Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara — Hotel in Kuala Lumpur

Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara

Having booked a club access room…… on arrival we were ushered up to the 22nd floor where Club Millésime sits. After handing over my passport and paying the additional nightly tourist tax of 10RM per night we enjoyed a few drinks and some light food from the buffet. Nothing to really write home about. A very small selection of drinks and some very average wines, or should I say a red and a white. More on the food and drinks later.

I must admit this is no Sofitel Obelisk from Dubai. Both 5 star in name only. The Obelisk with it’s uninterrupted sweeping views is a complete standout. The Sofitel KL Damansara is dwarfed by the buildings surrounding it offering little or no views.

Next morning we tried the breakfast in Kwee Zeen. Sadly a mistake. The restaurant has little character, the food completely uninteresting and the service abysmal.

Not a single staff member bothered to ask if we would like a tea or coffee, or explained if there were any specialties or what was where. We were simply left to our own devices.

I approached the coffee machine and lo and behold it’s a fancy Nescafe pod machine that really takes some understanding on how to operate. I mean I’ve seen smaller professional coffee machines in the likes of Starbucks. Not to mention that everything regarding the 5 different pods is written so small I had no hope of reading the descriptions without my reading glasses.

I asked a manager if they could help. Unfortunately the response was less than helpful. He simply proceeded to read out the names of the pods.

Now I don’t have a Nescafe pod machine, so have no idea what the different names indicate. I asked what the differences are, answer strength. Again meaning little to me. I explained normally I have a double or triple espresso with a touch of cream. To which I was told to use this one pod. Well this didn’t ring very correct to me so I gave in and simply asked for a latte.

So my adventure to Kwee Zeen left me feeling frustrated. I watched staff constantly walk past tables that needed to be cleared, nobody could do more than a single task, there was no sense of urgency. No one multitasking.

We ventured up to Club Millésime. What a difference. The choices may not be as extensive, but you’ll get your eggs how you like them. The fresh squeed orange juice is amazing. The service is professional, resourceful and yes there is a sense of urgency. Tables get cleared, everyone gets asked what they would like to drink, how they would like their eggs. Wonderful. Exactly what I expect of a 5 star hotel. Although all the staff in the club are great, a standout was LALA, an intern.

So my outlooked for the day was improved by the great staff at club Millésime. Thank you all.

That evening we popped up for some drinks and canapés. Alcoholic drinks are of very average quality and the canapes rotate every two nights so it gets rather boring.

We ventured one night to Kwee Zeen for the seafood buffet. Again a huge mistake. The seafood is lacklustre uninspiring and tasteless, the meat dishes are horribly overcooked. Presentation is good so it all looks the bit, but if anyone takes a moment to look past the presentation they’ll quickly come to realise that it is very over priced.

Now something that really did turn my stomach was when I went to the toilet, I noticed the maitre d coming out of a cubicle and proceed to exit without washing his hands. Enough said.

Now I’m not saying the place is a dump by any means. The room was nice. However on my final night there, there was no hot water. One of the light bulbs started to flicker etc etc. you start to get my drift.

Would I recommend staying at the Sofitel KL Damansara, honestly no. There are much better hotels in better locations.

Note: wifi is slow. I clocked it at 19mbps down and up. Way to slow for today's...

I have stayed with Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara for the 5th time. As an esteemed ALL Diamond member, I have also learnt that for a 5- star luxury hotels of all.com, holding the highest status does not mean anything to the guest/ member.

Despite emailing the hotel on my arrival and departure details 3 days before the check in day to request for an early check in and late check out. With as simple response by the duty manager to acknowledge but not promising anything, which I am fine with.

During the check in day, i arrived at the hotel at about 1405 but my room was not ready. The check in policy of the hotel is 1400 and check out 1200. I had to wait until 1500 for my room to be ready and check in. No apologies or whatsoever from the hotel front desk just keeping saying we are full house, and housekeeping is working on servicing the room.

My ALL-Diamond membership was acknowledged partially. My room was upgraded to the Junior suite and also access to the executive lounge, Club Millessime which I am entitled. Hotel staffs particularly at the Club Millesime is very ignorance, rude and not attentive at all. Of all the Sofitel Club Millesime, Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara is the worse ones in terms of service. Nobody was checking the hotel guest when they come into the lounge (Whether they are entitled to access to the lounge and the service). Hotel gusts simply just walk (families of 4-6 people each entering at the same time and wearing shorts and flip- flops) in and help themselves to the afternoon tea offerings and also the social hours canapes. The lounge is simply full of people and understaffed (I only saw about 4-5 staffs servicing 35-50?) people at the same time in the lounge. The staff at the Club Millesime also do not have a smile or portray a friendly vibe to the hotel guest visiting the lounge. I have also been given the impression of you come and enjoy your afternoon tea, after you are done, please leave quickly. We are full house and expecting 100++ guests visiting the lounge today and tomorrow.

Another bad impression given was the housekeeping staffs. On one day, I have particularly rung the front desk asking for my room to be service at around 1215. I left my room for lunch and return at around 1415; my room is still not ready. So, i went to the Club Millesime to have my afternoon tea. While walking passes the rooms to the lifts, I can see the housekeeping staffs servicing others room. They are not cleaning the rooms but i can see they are chatting away on their mobile phones in the guest room. At the Club Mellisime, I have informed the front desk that I had called to the ground floor front desk requesting for my room to be serviced as I am going out for lunch. They apologies and said will followed up with my requests. At 1515, i return back to my room and it is still not serviced and ready. This is very annoying and unacceptable for such a 5-star hotel to be unattentive and responsive.

This is my worse stay guest experience at Sofitel Kuala Lumpur Damansara this time. I would rather consider other ALL hotels in the future as I think the service at Sofitel KL Damansara is deteriorating since it was launched back 5-8 years ago. Comparing to other Sofitel such as Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua, Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit, Sofitel Saigon Plaza and Sofitel Singapore City Center, this is the worse Sofitel service provided. Not forgetting for the highest tier of Accor hotels, which is ALL Diamond, no VIP or priority provided by Sofitel...

My husband and I have stayed in a couple of Sofitels overseas (Nusa Dua and Mexico City) so we were excited to stay in another one as we've always had a great experience.

We stayed a total of 8 nights and while the rooms are amazing, it wasn't our favourite Sofitel.

The staff are friendly and always greet you, however the F&B staff need more training especially the floor staff. The first time we stayed 6 nights, on our first morning we were seated for breakfast, coffee order taken, second morning, seated for breakfast by the same lady - no coffee order taken. The following days we had a mix of coffee orders taken, one coffee delivered, the other one forgotten about, my husband asked the barista who would just look at him blankley - looked like he didn't understand English very well or I'd ask one of the wait staff who again we had to chase up a couple of times. The last day my cappuccino was stone cold!

Breakfast is okay, usual 5-star hotel buffet breakfast but unless you get there early most things are either lukewarm or cold. There are no labels for condiments like jam, peanut butter etc so you have no idea what is what - my husband got what he thought was peanut butter but turned out to be caramel. How can you not label things?! Especially for those who have nut allergies! Orange juice is more like orange fruit drink, not fresh juice at all - more concentrated and too sweet.

Big thank you to Daniel on the egg station, who would always say hello and have a quick chat with us, he remembered we were in KL for my cousin's wedding and asked us how it was when we returned to the Sofitel for a few nights.

We also found the service inconsistent, we had our complimentary welcome drink the first stay and received some bar snacks with our drinks, second stay no bar snacks with our welcome drink.

We had a standard king size room, really do like that the shower and toilet are behind separate doors. No power points in the bathroom is frustrating and the hair dryer is plugged in at the back of a drawer and it's not easy to use. The Balmain bathroom products are really nice.

TV channels options are appalling for Westerners, yes we're on holidays and not here to watch TV but when it's raining or you've been out walking around a lot during the day perhaps you want a chilled night and to watch something on TV before going to bed.

The pool area lacks ambience or any sort of vibe, you really need to be there in the morning when the the sun is on the pool, otherwise it's dwarfed by the high rises either side of it and is in full shade and it's freezing!

We worked out in the gym a few times, great space with enough cardio equipment, weight machines and free weights.

The location is good as it's next to Pavillion shopping centre however it seems more of a hotel for business travellers, those on staycation or airline crew.

A special mention to Aaron on the Concierge desk who always said hello and would have a chat, he also offered help if we needed it especially when trying to book Grabs.

Would we return? Only if we were back in KL to visit family, there's not a lot to do in KL - if you like shopping it's the city for you but after 10 days we'd had enough and were eager to...