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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Experience in Sutera Harbour, KK

We were lucky to have a driver to pick us up at the airport when we arrived at KK airport. He sent us to the Pacific Sutera at Sutera Harbour Resort and waited for about 45 minutes for us to check in. 

Why took so long? Well, the receptionist at the counter couldn’t find our name in their computer system. We told them that we had make reservation and they told us that there were no record, and adviced us to check the other hotel (Magellan Sutera). Normally the rate in Pacific Sutera is slightly cheaper than Magellan but the receptionist told us that the rate is RM450 (same as Pacific Sutera). He even make a call to the Magellan side to confirm the price. *RM450 is government rate.

So the driver sent us to the Magellan Sutera and waited for another 30 minutes there. Why again so long? This is because the receptionist at the counter took some time before she FOUND my hubby’s name and the reservation was at Pacific Sutera, not Magellan Sutera. T_T


We told the receptionist (Rozana, who is not friendly nor polite at all) that Pacific side couldn’t find the name, which was why we were being ‘kicked’ to Magellan. Then Rozana said, because the reservation was not under my hubby's name, but under ‘Professional categories’. We have no idea how dumb the system is, couldn’t use the guest’s name to search but have to search under ‘Professional’.  Again, we were told to go back to the Pacific Sutera.
We were exhausted and my princess was cranky too. My hubby told the receptionist that we wanted to cancel our previous booking and move into this current hotel as we just want to get a room to rest.

Then Rozana said, the room rate is RM570, not RM450. We told her that before we came, the receptionist at Pacific Sutera just called to reconfirm the rate. She said, "that rate is for non-peak season. Now is peak, so the price went up". (Peak? I think is PIG, there were less than 5 guests in that big lobby.)

Actually our stay was paid by the 'big 'boss' who actually told us to go ahead, choose any hotel regardless the rate, however, we felt that we shouldn’t keep quiet and got bullied in such a way. So the ‘peak’ season just happened within 10 minutes time? The attitude of Rozana was terrible and the service at the check in counter was hopeless. We got frustrated due to the bad attitude of Rozana. So we decided not to waste our 'boss' money nor our precious time to travel here and there again.

The duty manager who took over our case (Marina) told us that they couldn’t do anything because this is their rate. I told my hubby (in front of that manager) to call up the ‘big boss’ to tell them the situation. My hubby asked the manager whether she wants us to do that, she quickly asked for my hubby’s IC and proceed with the check-in for the rate of RM450. (seems like she doesn't want to get into any trouble.)

While waiting for her to key in the data, my hubby went to unload the luggage from the driver’s car (I feel bad for the driver because his lunch has to get delayed like us due to the lousy service of the hotel), the receptionists tried to ‘play’ with my princess.

Marina said to my princess, "Luckily you are cute. If you are not cute, probably you wouldn’t be able to get a room." What was that? Anyway, I didn’t have my breakfast nor lunch and it was going to be 3pm. I felt strength less to talk back. 

It was nice to bring our things into our room at long last. My princess was asking for milk and nap badly.


The room is not that big but the design is quite unique with a big wooden window at the bathroom wall, which means if you open up the window, the people in the room can see what you are doing in the bathroom. (Compare to Maya Hotel in KL, with a totally transparent glass wall for the bathroom, this is consider conservative though). In the bathroom, there is a shower room and a bath tub as usual.


The bed sheet is nice. Just like other 5 stars hotel, it is very smooth and comfortable. My princess loves it. When she was sitting on the bed, she kept using her feet to rub and feel the different texture of the sheet.


Compare to Shangri-La hotel in Kuala Lumpur, this is like a 3 stars hotel. There is no iron in the room (have to call them up to send over). The deluxe room is small. After we placed the baby cot, we can hardly move around. (They do have nice baby cot for our princess which gave her comfortable sleeps though.)

If you are wondering which hotel is better (Pacific or Magellan), there are some simple comparisons for you to refer. For the lobby, Pacific has air-conditioned whereas Magellan is designed like a big open air longhouse. If you like to experience Malaysia's weather, you will like Magellan’s lobby. 

There are many restaurants at both sides, but for daily lunch buffet, it is only available at Pacific Sutera. Magellan Sutera has lunch buffet once a week (Sunday) only. As for the dine-in menu, there are not many varieties. Prices range from RM28++ to RM80++.

I had spent RM45 (including the tax and tips) for a plate of X.O fried rice, which comes with some boiled Kailan, 3 fried dumplings, 1 bowl of fried rice with garlic and egg, 3 big prawns, fried anchovies and 1 bowl of chicken broth soup . It tastes nice actually though I couldn’t taste any X.O. 


As for the breakfast buffet at Five Sails, the choices are not as much as Shangri-La’s. (Shangri-La's Hotel in KL has Japanese, Western, Malay, Chinese, Italian cuisine with big varieties of salad, cheese, pastry, fruits, cakes, pizzas, dessert such as marsmallow with chocolate fountain etc for breakfast. Love to gain weight there).

However, I love their fresh lettuce and their nasi lemak at Five Sails. The ‘daging deng deng’ (beef sambal), anchovies sambal and squid sambal are very nice. They don’t really change their breakfast menu so staying there for few days in a row, you might feel like eating out at local stalls. 

The tea cup on the table was not clean. I can see stain inside it. When I requested the waitress to change it for me, she went to other tables, pick up one by one to choose (can you imagine other cups are not clean too). Finally she passed me one ‘new cup’ after choosing for quite some time, and inside the cup, there was still some stain but not as bad as the first one I had. Have to use the tissues & fingernail to scrap it off.  Same as the fork on the table, we have to ‘clean’ it before we used. I think the dish washer couldn't clean stain properly?!

There was free wi-fi service at the lobby but not in the room. Although they said the room has free wi-fi, the network wasn't strong enough to get detected. Luckily my iPhone can go online without their network or else will be very inconvenient for me.

Anyway, we didn't manage to dip ourselves inside the pool. I believe the children will enjoy staying in this hotel as the pool looks nice (saw one Korean boy knocked his head when he jumped inside the 1.2 m pool though).


The night scenery is romantic too. It is nice to stroll during evening time. We can see couples having sweet cuddling time along the harbour.

So, after reading my experience in this resort, how will you rate this place?

In order to let the guests have pleasant stays in the hotel, other than the faciliaties have to be well kept, I believe the hotel needs to have proper training and management on their staff so that they provide good customers service at all times.


The reason why I love Shangri-La's hotel in KL is, they have excellent customer service (no matter where the staff are, all of them will greet you with a genuine smile when you pass by or meet them), well designed room with all the things you need, mouth watering breakfast and nice facilities. Hmm....for those who plan to visit KL, try Shangri-La, you will enjoy your stay there for sure. Opps....seems like Shangri-La has stolen the thunder of Sutera Harbour.

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