I recently spent 3 nights at The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur. Built in 1932 it’s one of Kuala Lumpur’s oldest and most luxurious 5 Star hotels. Located in central Kuala Lumpur and only a few minutes drive from KL Sentral Station, Chinatown and other major attractions. Though you’ll struggle to walk anywhere as it’s surrounded by motorways. I paid just MYR 506 (£87) per night for a standard King Room. But happily we were upgraded to a Colonial Suite free of charge. So please read my review (or watch my Youbube video below) to find out if you should stay at The Majestic Hotel!
Location
The location is pretty good. A few minutes a way from KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpurs main railway and metro hub. It’s also right next to the Perdana Botanical Garden which has a few cool sights like the bird park and national mosque. It’s also right next to Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, which despite the important sounding name isn’t really that useful unless you’re heading to Batu Caves (which I highly recommend). Chinatown is about a 10 minute drive too, so overall there’s a lot to see and do nearby.
However, you’ll struggle to walk anywhere as the area is surrounded by highways with no pedestrian crossing. We tried to walk to Chinatown which was about 500m away but it took about 20 minutes as there are no crossings so we just ended up following a convuluted network of elevated walkways. Eventually we gave up on that and just ran accross a 4 lane road. Really terrible city design if you ask me.
I also feel like this part of Kuala Lumpur is much less active than KLCC and Bukit Bintang. Both of those areas where buzzing and had loads of shops and restaurants and were packed with people. Meanwhile the area surrounding The Majestic was basically devoid of people besides a few tourists like us who didn’t know better than to try and walk around.
The Hotel
The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur has 300 rooms split across two buildings. The Majestic Wing is the original hotel building and houses 47 suites (that’s where we stayed). Whilst the more modern Tower Wing was built in 2012 and house 253 rooms. You can see all the different room types here on their website, but there is definitely a big difference between them. The Tower Wing has contemporary, indistinguishable from what you would find in most high end city hotels. Whilst The Majestic Wing has a more colonial style, and honestly feels a bit older and rundown in comparison.
The Majestic’s overall vibe reminds me a lot of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. They both have an early 1900s British colonial style and feel quite old fashioned. Though Raffles is perhaps a bit more luxurious. Whilst The Majestic Hotel is one of Kuala Lumpur’s cheaper 5 star hotels, Raffles is one of Singapore’s most expensive costing around £750 per night.
As you can see, the Colonial Suite is over twice the price of a standard Deluxe King. 931 MYR is equivalent to £157 / $200 per night so I was pretty chuffed to get such a big upgrade. However, on closer inspection I don’t think it’s as good as it seems, for reasons I’ll discuss later. For now at least I’ll just say that whilst you do get a bigger room, it also feels older and is much further from the main hotel area. Most parts of this hotel are based in the Tower Wing (Main restaurant, lobby, pool, event spaces). So the Colonial Suite being in the older Majestic Wing means you’ll spend a lot of time walking down corridors.
The Majestic Wing does have a few redeeming features though. Firstly it felt much calmer than the Tower Wing. Several dining areas are located here, including the Tea Lounge below, where you can have afternoon tea. The entire wing also has a much more old school luxury style, and still has a colonial feeling. Personally I prefer more modern designs, but your mileage may vary.
The Room (Colonial Suite)
The Colonial Suite has a living room, bedroom and bathroom. It has high quality furniture and high ceilings throughout giving the rooms a majestic feel. Though if you inspect closely I do get the impression everything is quite old, e.g. wallpaper starting to crack in corners. Not a huge issue and it doesn’t really detract from the room as a whole. But the more modern rooms in the Tower Wing seemed a bit fresher.
The bed is massive, very soft and with plenty of pillows. There’s also a tv and large wardrobe. Not much else to the room apart from that, but if you open the window you are treated to a very obscured view of the Menara and Petronas Towers in the distance. Though obviously your view would depend on where the room is.
The bathroom was probably the nicest room in the suite. With very clean quality stone tiling througout and a large, deep bath. There’s also a large rain shower. My only complaint is that there isn’t much space on the sink counter, so you may not be able to fit all your toiletries. Some amenities, such as toothbrush kit, are also provided. And shampoo and body wash are from a Malaysian brand called Mangosteen, which were just ok.
Lastly the living room was the largest and most comfortable space, though did feel a bit sparse. The sofa for instance lacked any cushions. That just seems like a very simple addition to add a lot of comfort so not really sure why they haven’t. Also there are two curtains in this room but the windows don’t really provide any natural light (in my room at least) so it felt a bit dark despite oppresive.
The large desk came in handy when I decided to edit some Youtube videos. And finally, there’s a mini bar with a few (expensive) soft drinks. Then complimentary coffee machine plus tea and bottled water.
In the evenings (about 18:30), housekeeping would knock on the door and offer a turndown service. That’s a nice touch and all but personally I think it’s totally unnecessary. And I always find they come exactly when we’re getting ready to go out, which is the not a convenient time for them to come in the room.
And lastly I’ll just add one small complaint about the room service. We found the default aircon temperature to be too cold so increased it to 24 degrees. Each day when the housekeeper came and made the room they would change it back down to 19 degrees. Not life threatening but mildly annoying at least.
Breakfast (served by the main lobby)
On our first day we arrived to breakfast at 9am on a Sunday morning and it was completely full. We had to wait a few minutes to be seated and overall it was loud and hectic. So I’d recommend you go to breakfast slightly earlier to avoid the rush. Our second day we arrived at 8am and it was much calmer.
They have a selection of all the major cuisines you would expect: Western, Malaysian, Chinese, Indian. All the buffet food is arranged around two central islands. And inside each island chefs are preparing made to order items (e.g. omelette). And given the hotel is quite large the breakfast area is massive.
I went for an eclectic mix of all cuisines on offer. Hash browns and baked beans to satisfy my British palette. Then a chinese bao bun, Malaysian beef rendang, an indian fried roll I can’t remember the name of and some noodles. Everything tasted good, though the beef rendang was overly tough, disappointing considering we’re in Malaysia.
There’s a good selection of juices too. And for tea and coffee you can either make it yourself at a machine. Alternatively they have a barista making coffee to order. Though there was a long queue for that so I just used a machine.
Everything Else
There are two pool at The Majestic Hotel. First in the Tower Wing on the 4th floor (I think) there’s a rooftop pool which has some impressive views of the city’s skyscrapers. It’s relatively pleasant with lots of sunbeds and a roof garden to the side. Though noise levels are also pretty high as it’s overlooking a 4 lane highway. The second outdoor pool is on the ground floor of the Majestic Wing, also next to a road. I didn’t have a look at this one, but at least you have options.
There’s also a gym, though I didn’t try it out so can’t say much about that either.
Final Thoughts
Overall The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur is a pretty solid 5 star hotel. Of course I appreciated the free room upgrade and for the low price of MYR 506 (£87) per night it felt like an absolute bargain. I will say that parts of the hotel felt a bit rundown with age, but it was only noticeable if you’re looking closely. And the overall design and feel of the hotel was impressive too, especially if you’re a fan of British colonial style (I’m not especially). The food at breakfast was good and the location is great, easy to get to KL Sentral station and then the airport.
Good:
- Location is great if you’re driving.
- One of the cheaper 5 star hotels in Kuala Lumpur
- Very Majestic building and decor
- Tasty breakfast
- free room upgrade!
Bad:
- Quite an old fashioned vibe and the Majestic Wing rooms especially feel a bit shabby around the edges.
- Very difficult to walk to many nearby places (e.g. Chinatown) due to all the highways
- Room service reset the air conditioning each day
More from me…
Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:
- Malaysia Airlines Economy A350-900 – Great food on a 13 hour flight
- Singapore Airlines Fantastic Regional Business – Saigon to Singapore on a 787-10
- Singapore Airlines Economy from London to Singapore – As Good as People Say?
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