Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral opened in early March and I stayed there for a night in May during an overnight transit.
Aloft is Starwood’s limited service brand targeted towards the W crowd. The slogan of the hotel is “A Vision of W Hotels”. There are quite a few Aloft hotels in North America and they seem to be slowly spreading to other parts of the world as well.
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Location
The hotel is attached to Kuala Lumpur’s Sentral railway station that has direct airport access using the Airport Express train.
The location of the hotel is great, if you are arriving on a late flight and just need to get to the hotel as soon as possible or you have an early morning flight and prefer having the most painless access to the airport train service.
There are currently (at the time of visit in May) no signage inside the KL Sentral about the hotel. You can ask information desk and they will tell you the way. You just need to get out from the station at one end and the hotel is almost right out.
The second problem is that you need to cross rather busy street and there is no traffic light or walkway. You better walk fast or one of the cars will hit you.
Check In
The hotel was under soft opening and they had quite a few employees working the check in “island”. I had been preassigned a room in advance that was nice.
Room 1409
The Aloft rooms are fairly standard and it is difficult to get too excited about them.
This was not the smallest Aloft room that I had been to. It was fairly sized for a one person.
They had a small amenity waiting for me in the room that was a nice touch and first time ever at an Aloft.
I am not a huge fan of the pump bottles that all the Aloft hotels have. You need to keep pumping for a while to have enough shampoo/conditioner etc. There really should be a better solution for this.
It was a nice touch that the hotel had toothbrush and shaving kit available without having to request them.
Pool
The pool on the top floor is definitely one of the high points of this hotel and has an urban view of the surrounding area.
There are plenty of sun chairs around for lounging purposes.
Fitness Center
The fitness center was not ready at the time of my visit. They had temporarily one set up to one of the conference rooms.
Breakfast
The breakfast at this Aloft is far better than at the Aloft Bangkok and it is served at the Nook restaurant.
The décor of the restaurant was nice, but remember to bring your sweater, as it was freezing cold inside.
Food & Beverage Outlets
There are quite a few restaurants and fast food outlets in the KL Sentral station and some of them are open 24 hours.
There is a Mai Bar on the top floor next to the pool area.
You can have a cigar on the attached cigar room.
The WXYZ bar is on the ground level tucked to a corner.
Remix lounge.
And the usual grab and go Refuel area.
Check Out
As is the case with most of the hotels in Kuala Lumput, I was offered the ability to pay the bill using the currency of my credit card that I declined. This is called Dynamic Currency Conversion that is NEVER beneficial for you.
The Aloft Problem
There are basically no benefits for SPG Platinum members at Aloft hotels. The breakfast is not complimentary, but you can trade your 250 points for it. There are no upgrades, as Aloft hotels are excluded from the Platinum upgrade benefit, and Aloft hotels do not have club lounges.
I had an unobstructed view from my room of the Le Meridien and Hilton hotels that are on the other side of the station. Both of these hotels do offer these amenities. Le Meridien for SPG Platinum members and Hilton for HHonors Gold and Diamond members.
Conclusion
This was likely the best Aloft hotel that I have ever been to. I don’t mind staying there for a quick overnight.
If I am planning to spend some time in Kuala Lumpur, I would choose a hotel in the Bukit Bintang area of the downtown, where you have lot of options within walking distance.
