Team Metropolitant was up in Kuala Lumpur to attend the Kuala Lumpur Shoe Festival 2014. We decided to do a review for Malaysia’s newest hotel gem, Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar. Strategically located in Bangsar, close to shopping malls, halfway between Kuala Lumpur city centre and Petaling Jaya, Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar is the perfect hotel for us.
We took advantage of their special introductory rate to “Explore Malaysia” – starting at RM 270++ and thanks to being an Accor Member, we were given an upgrade to a bigger room. But when we were checking in, the rooms weren’t ready and they simply had no connecting rooms for us even though we requested for it.
But fret not, Marcus Lee from front desk to the rescue! He gave us a room to rest while trying to find other rooms for us. And when all fails, he invited us to the Executive Floor to have our break fast. The rooms’ design is trendy and modern and all of Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar’s guest rooms and suites offers iPod Docking Station and multimedia connection panel for total connectivity.
We had a great stay and the breakfast at the club lounge was great. Great views and we didn’t had to fight our way to the food with the morning crowd. No complains with the rooms either and we had a great night sleep.
Everything was perfect until the time we had to leave for the airport. After clearing work related matters, we headed back to hotel at 7ish in the evening. As our schedules really packed, we told the concierge we were in a rush and needed to get to the airport soon as our flight was at 9.30pm. The gentleman/concierge told us he got us a taxi and asked us to wait inside the lobby.
He assured us the taxi would only take 5-10 minutes, and we won’t fit into a normal taxi because we have baggage with us. That means we have to pay RM180 for a van to the airport. Running late, we didn’t bargain and respected the hotel’s policy. 10 minutes passed and the taxi did not arrive. We spoke to the concierge and told them to hurry the taxi as we may miss our flight. “5 mins more!” was what he told us and we continued to wait. Even when taxis pulled up at the lobby, he would shoo them away or offer them to other guest without even asking if they mind taking us to the Airport.
“Airport too far for him, he just wants to go Mid Valley” he retorted when I questioned him about the taxi. 25 minutes passed and still no sight of the “booked” taxi. Another taxi stopped in front of the lobby, we grabbed our luggage and jumped in even though he was saying, “You people cannot do this! I already call taxi for you. You don’t wait for him, next time I call they don’t come!”
We ignored his yelling and got into another taxi. The concierge then told the driver of the taxi we got into to charge us RM180 and give him the remainder the next day. We told the driver to ignore him, and off we go to the airport. Unfortunately, after all the hullabaloo at the Hotel, we missed our last flight to Singapore and had to buy 4 more tickets to go back the next day. What’s worse? We had to stay a night at the airport as the hotels around the airport are fully booked.
We found a stage in the middle of KLIA and had to sleep there till our 9.50am flight the next day. Over 12 hours at the airport thanks to the concierge who held us back from the taxis. This is truly a horrible experience we had with Pullman Kuala Lumpur, Bangsa. We have another 2 colleagues staying in Pullman Jakarta this very moment. I hope their stay is better than our stay in Kuala Lumpur.
This is their website: www.pullmanhotels.com. (If you still want to stay with them)
Oh don’t forget their hotel promotions too!
Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar is offering the “Explore Malaysia” promotion with details as follows:
Booking Period: Today – 31 May 2014
Staying Period: Today – 30 September 2014
Promotional Prices: From RM270.00++ onwards with terms and conditions applicable
Quite common for hotel concierge to work with some ‘taxis’. Did u write in to the hotel and tripadvisor? I would like to know what their service recovery is like.
There was once we were nearly late for the airport. We told the taxi driver and he said, he won’t earn our money which means we will be late for our flight. The taxi driver told us, the only way to get to the airport on time is to the KLIA express. No taxi can get us there on time in a traffic jam during evening peak.
So he drove through all the small roads that we never knew exist, some were so tight, but he managed to drive through. We got scared because of all the small roads but within 10 minutes, he got us to KL Sentral and we saw all the cars stuck on the highways.
We paid him extra money and managed to get to the airport on time. 28 minutes exactly using the KLIA Express. Luckily we could still check in! Last 10 minutes before the counter closed.
You stayed at Bangsar, you should have taken any taxi to KL Sentral.
Unfortunately for us, we didn’t meet a taxi driver as nice as yours.