A staycation and travel addict who tries to toe the balance between living the atas life and maintaining some resemblance of financial sanity.
This was the choice of accommodation for an impromptu trip and I think I did the best I can considering all the random criteria for where to stay. Also the first time I booked a Hilton property via OTA haha.
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] Hilton Kuala Lumpur”
Decided to try out this 2-weeks old property against my brains telling me to stop trying hotels so new. But my obsession with new hotels was too strong and I bit the bullet to bring the family there for our quick hop over the causeway.
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] Sheraton Johor Bahru”
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.
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] Dusit Princess Melaka”
This was an impromptu trip to clock more Bonvoy double elite nights and figured I will do a short review of the property. I stayed here ages ago so its also worth seeing if the property is holding up okay, being the only Bonvoy property in the city. This was also a short stay so this review will also be rather condensed.
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] Renaissance Johor Bahru”
This was my choice of hotel for an impromptu trip booked only 1 week proper, somewhat incentivized by the current Bonvoy promotion of double elite nights. It was the second cheapest property in Kuala Lumpur so I decided to go for it – was excited to experience a new neighborhood too!
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] Hotel Stripes Kuala Lumpur, Autograph Collection”
Well, this was impromtu.
Such was the joy of knowing the fuss-free re-opening of land borders to Malaysia that we woke up at 5am to leave for a last-min trip to the land of gula melaka. The planned 1-nighter also made DoubleTree an impractical option (and too expensive) to explore the streets, so Ibis it was. I admit I was a little apprehensive about an older Ibis property especially when the state of maintenance is unknown but onwards we went!
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] Ibis Melaka”
I’ve actually kind of stalked this place every since it transformed from being a Trader’s. Online pics of it showed the refurbished vibrant colors and youthful outlook. I thought to myself I will try this property one day!
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] Hotel Jen Penang by Shangri-La”
This is my 3rd DoubleTree experience but my first a resort property.
I stalked Tripadvisor prior to my visit and saw some negative reviews of the property including stained sofas etc. But I steeled myself knowing it cannot be that bad as it still carries the Hilton brand. Plus my reservation was non refundable.
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Penang”
I kind of regret picking this hotel over JW Marriott, Sigh.
If only I’d known I would be Platinum Elite with Bonvoy at the time of my stay. And thanks to my itchy fingers, I wanted to try somewhere else other than Westin which I’ve stayed for the past 2 trips. And I didn’t quite get around to booking JW before prices went up from MYR630 to MYR700.
I mean, how bad can a Banyan Tree be right.
This trip would prove me wrong unfortunately.
Continue reading “[Hotel Review] Pavilion Hotel Kuala Lumpur Managed by Banyan Tree”
Spurred by a life changing event (well, kind of), I decided to run away for a short trip. Perhaps the most life changing part of the trip was that I paid $300 for a ticket from Singapore.
THREE HUNRED. FOR A 1-HR FLIGHT.
To make things worse, the price had increased by $40 overnight since I last checked the night prior but decided I know better and told myself that prices won’t go up when I was asleep. I’m still convincing myself that some higher powers up there wanted me to max out the Amex offer of 3 bonus miles per $1 spent, up to $300. Hello miles, goodbye money.