The Westin Kuala Lumpur — Hotel in Kuala Lumpur

I travel a lot for work, and I never felt the need to leave a review, positive or negative. I guess there's always a reason to leave a first review, so here it is:

My expensive Sony earbuds got stolen from inside my hotel room. I checked into room 2115 on a Friday night, went out for dinner, didn't take them with me, came back, and they were inside my backpack, which I also didn't take to dinner. The next day I got to the hotel cafe for a meeting with my colleagues (we booked 3 rooms in total as we were in KL for a business trip) and left the room service sign on. I left the room at exactly 10 a.m. and came back around 11 a.m. I came back, and the make-up room sign was still on; the room wasn't cleaned, which is fine. I get ready to go to work for the day, but the earphones are missing. I searched the room inside out and found nothing. There was also a charger that I left inside my backpack that I found on the floor.

I checked under the bed; there was a pink sex toy under the bed, which is obviously obscene for a 5-star hotel to have. Under the bed was filthy, with a lot of dust and random small objects, and one of the hotel slippers left by a previous guest, I suppose, which speaks to the level of service you get from the housekeeping staff.

I went down to report the theft to the hotel and asked to check the CCTV cameras. There are a few cameras right outside the door in the hallway. The staff and the security manager said I can't check the CCTV video at all because of hotel policy, but they will check and let me know. They checked later and told me no one had entered the room. I asked again if I could check the camera, and they said no, but I could file a police report, and with that, I could check it with police presence. I had already mentioned I was in town for work for 3 days, and I have a very tight schedule, so I guess they were hoping I would just go away. They said I needed to go to the police station to file the report (the closest station is about a half-hour drive). I said I didn't have time and called the police to report the incident. Two policemen came to the hotel and told me no one could do anything until I properly filed a report. I had to go to work for the day (Saturday, the day of the theft), but I was told numerous times that I could see the footage with a police report and police presence. I was also told by a senior manager when I said that the cops were coming that "it is ok. We are used to it."

Honestly, I started doubting myself and going through every moment since I landed in my head over and over. Then I Googled if there were similar incidents before at that particular hotel, and, expectedly, two reviews of thefts from inside the hotel rooms popped up. Both are very similar to what happened to me. One is from 2017 https://www.tripadvisor.com.my/ShowUserReviews-g298570-d304498-r451029506-The_Westin_Kuala_Lumpur-Kuala_Lumpur_Wilayah_Persekutuan.html and is a Google review only from a few months ago with an earring stolen from inside the room.

I finished work on Sunday around 10 p.m., and it was my only chance to file the report then, as I had a call time on Monday at 6 a.m. I got to the police station around 11 p.m. It took me 4 hours in total to get through the report and investigation. The officer told me I could see the footage after he checked it.

I got back to the hotel, and the officer followed shortly after, then they said they checked the CCTV and said no one entered the room. but I can't see the footage as well, and if I insist on seeing it, I need to go to another department the next day and go through more hoops. I was not given any reason why I couldn't see the footage. At this point, I was miserable and exhausted. I had to wake up in 2 hours for my work, then check out, which the hotel knew because I had naively told them my schedule when I reported the theft, hoping they would help.

This is my honest and detailed account of what happened to me at the Westin KL. I hope it serves as a big warning sign to what could happen to you if you decide...

The Westin Kuala Lumpur has one great advantage for it: proximity to Pavillion KL and the many attractions there. Other than that, there really is nothing else good about it.

The encounter started with check-in. Considering that it didn't seem to be rush hour, I was surprised when front desk greeted me with nary a smile in view. Instead, she (her passion was journalism but I don't remember her name) had a very nonchalant attitude and it was not warm at all. I noted that this was generally the case with most places in the hotel -- other than the bar where I felt the servers were much friendlier and always had a smile on their faces.

During the check-in, I noted that my room technically included breakfast for two and, since I had a friend staying at the same hotel, I wanted to check if I could get him to also share in the breakfast. This request was granted rather irritably by a second staff (whom the first one had to refer to) who said very curtly "Bagilah dia". Not sure if she didn't expect me to understand BM but I really didn't feel welcome at all after that.

Over the next three days, noted the following: The sofas at the lobby were dirty with tissues and crumbs on the seats. Granted that there was a lot of foot traffic through the lobby but really doesn't look good at all. The food in the buffet breakfast was not replenished quickly -- there were times when there were just empty trays sitting there. Really does not give me the feel of a 5-star hotel. I don't know what was used to keep the food during breakfast warm but it didn't work. The food that I ladled on to my plate was generally cold or lukewarm at best. Not appetizing at all. I know that wifi in the hotel is free and that every guest uses the wifi so you can't really expect great wifi. However, Westin probably had the worst wifi that I have ever experienced -- it was extremely patchy and things would take forever to load, even late at night. I really felt that the hotel does not source for more sustainable methods to serve their condiments. This included both room service and the buffet breakfast. Butter, ketchup, chilli sauce, salt, pepper, sugar and the like were all in disposable packets. This would have been OK if the packets were generally paper-based (such as salt, pepper and sugar), though not really great, but they were still using plastic packaging. This seemed very different from other hotels where ketchup, butter and chili sauce were served in small serving plates. Not sure what Westin is doing for its own sustainability journey but this doesn't seem to help. The channels for hotel entertainment was Vision Four which seems to be rarely used by the other hotels. This rarity also coincides with really bad quality broadcast since some shows would have no sound for certain periods of time or the channels would be down for certain periods of time. Again, not what I expect from a 5-star hotel.

In short, I really feel that the only thing going for the Westin is that access to Pavillion -- and I can find that in other nearby hotels. This generally means that Westin will not be on my "back to visit...

I stayed in Westin years ago and I didn't like it initially to be honest, because the rooms had too many dark wooden elements and the room always seemed dark and there was always a musky smell. Now years later I revisited the hotel again and look like they have refurbished and the room looks so much brighter without the musky smell. Located at bukit Bintang the heart of KL this place is so convenient but you really have to bear with the crazy traffic which can get you stuck for some time if you are in a car. The entire stay was pretty okay, clean room and since I was working from the hotel at times I do allow the housekeeping to come in and make up the room and got to chat with the friendly staff. Checked out the gym and the pool, inviting and got my gears but didn't get a chance to use them. Checked out the pool twice but always very noisy with kids shouting inside the pool. Overall stay was okay but a few things could be improved. Traffic is bad it's unavoidable so I recommend taking the MRT instead which is a short walk. Checked out the male changing room and realized they had a sauna. It was working perfect fine so I thought I'll visit the next day, and then it was down for my entire stay. I don't feel the lounge access is properly controlled. There is no staff checking on people entering the staff it felt like a free for all. I always see kids and the place is so busy it just felt like the morning breakfast area. I arrived at the lounge one day at 6pm and almost everything was gone with no replenishment, only thing left was the sweet pastries. Only on the second day I went down at 545pm there was still savoury items available. It just feels like a restaurant to me. I also dont understand having a 2 pin powerpoint in the bathroom but having a 3 pin hair dryer placed in the bathroom. So I had to scramble out to the study table to use the powerpoint there to dry my hair. Last thing was the noise. The sound proofing was literally non existent. My windows is facing the construction site so I could hear the construction all night long, and on weekends could hear the expensive cars revving their engines which is really quite a nuisance. Sleep quality wasn't really good even though staying on a high floor. Breakfast was very average, my expectations were higher. The dining area was very big but the variety wasn't. There was just this big square area right in the middle of the dining area where the chefs prepared the food, taking up quite a big space. Last but not the least the floor labeling is also quite confusing. The westin club is on level 3, and initially I got the room the receptionist told me its on the westin club floor I thought it was lounge access on the same floor, but turned out levels 31 to 35 are all called westin club floors. Is it worth going back? Not sure though recently their rates have been very competitive so I guess its up to personal...