exclusive and spacious as always – with, given the time of year, Christmas decorations in abundance in the main lobby area.

No time to enjoy the ever-delightful Horizon Club lounge unfortunately on the evening of our arrival, but don’t worry, I found plenty of time for Cocktail Hour throughout the week.

We made our way up to our – now, quite familiar – suite, once again opening up through the hallway into a beautiful, large living area complete with work desk, which we could fight over during the week, a TV and plenty of seating.

We’d also very kindly been left a Christmas-themed chocolate cake, a fresh fruit bowl, and a card welcoming us back from the GM. I love these kinds of touches, but to see it when booking with a property directly is quite unique as opposed to when organized – as I normally would – through a travel advisor.

The bedroom meanwhile, was as we remembered – prepared immaculately, spacious, and so peaceful considering the 24-hour traffic noise outside on Jalan Sultan Ismail, none of which can be heard.

The bathrooms in these Premier Selection Suites are very spacious, with a double sink, large shower suite, and a separate bathtub. L’Occitane toiletries were once again the order of the day, and I have to give a hat-tip to our attendant who seemed to silently and telepathically understand we were collecting the toiletries and kept leaving a fresh set during the daily clean, and again at turndown service.

After a well-deserved, very lengthy nights sleep after our long journey, I was ready to beat a path down to breakfast the next morning. Those in Horizon Club rooms or suites can of course avail of the lounge for breakfast, which has a full breakfast menu (and I did a few mornings), but the choice and variation available from the main breakfast buffet in Lemon Garden just can’t be beat.

Despite being a buffet-style breakfast, service remains overall very strong, with coffee orders taken promptly and accurately, and refills readily on offer. There are also coffee machines if you’d prefer to make your own.

Notwithstanding my predictable attendance every evening at the Horizon Club for my treasured Cocktail Hour, I tipped in and out of the club lounge quite often for the occasional snack, iced coffee or bit of work throughout the week. It’s quite amazing really, because the lounge is in a permanent state of extreme cleanliness and perfection (and of course, very easygoing during the day), even though I never once saw anyone actually in there hoovering or cleaning. I’d love to know how to keep our house in such a decent state.

Of course, the evening Cocktail Hour – as with my previous visit – must be surely one of the highlights of booking into a Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur Horizon Club room or suite; a range of snacks, light bites, and of course a wide selection of drinks are all made available from 5pm to 7pm; and you can be absolutely certain I didn’t miss any non-work evenings.

Given that we were there a full week, much of it spent working in the evenings, I also made unusually high use of the gym facilities – again, having seen so many hotels with a cramped basement or entirely windowless room serve as the gym, this one is a real treat, with a wide array of equipment, along with separate changing facilities, sauna, jacuzzi, and only steps away from the pool for a cool-down dip once you’re done.

As I say, I was working through the week but the timezone differences meant a pre-work swim was on the cards as well, every day. I won’t lie, I was seething with envy at the actual holidaymakers sitting around with nothing on the agenda for the day – when I needed to get back to my room and get things underway at work as the evening wore on.

Our stay wasn’t entirely without issue – and I’d be doing a disservice, while we had such a lovely stay, not to mention it. Returning back to the room one day, I noticed a significant puddle of water on the bathroom floor – which was quickly traced to, yes, this extremely (and increasing) bulging ceiling above.

Eventually it burst, thankfully containing all the water within the bathroom. I’ll be honest – I was a little disappointed at first by the sheer slowness of the service centre, so I went down to the lounge and showed them a video of the now burst roof. In their defense, they did get someone sent up immediately, and after some confusion, we were ultimately moved to another room.

These things happen and how hotels deal with it is typically the making or breaking; while at first I felt everything was a bit disjointed and un-coordinated, the Horizon Club team did send us up a bottle of prosecco later in the evening, and were very apologetic when we next visited the lounge. At the end of the day, good service recovery can go a long way to fix things, and I was impressed with how it was ultimately handled.

Before long, the full week (partially working) was over, and it was time for our very lengthy – and what would be even lengthier than planned – journey home to Ireland.

Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur may not be the newest, or tallest, or most central hotel in KL – but it does manage to achieve a level of consistency and luxury across facilities, rooms, and even staff interactions that can be otherwise so rare. Based on this, and our previous stay early last year, it would be hard to see ourselves booking elsewhere on our next visit.