This month, Oi Vietnam covered the Kuala Lumpur International Fashion Week 2018, while staying in luxury at Le Meridien KL—among the city’s most comfortable and conveniently-located hotels.
It would be remiss to discuss the fashion week itself without detailing the sheer convenience of its partnered accommodation provider. Part of the trepidation in visiting new cities, especially when your focus is on the glamor of the fashion industry, is that grounding yourself as a new arrival will be the kind of hassle that could occupy much of your first day in town—nobody wants to take hours navigating their way to and around their hotel.
With its walkway connection to the KL Sentral transport hub (itself linking seamlessly to the airport via KLIA Express) we didn’t have to step outside even once all the way from Tan Son Nhat airport through to our fabulous room at the hotel. It was straight through customs, onto the AirAsia aircraft, back through the labyrinthine walkways of KLIA2 and then onto the train. Le Meridien is super easy to find once you arrive at the Sentral terminal—signs direct guests up the stairs and over a walkway—and before you know it, you’re standing in the lobby as if having emerged from a tunnel that extended here all the way from Saigon.
The lobby represents everything that’s extraordinary about this hotel—expansive design, color, local panache and a hint of unconventionality. Le Meridien’s lobby is like a wheel that sees visitors spiralling around the foyer between the exits and elevators up to the rooms around a semicircular welcome desk that opens up to the venue’s café and relaxation areas.
The rooms themselves are calm-grey minimalist masterpieces that make an understated yet appreciative nod to the local culture of Malaysia with its batik-print murals over the beds. A set of welcome gifts from the hotel and the fashion week sponsors lay waiting at the bedside, including branded chocolate wafer cigars and two BUCKETS of delicious Kek & Co. cookies in nutella and turkish delight flavors. No hesitation in recommending this bakery to anyone stopping by KL.
The delights of the room were in its subtleties, the easy-to-miss details. More A/C outlets than are strictly necessary took the worry out of recharging devices, especially when using your mobile in bed while plugged in. A spacious workstation desk made typing on the laptop comfortable and effortless. Double Malin+Goetz toiletry sets meant there was always some to spare. Staying at Le Meridien was supremely relaxing; there was nothing that was ever of concern or trouble, and the view over the city gave an impressive perspective of the size and spread of Kuala Lumpur.
One unmissable part of staying at fine hotels is the buffet breakfast. Le Meridien’s Latest Recipe was especially pleasing for its breakfast range and cooking stations. No matter where you’re from in the world, there was plenty of familiar delights and exotic treats to select from; French bakery items, Chinese dimsum, Russian potato crepes, roasted chicken, racks of fresh fruits and juices, and other Malay, Indian, Japanese and Western dishes, some of which are prepared “a la minute.” Free-flow espresso coffee competed fiercely with the gourmet Harney & Sons tea sachets on the tabletop.
What really makes this hotel a stand-out family venue is the pool. Interconnected with the neighboring Hilton Kuala Lumpur on Level Eight, the swimming pool is among the most expansive we’ve ever seen at a comparable hotel, shaped like a series of interconnected naturally-occurring channels that offer straight lines for exercise as well as quiet corners for two. For kids, a play area with twisting waterslides will see most children begging parents to spend the days splashing around at the hotel rather than traipse around the inner city.
Le Meridien’s finely-appointed rooms and facilities make it an ideal base for exploring the KL, perfectly aligning with the fashion event in terms of sheer class and style.
