This was an impromptu booking made after we made the painful decision to cancel our Surabaya trip due to the recent riots. With the trip dates only 3 days away coupled with the start of the school holidays, everything was mad expensive – flight tickets to KL was over $400 per pax. UGH.

So… a family road trip to Melaka it became and congrats to us that this hotel had recently opened – a new life from what used to be Ramana Plaza Melaka.

Address – Jalan Bendahara, Melaka, 75100 Malaysia. Website.

Contact – Tel: +60 6 284 8888. Email: reservation.dpmm@dusit.com.

Location – The property actually enjoys quite a prime location in the city, although not as prime as Jonker Street area. In the immediate vicinity are local eats, coffeeshops, and convenience stores which were quite fun to explore, even if it meant unsheltered walks.

Price – we booked 1x Dusit Club Queen and 1x Dusit Club Twin under the “Member Save Offer Room Only” promo for MYR538nett per night which I thought was decent for the inclusions of club access – this meant breakfast and evening cocktails were covered each day. And actually the difference between a regular Deluxe / Premier rooms and Club room were only MYR50ish per night so it was a no- brainer.

One thing I do have to point out is that their categorizing of room types can be confusing as they have “Dusit Club” which was what I booked, and then “Dusit Club Executive” which specifically mentions access to Dusit Club Lounge. For a while I thought what I booked didn’t include club access as the description only states ‘exclusive privileges” but I needn’t have to worry as it turned out BOTH room types offer club access. Would recommend their comms team rephrase as necessary to avoid any confusion.

Pre-arrival – I reached out with a connecting room request and parking queries which were not replied to until I followed up via the Dusit app chat function (very useful although somewhat clunky to use). I also found out via the chat that parking is complimentary for in-house guests at their multi storey carpark – but I do wonder about the Porsche-designated mention as I did not see any Porsche parked there throughout my stay. Hmmm.

Getting There – we took a road trip from Singapore and arrived tired and restless – and the old-ish vibe of the hotel lobby didn’t help. Guess this didn’t get alot of love from the refurbishment?

Check In – we arrived on a Friday around 1:30pm and was immediately attend to, including given each a glass of some matcha milk thingy which was only alright. The staff confirmed that we had been given connecting rooms (yay) and didn’t require any deposit but I thought it was not ideal that there weren’t any welcome letter containing info for Club guests, nor proactively provided breakfast info.

It was also a major BOO that the key cards received fresh from their hands did NOT work even for the elevators and we had to turn around to the front desk AGAIN.

Room – Dusit Club (37SqM) / Dusit Club (Twin)

(for the purpose of this review, I will focus on the Queen room as that’s where I slept)

The guest floor hallway was a breathe of fresh air compared to the lobby and was a good sign of things to come indeed. The rooms were indeed all modern, with light beige tones all around, and worthy of highlight being the (still) clean carpets!

For both our rooms, 2302, and 2303, the doorway opens up to a walkway with an enclosed functional wardrobe:

After crossing the hallway is a spacious enough bathroom with a single sink, open concept toilet, and a separate standing shower space. One-time use toiletries were provided which was a refreshing change after UK where everything is provided only upon request. But oddly enough, there was only shower gel and shampoo in the shower, and I had to request for hair conditioner —- and body lotion was brought over which I thought worked as well (haha!) as I didn’t look too carefully and used it mistakenly.

The main bedroom space is spacious and quite complete with a comfy bed and spacious bedside tables with lighting controls and power points. Also no idea why I got love swans and petals etc on my bed.

For chillaxing, there is a chaise lounge with a coffee table on which sat some welcome fruits. And a proper work desk which I thought was super cute with the colonial-design-but-new furniture pieces set up.

The mini bar was a small set up between the bed and the bathroom and contains the expected items in a regular mini bar so no surprises here. I forgot to take pics but as Club guests, the snacks and drinks here are one-time complimentary – a small pack of peanuts, chips, and soft drinks.

And this is where I confess I get annoyed when we book connecting rooms but STILL have to call them separately to ask for the doors to be opened – If we didn’t want them opened, we wouldn’t have requested as such? In any case, it took them lots of time to sort out the doors as multiple keys didn’t work and extra help was sought from different colleagues. They eventually did when we were out exploring the city so all good in the end.

(spot the attentive staff who took off his shoes before entering versus the other who did not)

And last but not least, we did have awesome views from our rooms! Never have I seen Melaka river from this way before 🙂

Dusit Club Lounge – Located on level 24 was the Dusit Club lounge which was a chillax spot for us every evening: hours as follow:

According to the email response I eventually received from the property pre- arrival, Dusit Club Privileges include:

• Private check-in and access to the Dusit Club Lounge.
• In-room Nespresso machine with daily capsule replenishment.
• Mini bar with complimentary soft drinks and snacks (one-time, upon arrival).
• Welcome fruit platter upon arrival.
• Continental breakfast at Zest (for Room Only bookings) or Buffet breakfast at Zest (for Room with Breakfast bookings).
• Complimentary open bar featuring mocktails, light evening canapés, and desserts from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM at Dusit Club Lounge.
• All-day free flow of coffee, tea, soft drinks, juices, and light dry snacks at the Club Lounge.
• Complimentary pressing of 2 pieces of clothing (suit or dress) per arrival.

Remarks:

• The Dusit Club Lounge is open daily from 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM, offering light refreshments throughout the day.
• Finger foods, light snacks, and desserts are served based on our chef’s daily selection.
• Continental breakfast is served at Zest Restaurant from 6:30 AM to 10:30 AM.

I found the club lounge a very lovely space with plenty of seats, mostly sofas with low tables and a handful of proper dining tables along the window length. Such a pretty place and the first club lounge experience in Melaka for me!

All-day snacks comprised of cookies / nuts / soft drinks / coffee / teas which were expected.

Evening cocktails (5:30pm-7:30pm)

Unfortunately, a chaotic affair as the space filled up superfast and the 1-2 staff seemed completely overwhelmed during this peak period – they basically spent their time constantly refilling food & drinks which were sadly pretty basic items with frozen paus, spring rolls, petite cakes, and sushis.

Almost no proteins, so carb avoiders probably will not be able to make a meal out of the session.

Alcohol faired better as there were 1x white, 1x red, 2x beers, and 1x cider on offer, alongside 4x basic spirits which we didn’t try.

Overall, I felt the experience didn’t quite pair well with the really pretty space and the food & drinks felt like an afterthought. I suppose perhaps some thought could have gone into offering some local flavors of Melaka at least? Oh wells.

Breakfast – served at Zest from 6:30am-10:30am, the restaurant on level 1 was not as big as I expected and expecting a mad crowd the next morning, I took some pictures off-hours while it was still peaceful.

One thing worthy of highlight is that while the Club benefits clearly state only continental breakfast (versus full breakfast) applies to Club guests with room-only bookings, it was not applied to me – I simply quoted our room numbers at the desk and they let us in with no differentiation. All the better for us!

The property was not joking when they said 8:30am onwards was the breakfast peak hours so it was not possible for me to take proper pics of the spread but for what its worth, there were plenty on offer but tasted only okay for most stuff. Best things I tried were fried egg, peanuts, and ikan bilis. Perhaps those carbs tasted better?

Adding to the crowd chaos was the non-system of seating guests and relying on manual sight to spy if tables were available for new guests or not, and simple stuff like having only 2 coffee machines for the entire crowd, with each them being needy at different times (empty ground container, refill of water, more beans needed etc), leading to a long waiting line at most times. So get your coffee early guys!

Facilities – I used the gym once during my stay and found the space located on level 8 surprisingly big with cardio peeps being able to get a good view of the Melaka neighbourhood – nice!

Pool located on Level 9 was a large rectangle enough for proper laps but truly very sunny on my visit.

Service – some service blips here and there and I do think there can be areas for improvement like the check in experience and polishing of club service, but I think I cannot complain much for the price point even as it is one of the more expensive properties in the city now.

Check Out – painlessly done and we needed to validate our car plate numbers with the front desk prior to exiting the carpark for complimentary parking as in-house guests (also applies for multiple exits during the stay)

In Summary,

now my favorite hotel in Melaka while the rooms are still nice and new! And while I think the Club offerings can be improved, the small incremental in price still makes booking a Club room worth it.