Trip to Kuala Lumpur
Review of Traders hotel Kuala Lumpur

I stayed at the Traders hotel in Kuala Lumpur from Sunday 22nd of September until Friday 28th of September 2007 and I also stayed there again in June 2008. I really enjoyed my stayed there on both occeassions but this was written after my first stay there. Back then I had room 3106 on the 31st floor (which is on the club floor – meaning executive floor) and I had a room with a city view. The reason for both stays at Traders have been business trips and I have been to KL a number of times before and I have experience from various hotels such as Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, Ascott, Federal and Agora. If you need some general info on Kuala Lumpur, please feel free to check out my Kuala Lumpur trip report with pictures and links. Check out the location of the Traders hotel on this Google map that I have made. The hotels are marked with yellow pins.

We arrived early in the morning and when you come into the reception if looks rather small. It turned out that this was just the concierge are and they guided us in a very polite way to the reception on the 5th floor. This is also rather small but the check in was fast and you can also get a check in on the club lounge on the 32nd floor if you have a room on an executive floor.

Room
The room was located on the 31st floor and had a nice city view thru large windows. My colleague got a room with a park view and he had an amazing view straight to the Petronas twin towers…once the highest buildings in the world.

My room was pretty standard in size but it was easy to see that this was a hotel well above average once I came in. The floor featured a light, beige carpet and the beige walls were tastefully decorated with colourful art. By the window there was a nice 2 seat sofa and a funky looking armchair and a small table. The bed was KING size and there was a good, thin duvet and 4 pillows. It seemed like the pillows came in 2 different versions: firm and soft and that made it easy to sleep good at night. As most hotels there was air-condition in the room and everything was controlled by a panel on the wall.

The work desk had a great leather chair, plugs to charge the laptop, cell phone etc and a flat screen TV. There was a cable for connecting to the net but I used the wireless connection to hook up on the net and this was free for those staying in on the club floors. In the hall there was also a workstation setup if you needed a PC to work on and this was also connected to the internet. In connection with the desk in the room was a mini bar with soda, beer etc but also a water boiler with tea, coffee etc. I never got anything from the mini bar as I got 2-3 complimentary bottles of water each day.

The 2 closets had a number of hangers and there was also an ironing board and a steam iron. I was not that impressed by the iron but it was pretty cheap to get shirts pressed anyway. In the closet there were also a couple of bathrobes and slippers. The mini safe was placed in the one wardrobe.

The bathroom
The bathroom was tiled in beige and it featured a bathtub and a shower. A glass door in front served as splashing protection for both the bathtub and the shower. The shower featured a huge shower head and the water pressure was great. There were lots of amenities such as tooth brush, shaving kit, emery board, comb, shower cap, shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, bath salt etc. The make up mirror even had a light around the rim and there was anti fog function on the mirror. The sink was lit from below and the whole bathroom was well lit in general.

The room was so quiet by the way. Even if the hotel was fully booked I never heard anything from my neighbour, from people in the hall or from the city outside.

The club lounge
The club lounge on the 32nd floor is where we had our breakfast. This area was for the executive floor guests and even if the hotel was full it was never crowded there, They had a nice selection of fresh juice, fruits, yogurt, cereal (but I did miss the muesli), sushi, various hot dished ranging from beef bacon, sausages, sautéed mushrooms etc. A coffee machine provided pretty good coffee in various styles. I never did try the breakfast area on the 5th floor so I can’t really compare it. But it was very nice to have the breakfast in peace and quiet on the 32nd floor with an amazing view to the KLCC park and the Petronas twin towers.

Everyday they had complimentary drinks from 5.30 PM to 7.30 PM. During this time it was possible to get red wine, white wine, various kinds of stronger spirits, beer etc. In addition to this they had a nice selection of snack ranging from spring rolls, cheese, sushi etc.

There is a outdoor pool, skybar and spa on the 33rd and 34th floor. We never did get to try out the pool but it was a standard square pool with no fuzz. But at night it was pretty lively as the skybar was around the pool and once again there was a great view to both the KL Tower and the Petronas Twin towers.

Location
The hotel has a pretty good location right in the KLCC park. This means that you are more or less in the convention center, a 10 minute walk from the Petronas twin towers and the Suria KLCC shopping mall etc. You can actually walk indoor all the way from the hotel to Suria KLCC. This might not sound like an important issue but if you are dressed up for work you might break out in a sweat if you choose to go outside in the hot and humid weather. The hotel also has a small shuttle bus to Suria KLCC throughout the day. The KLCC park features a 1.3 km track so if you want to workout it is a nice place to go jogging.

Conclusion
I have to admit that I loved staying at the Traders. I paid 330 RM (+17% tax) which is about 100 US dollars and for that I got a nice comfortable room, a staff that was very helpful and polite, a club lounge area where I could have breakfast and evening drinks, good location for working and sightseeing in KL etc. The only problem is that it is so fantastic that you might be tempted to just stay at the hotel instead of exploring the city itself and that it a shame. But fortunately I have been to KL 5 times and hence I have seen many of the sights so this time I could concentrate on working and just enjoying the hotel facilities. If you get a chance to stay at the Traders don’t hesitate…it is way above average and one of the best hotels that I have stayed at.

Please check out the hotel homepage for more information. Please check out TripAdvisor for reviews of the hotel.