My wife and I stayed at Traders Penang in May 2013 for 3 days in May 2013. We chose this hotel as it seemed to be a decent hotel in the George Town area and we wanted to explore the historic city center for a few days. I also chose it as I’m a Jade member in the Shangri-La Golden Circle program. We took a taxi from the airport in the south of the island to the hotel and it was a fixed price of 44 Ringgit (14 USD) and it took about 30 minutes. The lobby was open with large chandeliers and marble floors. Check in was fast and we got 1419.

When we took the elevator to our room we were a bit annoyed to see that we had gotten a room right across the corridor from the lifts but this was not a problem at all. The room did seem a bit outdated upon entry to the room but I had read the reviews in advance so I was prepared for this. The walls were a combination of light wall paper and dark brown wood and the floor was wall to wall carpet. The center in the room contained a HUGE bed and the sleep quality was excellent. As a Jade member I had gotten some welcome gifts and it is always great to get some sparking water. There was also a mini bar with various items and the Coke was 8 Ringgit ( 2 ½ USD). Free Traders water in bottles was also provided.

As usual there was a desk, an old style TV and a water boiler with coffee and tea. The wardrobe also contained a safe, robes and iron/ironing board.The tiled bathroom was OK with a shower option in the bathtub but I’m not a fan of the shower curtain option. But the bathroom did contain the usual amenities that I’m used to from Traders in KL (shampoo, body gel, conditioner, lotion etc). The view from the room was not that great as we look right across to a construction site but again we were not bothered by the noise from this place.

After we checked in we took some time to try out the gym at the hotel – it contained rowing machines, thread mills, stationary bikes and weights and the pool was right outside.

Breakfast at the hotel was according what I would expect from a good 4 star hotel in Asia. A selection of bread, cereal, juices, eggs etc. But what impressed me the most was the service – when I had breakfast the first morning I went alone as my wife Nikki was not feel great due to a cold. So I tried to balance a tea and a croissant out of the restaurant and a manager stopped me and I explained the situation. He told me to put it down as he would send someone to my room and soon my wife got a croissants and tea served in bed in the room. The same guy also told us that we had to try some local stuff (like roti chanai) so I got the impression that he enjoyed his work with helping and communicating with people.

The location of the hotel is quite good as it is just in the outskirt of the historic city center. We walked all over the place but if you want to take a short cut remember that there is a free bus service from the Komter area (where the hotel is) to the jetty and most taxis seems to have a fixed price of 10 ringgit within the city center.
Conclusion: The room was a bit outdated but we enjoyed the stay at Traders in Penang as the location is pretty good, breakfast is good and the service was very good. If you are going to check out George Town for a few days this hotel is a good option.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

The check in was fast and we got a room “upgrade” – I had booked the cheapest room as we were only staying there for the night but we were upgraded to a room with a harbor view. The bed was more queen size than king size but then again hotel rooms in Hong Kong are a bit on the small side. There was also a desk with a chair, I got welcome gift due to my Jade membership, we got some complimentary water and there was a small fridge with some drinks. The room also included a wardrobe with a couple of robes, a small safe and iron/ironing board. The room itself was with a beige carpet and light walls and we had a view of the ocean but we didn’t see much of the main harbor as that was blocked by other skyscrapers.

The bathroom was tiled and in light colors. It featured the same amenities that I’m used to when staying at Traders in Kuala Lumpur and there was a bathtub with a shower option (by using a shower curtain).

We had breakfast at Cafe508 on the lower levels. The breakfast did include most of the stuff that you want for breakfast but maybe we came just after the main rush as it seemed pretty empty and “dirty”.

Location
Located on Queen’s Road West it is not the ideal location of a hotel. The hotel is on Hong Kong Island and a bit west of the center. Both my wife and I had problems getting our taxi drivers to drive us to the hotel even if we tried to say the name of the road. I was on Queen’s Road central and ask my driver to continue west as I knew the road would turn from Queen’s Road Central to Queen’s Road West and the taxi driver just suggested hotels along the way. But note that it is not far to walk to the nearest tram stop and from here you can take the tram to get on the subway. Taxi can be expensive in Hong Kong as it seems like the passenger has to cover the toll when driving through the tunnels from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.

Conclusion
I’m not sure that one night at a hotel gives you enough inside to make a good review. But the bed was comfortable and room was nice but I think I would pick a more centrally located hotel if I was going to spend many days in Hong Kong.

Regards
Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

Check in was fast and efficient and we got room 1513 on the 15th floor. The hotel was opened in 1995 and you can see that the hotel is starting to age a bit. The room we got was smaller than the rooms at e.g. Traders in Kuala Lumpur but I guess this is a general issue in Singapore. The room itself had a king-size bed with just one large duvet which worked out fine. The room was with light color wallpaper and a carpet on the floor. Due to the small room and the light walls you could see that people had bumped into the walls and left marks here and there. Apart from that there was room to put down one suitcase – the other one had to be placed on the floor. There was one chair but no table but there was also a desk and a chair. The desk included quite a lot of stationary and I don’t think I have seen that before (stationary like scissors, yellow pen marker etc).

The bed was quite comfortable and from the side it was possible to control the fan speed of the air con (but to control the temperature you had to use a knob on the wall) and the lighting in the room. There was a flat screen TV in front of the bed and some sort of strange “art work” hanging over it. The view from the room was to the pool on the 4th floor. There was also a mini bar behind a strange wooden door which sort of covered it – it contained just a few drinks but as we were staying on club level we could get free drinks in the club lounge all day.

The wardrobe included some hangers and some drawers and the wardrobe also contained a small safe.  The bathroom was really, really tiny – and with one sink, one toilet and one bathtub there was basically just room for one person in there. The bathtub had a shower option and a shower curtain prevented water from splashing everywhere. This is not my favorite shower solution but it worked. As at Traders in KL there was also a range of amenities ranging from shampoo, body wash to a comb, hair band etc. There was also a bit of smell in the bathroom – nothing really bad but maybe it was the smell of a damp shower curtain?

We got several bottles of water each day complimentary but it is also possible to drink the tap water in Singapore. Internet is now free on all Shangri-La and Traders hotels and we did have to log in every day with room number and a password but it worked out pretty good even if we had several devices connected. The location of the hotel is not bad at all – located on Cuscaden road it is 650 meters from Orchard road. On Orchard road you have to walk another 400 meters to get to the Orachard SMRT subway station. But if you want to take the bus there are also bus stops nearby. There were always taxis around and they do run on meter. There is also a shuttle bus that takes guest to the Orchard road SMRT station every hour.

We had breakfast in both the lounge and at Cafebiz (on the ground floor). The lounge is located on 17th floor and the breakfast here is not as lavish as in Cafebiz. In the lounge you can get some cereal, bread, a few hot dished, eggs made according to your wish etc. It provides a breakfast with a view in more a more quiet environment. The lounge is also the place where you can get afternoon tea or evening cocktails if you stay at Club level. The evening cocktails were served from 5.30 to 7.30 pm and also includes some snack food – but remember there is a lot of good food to eat in Singapore so don’t eat too much in the lounge The girls in the lounge were helpful and nice but we didn’t really use the facilities that much. The lounge seems to be in need of a bit of an upgrade – and how about replacing those uncomfortable chairs by the window The breakfast at Cafebiz is more lavish and typical for 4 and 5 star hotels in Asia. Here you have a wide selection of basically everything that you can imagine for breakfast and a bit more It is of course much bigger than the lounge and nosier.

On the 4th floor there is a pool and it can be worth a visit if you want to cool down a bit as it is more or less always 30 degrees in Singapore. Right next to the pool is the gym and it contained new equipment it seemed like. There is also a spa connected to the hotel and a Swedish type massage for an hour cost about 100 Singapore dollar.

Conclusion
All in all I’m quite happy with the stay at Traders hotel. At 330 Singapore dollar (250 USD) + taxes, the hotel room was quite expensive but Singapore hotels are expensive it seems like. The room was on the small side and the bathroom was really tiny – but at least we had access to a good breakfast and the option of evening cocktails. The service at the hotel is very good and the location is not bad at all – but it would have been better if it was a bit closer to the subway station.  I wouldn’t have any problems with recommending this hotel to friends and family.

Gard
gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

The bathroom was small but pretty smart laid out. There was a shower corner with a glass door, a small sink area, some of the same amenities that I am used to from Traders in KL (but why place them on a shelf over the toilet?) and as it was tiled it was actually pretty nice. The breakfast was not included in the room rate (my mistake) and I had to pay another 75 AED if I’m not mistaken. I always find this a bit annoying as I don’t really eat that much for breakfast. But the breakfast seemed to include all the things that you would expect from a hotel breakfast.

Now over to some of the things that are not that positive. When I opened the curtain in the morning I was looking straight out on a construction site – and it was really just outside the window. When we checked in a pilot came back to the desk and asked for another room as he didn’t want a room facing this construction site so I can only assume that there is some noise from this site during the day. Talking about pilots and airport personnel: this hotel is so close to the airport and it seems to be used as a airport hotel both for people in transit and airline personnel. Not that that is bad but airport hotels normally has a different atmosphere than regular hotels. And as it is close to the airport you also get close encounters with planes taking off or landing which can be cool. If you are using Traders for vacation you should also note that the pool is tiny and it is indoor.

The hotel is located between the airport and the ocean on the Deira side of Dubai. It seems like the centre of Dubai has stretched out from Dubai creek towards Burj Dubai area and Jumeirah so the hotel location might not be the best.

Conclusion
I only stayed at Traders in Dubai for a night and I was planning on using it for vacation in May but I’m now having second thoughts. First of all the second thoughts are connected to the construction site outside the hotel, the location of the hotel and the tiny and indoor pool. The room itself was not bad but the hotel did have an airport hotel atmosphere. So for my vacation in May I will probably choose to stay at a different hotel.

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
View from the Traders lounge on 32nd floorThe 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.

Here is a video from Traders