Hilton Garden Inn Kuala Lumpur Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman South — Hotel in Kuala Lumpur

I want to be fair so i will be categorizing my feedback. The feedback is not a reflection on the staff or the room itself.

The staff: Every single person we interacted with who works here is kind, curteous, pleasant and helpful. Everyone with no exception. The guards, the reception, the cleaning crew, everyone...

The room: The beds are comfortable. The room is clean. The toiletries and equipment available cover what one would need at a hotel to stay comfortably. The view is nice.

The location: convenient and somewhat central. The reason I can't say much is because we have a car and we did not need to walk places so i cant quite gauge this fairly.

Breakfast: i will let you know tomorrow.

The policy: why do i mention this?

When we arrived to the hotel we were told that we were being offered "an upgrade" courtesy of the hotel for a room with a better view of the KL tower.

What we were not told, however, was that the room we were being given is a connected room. You know, the ones with a double door.

We got to our upgraded room and we noticed the door. We put our bags down and just lounged on the bed for about an hour during which we noticed that we were hearing quite a bit of coughing from the other room. The occupant must have been sick or something. So we thought we would just rather change rooms because we needed our rest seeing as our flight home would be quite a long one and we didnt want to have to wake up in the middle of the night to sounds of coughing of the poor guy in the next room.

We call reception, a very polite lady picks up. We tell her our issue. She offers to send up someone to resolve it, but the guy is just sick and we didnt want to bother him of course. Its not like he is choosing to cough... We politely explain the above and tell the nice lady that would just rather move. The lady takes a moment and tells us they can move us the next day as they are fully booked for the night. We politely insist, again we are told that they are fully booked for the night. We politely explain that we are disappointed and we would just rather stay in a single room for the 2 nights booked and we would rather move on the same night. We were then refered to a second polite and pleasant lady who tells us that it would not be a problem to move but it would be "a downgrade" back to our original booked room if that is what we wanted. We happily accepted and they send up a kind and pleasant security guard to help with the move.

The room we had booked, the one they "downgraded" us back to was exactly the same except for the connecting door and the view of the KL tower and 2 floors higher... That was it. Nothing wring with the view. Nothing different about the room.

So, i am curious, why would hotel policy force staff to:

A. Entice guests with what they call an "upgrade" when it was clearly a downgrade to a connected room, which is expected to be more noisy and on a lower floor.

B. Pushback on a very reasonable request from a guest to move to the room originally booked without being lied to.

Again, i want to be fair in my review. Usually, If i have nothing nice to say i just dont review the place... I always try to be fair and constructive. The livelihoods of staff in the service industry hinges on patrons' opinions.

I am just disappointed with the manipulation, intransparent marketing, and the lying. Yes, lying.

Because, if the hotel was indeed fully booked, which is a rarety, i would not be writing this review on my second night from the "downgraded" room originally booked. If they meant fully booked for rooms in the same class, then why not just say thay...?

I will update this post when we try their breakfast...

Solid 4* to the staff, from ck in desk, to security/doormen, and room attendant - they were all terrific (friendly, professional, and helpful) during my 14 days stay in mid-September 2024.

The hotel's gym is located a minute's walk away at the Garden Inn's North building - it's clean and clean/newish equipment, and big enough since not too many people use it (you might see 1-2 other guests in the evening after 6pm). The only annoyance is that, if you're a guest staying in the South building, you'll need to ask front desk staff at the North building to let you into the gym (but they are often busy dealing with hotel guests) - why can't my room key let me into the gym? That doesn't seem like an impossible thing for the hotel to enable.

Although the rooftop restaurant & pool is nice being high up with a view etc., the pool itself was surprisingly small - both by its size (perhaps 15 ft. x 15ft that you'll quickly feel like a fish in a small bowl if you try to swim around it) and the fact that it's supposed to serve a hotel with these many rooms! It felt crowded even to have 2 other people in the pool with you and it became evident that the pool was installed not so much as for guests to swim, but just so the hotel can claim it has '"a pool"! Do not stay here if one of the main reasons it to enjoy a reasonable sized swimming pool.

My room for one was clean and comfortable, and fairly good sized given that it's meant for solo travelers - the big plus was the big bathroom (see video)! Def enjoyed my room. WIFI was fast and reliable. However, Hilton needs to spend money to touchup the hallways/elevators - you'll see dirty marks/scuffs on the walls that shows the common areas need to be painted or new wall papers put up.

The breakfast buffet was ok/fairly good - reasonable spread of items (western, Malay, Chinese, and Indian dishes are available). The biggest downer was that the first 4-5 items/dishes along the buffet counter are served at room temperature/cool (there's NO heat lamp or hot plate keeping the chicken or stir-fried vegetable, noodles or rice warm)! Does anyone enjoy eating these things at room temperature?! Why can't Hilton spare a little money for heat lamps to keep the food warm? I wouldn't want to have the breakfast buffet again unless these foods are served warm or hot.

The biggest disappointment about my 2 weeks stay here was NOT the hotel itself but the area. Within a 15 minutes' walk from the hotel, there's not much to see or do or eat unless you want to eat at food stalls and non-air con restaurants that are open-air, allowing smokers at the front, so you'll have to breath cigarette smoke while dinning. I had to walk 15 minutes to Quill City Mall for lunch and dinner, or order food delivery (that mall also isn't great, many shops above the second floor are empty because the mall haven't been able to sign businesses to rent/open up). I would NOT stay in this area unless you have family or business/reason to be here. There's nothing here for tourists - you'll be much better off to stay in other areas of KL, such as Bukit Bintang,...

Those who have stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia will know this building is not just one hotel but two - North and South, both which are listed as different properties. The North houses a 24hrs gymnasium on the ground floor. On the other hand, the South features a rooftop pool and bar on the 25th floor. Guests staying at either tower are welcome to use the facilities at both buildings.||I found the Front Desk Staff, Mr Paul to be cheerful with a pleasant personality during my check in at the hotel. I even received a WhatsApp message from him enquiring on my stay shortly after my check in. There is no deposit required for hotel incidentals during my stay here.||Opened in 2017, I had booked the Deluxe Twin Room with KL Tower View and was accommodated in Room No. 1004. The room is spacious at 37 square metres. It has a rather unique configuration in that it offers a semi-circular bay window design. This room category is the largest among all in the property and there is only one such room on each floor.||The hotels I usually stayed had freezing cold air-conditioning temperatures during the night. However, I am pleased I had a comfortable and well rested sleep here, given its comfortable temperature setting. The shower head in the bathroom is attached to the wall, which unfortunately is non-removable. The water pressure was acceptable, but the shower water took some time for it to be warmed. The hotel offers Peter Thomas Roth toiletries from USA which are great to use. The TV only offers local programmes. The Wi-Fi service was fast and reliable. I am glad there is a universal power socket and a USB charging port for the powering and charging of my mobile device at the bedside.||These are the distances from the hotel to the following places:||1. Chow Kit Market - 150m|2. Chow Kit Monorail Station - 350m|3. Kampong Bahru - 1km|4. Petronas Twin Towers - 2.4km|5. Petailing Street Market - 2.6km|6. Menara Kuala Lumpur - 3.2km||As I did not book the room with breakfast, I had headed to a nearby eatery for my meal. The eateries in the vicinity are mostly Malay cuisine. During the day, the nearby Chow Kit Market is bustling with life. Come night, you will see many night stalls selling vegetables and seafood lined along Jalan Raja Alang, where Chow Kit Market is situated. As I was hungry after an early dinner, I went to buy a Ramly burger at a food stall just next to the hotel. There are also convenience stores in the vicinity.||Despite the hotel being located in Chow Kit, once a vibrant red-light district and now known as “Little Jakarta”, I felt perfectly safe, even walking alone at night. It is not as rowdy as it seems. If you want to see the locals doing their daily activities, head to Chow Kit Market in the morning and the nearby Kampung Bahru during the evening to feel the vibes there. I recommend Hilton Garden Inn as your base if you are interested to explore these places where the...