GRAND HYATT Kuala Lumpur - grand and fabulous!

Hello Dear Readers,

... and #TouchseGoesAsia adventure continues!

Those of you who've read my previous blog post know that my path from Koh Samui to Kuala Lumpur was a little rocky, but finally, I got to Kuala Lumpur Airport and met my driver and his assistant.

FINALLY, I'M IN MALAYSIA, KUALA LUMPUR!

The first thing they did, was taking a long look, then another one...then they looked at each other  - wait a minute, I know what's going on! They are having discussions with each other about my huge amount of luggage - didn't need to know the language to understand that.
Can't blame them though, as I did have plenty of it because of the story told in my previous blog post.

I had arranged a transportation service via my hotel, Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, and I chose Mercedes Benz with a driver to pick me up, cause I really love Mercedes Benz cars, I have one and there are 3 others too in my family.
However, I didn't think of the amount of luggage that I'd have while I booked a regular sized car...

After their chat these very nice, friendly men, like a miracle, managed to fit all of my luggage to the trunk of the car, I still don't get it, how on earth did they do it? Kudos to them!

From the moment I met them, I realized that this service was on par. The driver was an absolute gentleman. Answered my questions if I had any but other than that just let me be as I just wanted to enjoy the view, after all, those were my first moments in the beautiful country of Malaysia.

Unfortunately, I missed the sunset while we were driving to the hotel, I saw glimpses of it, but not enough to take photos, but it sure looked absolutely stunning!

It took about 45-50 minutes to drive to the hotel, but I didn't mind. I really love traveling and watching the surroundings, the approaching city and the skyline against the darkening sky were just fascinating. I felt so happy, free and blessed to be able to do such things.

I had this feeling, very strong feeling that I am going to like this place. It seemed nothing I had expected. For some reason I expected Kuala Lumpur to be more like for example Bangkok. They have similarities being big cities with lots of traffic, however, even the traffic seemed more organized here, more like in western countries than in Asia. In Kuala Lumpur, everything seemed to be more organized, cleaner and somehow more London/New York type of metropolitan like.

I could tell we were getting closer to the area where my hotel was, as I started to see high-rise buildings, stores, office buildings, it just looked like a really wealthy area, and the more we drove the more excited I got. Then I saw them: the Petronas towers, WHOA! Impressive to say the least!
What? No photos? Don't worry, there will be some nice shots just a little later on this blog!


GRAND HYATT KUALA LUMPUR

Finally, the driver told me that we are now at the hotel. Not until then I realized that we really are right next to the towers. Loved it!

The Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur is right there, next to the actual city, and yet, it is still very easy to take a ride out to discover some culture or for example historic sites. Oh, and some great shopping malls also nearby if you feel like it... Also, the convention center as well as the aquarium are literally right next to the hotel, couldn't be more convenient.

By the way, I'm so sorry I don't have any photos of the entrance of this magnificent hotel, apparently, I was too tired to remember to take them upon my arrival! )Thus, here's a photo I took of the entrance when leaving...)

And you may see more photos of this beautiful hotel here (just click the link below.
Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur - Hotel Features

My ride, that lovely Mercedes Benz pulled over, right next to the hotel's entrance. My bags were taken care of, one of the ladies of the staff (not sure of the actual position, guest relations, I presume) greeted me and told me all the formalities that you usually get to hear when arriving at the hotel. I loved the fact that her English was so fluent and very easy to understand. Too bad I was too tired to remember any of the things she told me...

The hotel lobby is very clean, beautiful design, clean lines, different textures to bring warmth as well as my kinds of shapes, and still looking very modern, cosmopolitan, with a twist of Asian culture.

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I was escorted to the elevators and to my great surprise we went all the way up to the 38th floor, that's where the club room level check-in happens. The 360 panoramic view at Sky lobby was just incredible.
So, we took care of all the basic check-in proceedings. Then what surprised me though, was the fact that they bothered to inform me that since it's 8 pm already, the cocktail hour at the Grand Club Lounge is officially over, but if I wanted, they can call to the Club Lounge and make sure that I can have couple of drinks if I wanted to. Service at its best! I'm a big fan of high-quality service and that is exactly what they provide you with in this hotel!

Although I truly appreciated the gesture, I had just traveled 12 hrs so I politely said that I'll pass the opportunity and will do it the next night.  I was just ready to go to my room and get some rest so that I get to enjoy this fabulous place to its full capacity on the following day.

LIFTS - to go down you need to up

They also explained me all the tip and tricks on how to use the elevators. I was quite confused in the end and I think that it would be more convenient if all that was explained on paper with some figures etc. to make it more understandable. Hotel's floor plan with the complicated elevator system is really confusing and I didn't quite get it until next day's evening after some rest.

Although, that didn't really matter because there was always some staff member around that was happy to provide you with an advice or escort you to where ever it is that you were going in case you got a little lost, like I did. So nothing to worry about really, just another little adventure there, within an adventure.

One tip that I still remember was: To go down, you need to up.
What that meant was if one was on the club floor, I had to go up first and then jump into another lift in order to get down to the ground floor.

The Grand Club was on 37th floor. My room was on the 33rd floor. When I was escorted to my room I was, at that point, just so tired (happy but tired) that only thing I was looking for was a shower and a bed.


FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE ROOM?

I LIKE IT!

When the door opened to my room (room type was Grand Club), I saw the most amazing view ever (at least in terms of city surroundings) and forgot for a moment that I was tired at all.
The Petronas Twin Towers stood there, right in front of me, with all the amazing night lights! My room had fabulous floor-to-ceiling windows and it seemed like a wall-sized live piece of art.
The feeling was surreal, how can a building be so beautiful! (After all, I've always been more nature loving type.)

All the curtains were open and that gigantic wall sized window appointed directly to the towers. I think I forgot to close my mouth for a moment, I just kept staring at this view. What have I done so right in my life that I get to do such things? How lucky am I? I get to experience something this simple, so elegant, so extravagant and still just simply breathtakingly fabulous and unforgettable!

I took off my shoes, sat on my bed, then got up, I couldn't even sit down, I was just overwhelmed by the beauty of this view. At that moment it was clearer than ever before, I really want to travel as much possible. I want to be able to see such places and get this feeling of happiness that cannot even be described.

Room service...

I realized that I don't want to leave my room for dinner so I just sat by the desk to read the hotel info and ordered dinner via room service.
I had a couple of special wishes as well, such as a bucket of ice (in order to keep my chocolates freezing cold) and also I needed a tooth brush as I left it to the previous hotel. No problem at all. One thing I really loved was the fact that if you were in need of something and didn't want to open the door to get it, there was also an option where they just leave the item in a small bag hanging to your door and they just knock your door in order for you to  know that the item has arrived. (For example, if you just came out of the shower, this is very convenient, instead of getting fully dressed in order to get the item needed.)

When you call the guest service someone always answers, immediately, and is always happy and willing to help and no question or request seems to be too complicated. Not even when I explained that after I have emptied my broken bag, someone should take care of it until the Lost & Found office's representative picks it up. No problem.

I also appreciated the fact that through the entire stay, every time I ordered something they made sure I had everything I needed, instead of just delivering what they were supposed to. Made me feel like they actually really care.

I love this place!!!

Only within maybe 10 minutes everything I had asked for had been delivered. Every person that came to deliver or pick up something was very kind and discreet. Didn't chat if I didn't start but if I did, were very polite and open for a small chat and, also their English was good enough to have a chat with a guest, which I find always respectful.

Oh, by the way, I have to mention, they have an excellent WI-FI connection there, which was really important for me as I needed to post some videos etc. which would not have been possible with the bad internet. Much appreciated.

I took a quick shower and then sat down to my bed and started my dinner. I think I remember that moment forever! I was so tired and hungry and had an excellent meal along with the most epic view. I am so lucky!

I took about 10 photos of the towers, it was so unbelievable, I almost had to pinch myself to make sure it's real. I had heard that they are beautiful but this was much more than I expected.


NOW A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT MY ROOM

Room's floor plan & design

The Grand Club room is modern and contemporary design, with warm colors and various textures. I felt it had all the amenities I could ask for.

There was a small entrance area, then you turn to your left and there is a walking wardrobe/dressing room, which I specifically loved as it had many quite necessary amenities there and enough storage space for my stay as it was only 2 nights. Plenty of space to hang my clothes, drawers, etc.

From the left: Make-up nook, powder room, walkin wardrobe/dressing room with safe.

Next to the dressing room, behind the wooden door, there was a powder room, which was clean and spacious enough. Next to powder room, there was a little makeup nook, which I personally found to be very handy!

You see the vanity when you turn around from the nook and then, behind the corner is the bed and the VIEW. This floor plan actually is quite practical as the bed (and the view thereof) are the center piece of it all, but still, there is plenty of room for a daybed/sofa in one corner and the desk in the other.
On the other side of the bed, behind the corner, there was a coffee/tea making facilities' corner/nook, along with the minibar.


Bathroom

The bathroom was right in the middle of the floor plan, behind the bed, between the vanity and the coffee making/mini bar area. I absolutely loved the bathroom. It had frosty switch on - switch off privacy wall, which you can see in the photo below. There was a lovely big rain forest shower head on the ceiling! It really was bathroom well designed, style and functional-wise. There was a beautiful marble bath on the other side and shower area even with a seat on the other side. Towel rail was set outside the glass door, which was smart as it didn't take space out of the small bathroom and also towels stayed dry during the shower.

As quite standard to a 5-star hotel, there lot of high-quality amenities: shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, lotion, shower cap et.


Desk area

The glass desk may not be the most practical one as it gets dirty quite easily, but design-wise it's a clever solution as since you can see through the glass, so it gives you an illusion that the room is bigger than it actually is, or it's emptier than it is, to be precis as the desk doesn't seem to take that much space being a see-through - very smart move from the designer's part.
However, if you think this more from the practical point of view, having a desk and the one sitting next to it allocated to face the room, it means that the guest actually sits back towards that million dollar view, which may not be smart.
Further, if you put your laptop in front of you, you might see nothing because of the bright light coming outside, from the window, right behind you, meaning the sun shines directly to your computer screen and we all know what that means. You don't see a thing.

So I was thinking, perhaps the table could be set so that the glass part would be set on the window's side? This way, one sitting by the desk can see that stunning view and use the laptop as now the sun doesn't shine to one's screen, but the back of the laptop. Also when guest wants to used the desk, they don't have to walk all the way around it in order to sit down, if the class deck was on the window's side.

Not sure if it can be done and not a major deal for me, but might be for someone who really needs to work there a lot. I bet they need to close the curtains and make room dark and, with those soft electric lights, it turns into night mood if curtains are closed, which makes working harder because you get more tired without daylight.

Let me say this though, this was so minor, one single little fault in that room that I wouldn't mind, not at all, I'd return in a heart beat, this hotel is so stunning (well, actually already have, this comment has been added later, been there twice now!)

Next to the desk area there is a round shape sofa/sitting area, which I really like, it is a clever design and fits perfectly to that room.


Quality!

I've stayed at about 240-250 hotels around the world and this room was one of those rooms that you really can't find anything to fault here. Trust me, since my business is all about finding every single little flaw in a hotel, I would see them immediately if there were some. Of course, there's always some minor things that could be better, but in comparison to many other hotels I've been to, this really was an excellent room.

It was not a suite so I wouldn't compare it to any presidential suites or penthouses, that wouldn't even be fair, but for the basic Grand Club room type, it had a clever floor plan, nice design, spacious enough, very clean, basically spotless, and the best part, or maybe I should say, most important part in terms of having a pleasant stay, was without a doubt its bed. It was so comfortable, they even had perfect foam pillows, which I always ask for - loved the pillow menu.

I felt like a princess when I went to bed and fell asleep watching that amazing view, Petronas towers and their night lights..

(Yes, I left the curtains open as I wanted to wake up to that view).

It’s amazing how quiet and peaceful the hotel is considering that it’s in the middle of the big city and when looking out of the wall of windows you see so much traffic, you’d think that it feels hectic and wouldn’t be relaxing but for me, it was on the contrary. Lights of towers and their water feature were absolutely mesmerizing to watch at night time.

And to be able to see all this, when you open your eyes in the morning makes you think you're probably still dreaming!

New day, new city, new incredible view and a whole new bunch of adventures ahead!



BREAKFAST

Since I had one of those Grand Club rooms I was entitled to enjoy my breakfast at the Grand Club lounge on the 37th floor, where it's peaceful and quiet.

Right when I walked out of the lift the host of the club was there to greet me and was very discreet when asking for my room number whereas in some hotels staff feels almost rude when asking for it and you almost get that guilty feeling even for being there, even when paying big bucks for it, but not here.
This lovely young lady was extremely kind and once I told her of my allergies she was immediately ready to handle the situation and went to the kitchen to figure out which of the foods that were there in a breakfast buffet were fish, peanut and gluten-free. I had plenty of bread, eggs, fruits, yogurt etc. to eat, I lacked nothing even with my allergies and restrictions, respect!!

Breakfast had both Asian and European style servings there, which I’m sure pleased many guests. I didn’t even want to check out the regular breakfast area so I have no information thereof, as I really enjoyed the Club area’s ambiance and that excellent hospitality.

The Grand Club Lounge view is unreal. I almost forget to eat as I was so mesmerized by this view!

I had my favorite table where to sit at, during the lunch and the dinner later that night, as well as the following morning. It had fabulous views, not total 360, but I’d say good 180 degrees. What really surprised me was the park that was right below, right next to the hotel. Lush, grand, green park with swimming pool and children’s playground area – in the middle of the city. I don’t think there was a better location for said hotel than this particular place was!

If you want to see more of the view, CHECK OUT this link below:

View from the Grand Club Lounge

It doesn't make the views justice, but it does give you an idea of what it's like and why you should choose this hotel if you like proper city & park views.

After admiring the view to the park for a while, despite the fact that I was quite tired because of all the traveling, working etc. I felt I have to check out the park myself.

Even though I had my breakfast at the 37th floor, I wanted to see the actual breakfast room too. Here are some wonderful photos thereof. I promise you, if I didn't have my food intolerances, I would explode eating all that amazing delicious food they had in there.

Next thing I had to do was to go back to my room and organized someone to come and pick up my broken suitcase. It turned out it had all been sorted out with Lost & Found and that someone was coming to get it already. Being proactive is one of the biggest signs of professionalism, and they certainly know that part here at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur. Scandinavian people are quite strict, on time and want to do things well, and immediately. So, you can imagine how much I appreciated when that's exactly how things were handled, especially since I just really wanted to get rid of that suitcase!


HOTEL'S INTERIOR

Next I had, once again, one of my little adventures with those lifts, I was so confused how to use them, I almost felt like a fool, but I had luckily my excuse, the fatigue.. (Never a dull moment with me!) It's difficult to even explain how those lifts operate, but once on site, you'll find out what I mean. Anyway, after some further advice from the Grand Club lounge's helpful personnel, I finally figured them out and managed to get my self to the "conference entrance side" of the hotel, which was the most convenient way to get to the park according to the advice that was given to me.
I have to say though, this hotel has such a beautiful interior design, that I didn't mind wandering around. I walked around good 1-2 hrs in total while there, just photographing, it due to it's clean, calm, warm and yet extremely stylish decor.

Hotel's 37th and 38th floor have stunning views all over the city, but, naturally, the view is the most impressive during the sunset, but also, at daytime, it is very hard to beat those views.

It was actually a bit cloudy outside, which was fine with me as the temperature was +30 C anyway. For someone that may sound horrible, but I absolutely loved it!! Ok, to the park. So I asked one of the security guards (of which there were plenty, which I appreciated) some instructions on how to get to the park as it's not as easy if you don't know the short cuts.
However, this particular guard didn't speak very good (well, quite poor actually) English, so directions were somewhat useless. I decided to try anyway and walked towards the Convention center as advised. For some reason - perhaps because I was so tired - I seemed to lose my sense of direction and about 20 minutes later I found myself back to the hotel entrance - what the heck? Where's the park?!

Trust me, I felt stupid as looking down from 33rd & 37th floor it looked like it was right there. (As you can see from the photos.)
Well, somehow it turned out not to be that simple. Usually, I have quite good navigating skills in cities (surprisingly not so good in the woods, even though I love hiking & camping!) but I guess my fatigue took over this time.

I started to feel like giving up - which is very unlike me and decided to go to the park on the following day. So back to my room I went. However, I had seen the hotels pool area from the lounge's window and wanted to see if it was any good so got my book and some other items and, after another little lift adventure (by that time I hadn't quite figured it out yet, it wasn't until later that day that I did) I finally found the way to the pool area.

The area on this level is very calming and you can actually sense the presence of Asian spa, which I found very relaxing.

The access to that area was right next to the spa, which I didn't use this time, but I noticed that they were offering many, pampering Malaysian spa therapies - which, I'm sure, would've been so relaxing too bad I didn't have time for it.

There was also a 24-hr gym there, which seemed to be very well equipped, but since they didn't have any gear for practicing Krav Maga (punching bags etc.) I decided to skip the sports for the day and just go to the pool area.

There was someone at the front desk of the spa & gym area at all times, so just go over there if you need to use them or book any services etc. They speak excellent English and are more than happy to help.


POOL AREA 

To my great surprise, there were only maybe 5-8 people there. No worries, I don't mind at all, more for me - and I get to choose my spot. And what an excellent spot I chose - check out these photos!

French fries wouldn't usually be my first option as an afternoon snack, but for some reason, perhaps because of the hot, humid day, I felt like I wanted some so I ordered some fries and diet coke from the very polite waiter. They had, in my opinion, such a nice pool bar menu but I just didn't feel like having anything else as I had a proper breakfast and don't eat that much when it's hot.

I spent good 1-2 hours by the pool, took plenty of photos, read my book, had my snack and just relaxed. It was surprising how relaxing the area was, considering the fact that there were busy roads right there. The sun came out, it was truly hot and humid - and I loved it even more. It's funny how everyone who knows me says that I should love winter since I'm from Finland's Lapland, well, sorry guys but I don't - I love the hot and humid weather, I literally feel my body singing Hallelujah as it feels so good!

I think I found a paradise in the middle of the city. I'm one super lucky girl!

Ok, enough for the sun, time to go back to my room to enjoy the view and the lovely room, and especially it's excellent bed, so I took a shower and lovely nap!

After waking up, doing some writing work it was time for Grand Club Lounge's cocktail hour, which is from 6 to 8 pm. I got to the club area and was, once again, greeted by the lovely host and - lucky me - my favorite table was available! YAY!


DINNER and Mimosa hiccup!

Those of you who know me, they know that I am not much of a drinker. However, I do want to have my Mimosa when I'm at a hotel. This is not that kind of hiccup that you get after having a few too many, this one I got not having that one.

However, this really was the only hiccup in terms of service that I had during the stay; I sat down and this young man, obviously, either a trainee or just new member of the staff came to take my order and I said that I'd like to have a Mimosa. First of all, I could tell he wasn't quite sure what it was. This is a 5 star, high-end hotel and you don't know what it is? He waved his hand towards to bottle shelves and said that's all we have here. So I asked him again, can't you order one for me from the bar. "We don't have a bar here."

Wait a minute!
I was thinking for a moment, am I on candid camera as this can't be real!
So I asked him "Do you seriously mean that even if I wanted to order a Mimosa and pay for it, it cannot be arranged? What about if I go to my room and order it from the room service, would that be ok to bring it down here?"

He didn't know what to respond, it was something between "I guess, ok, I don't know..." I didn't want to torture this poor young man anymore since I realized that he really wasn't getting the point, so I went to the hosts' desks.

Service improved - hiccup healed!

I asked them for some assistance. There were two of them, man and a woman - whose names I, unfortunately, have lost, I wrote them down as I specifically wanted to mention their names and thank them for the excellent service they provided me with throughout the entire stay!
Immediately, once I started talking to them, they got up from their chairs and were more than willing to help. Oh, lovely, we are back to proper Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur service mode!!

So I told them that I'd like to get a Mimosa, since that is kind of "my thing" that I always have one on my trips and take a photo of, it's kind of a signature move on these #TouchseGoes.." tours (didn't tell them I'm a travel blogger though).

They said that they don't have them here but it's no problem at all to get me one from the bar upstairs. Voilá! Problem solved! Happy staff - happy guest, story tells the rest!

I went back to my table and within two minutes I got my Mimosa, which was, by the way, one of the best Mimosas in a long time!

So, next chat I had with the staff was my food restrictions. I was kind of afraid that canapes would not be suitable in terms of my allergies. I was right, there wasn't much that I could have, but once again; No problem!

And may I emphasize, when they say at Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur "Madam, it's no problem." they really mean it! Which is really refreshing. They simply ask the chef to have a word with me and I got to tell what ingredients I'd prefer and I explained that perhaps something simple like chicken as I need my protein, so the chef asked me if I wanted something else for side dish. Oh, how nice! So I said, being humble and not wanting to cause any extra trouble, that I'd appreciate if I could have maybe some rice and veggies.

That lovely female chef (whose name is also on that note that I have sadly I lost - which I really am sorry for as I would like to thank her as well - but maybe I'll thank them next time I go there..) even asked me if I liked my food spicy etc.
So I briefly told her what I'd prefer but again, told her also, that just anything with chicken goes. No princess act on my behalf..! So she said, once again that: "No problem madam, can you wait maybe 10 minutes?"

Oh, that was more than fine by me, as I was just happy cause I knew that I get some chicken, i.e. meat and get my protein in some other form than yogurt and protein powder that I eat every single day.

While I was waiting for my cocktail hour snacks I decided to walk around and take some photos. One of the hosts told me that on the previous night there was an amazing sunset that I would have loved to photograph and that unfortunately this particular night it was cloudy so the view was not the best. Well, for me it certainly was more than good enough.

Then this lovely host asked me if I'd like to have another Mimosa while waiting for my meal.
"Yes, please! Thank you so much."
In 2 minutes it came in front of me. No problem at all!

So came my food, which actually turned out to be a proper meal including chicken, rice, veggies and some spice (I had no idea which spices they used), but it was absolutely DELICIOUS. Probably the best meal on my entire trip. It was simple and yet so tasteful - despite my food restrictions, which really caused no problem at all.


THIS IS SERVICE!

Now, this is the kind of HOSPITALITY and SERVICE I always try to advise my client hotels to provide their guests with. Why do less when you can make guests so much happier with just little extra effort! 6-star service in a 5-star hotel, that's the way it should be. I see way too often hotels with 5 star that provide service with barely 4 stars and then they get offended when I tell them that on my direct feedback report - even though I was hired to find their stumbling blocks and flaws.

Anyway, once I had finished that delicious meal I was asked if I wanted to have some dessert. Well, too bad (well, good!) my actual food was so incredibly good and there was more than plenty of it that I couldn't even imagine having anything else. So I asked to get my bill for the Mimosas. Well, I didn't get it as they kindly noted me that they were complimentary, on the house (even when they actually weren't part of the cocktail hour's selection). Well, what can I say? Thank you!

That's what I said but it felt like it wasn't enough, but I couldn't say much more. But I did tell them that I have absolutely loved my stay and that I really appreciate the way they serve guests. It's very attentive, professional, respectful and yet warm and caring way to do it (and I as hospitality, luxury and hotels' quality evaluation and improvement professional really know what I'm talking about).

After such a lovely cocktail hour(s) - which turned out to be my dinner, I was ready to go back to my room as I had to plan the next day.

I packed most of my belongings to my brand new suitcase and planned to actually get to that park the following day as now I had a better understanding of the surroundings of the hotel after watching buildings and signs around the hotel from the club lounge area and also from the pool area. I also had made an appointment with a marketing manager of one particular Malaysian hotel (located in Langkawi), and since our meeting was set to be around 1-2 pm I planned to go to the park right after the breakfast and the freshen up, pack up and check out. I had arranged airport transportation via hotel to take me to the airport at 4 pm.

So I went to bed early, admiring - once again - those iconic towers with all their night lights and water feature. Slept like a baby!


KLCC PARK

Got up early next day, went to the Grand Club Lounge again in order to enjoy that delicious breakfast again, and no disappointments this time either. I felt a bit sad as I knew that it was my last morning and last moments to enjoy the view and the genuine warm hospitality that the staff shows to their guests at the Grand Club lounge.

So, to the KLCC park, I went. This time I had already planned the route and found my way to it actually quite easily, just walked through the convention center next to the hotel.

It was a bit surreal feeling to have watched those towers from my room for 2 days and now I saw my room window (on the 33rd floor!) from the park. I had intentionally set my robe so that one can see something white shining out of the room so that I was able to tell which of the rooms was mine. That was fun. (Unfortunately it cannot be spotted in this photo, however, since there was 38 floors in the building, you can count that my floor was 5 floors down from the top...)

The weather that day was incredibly beautiful, few clouds in the sky, which was only good as it really was a hot day. In my opinion, Grand Hyatt KL has one of the best locations due to KLCC park being right there.

I was absolutely amazed by the beauty of that park.

Right in the middle of the city and yet it was so clean, so pleasant, peaceful and enjoyable. I could have been there for hrs but unfortunately, I only had time to walk around it once, take some photos and return back to the hotel.

The park area was very well maintained, no trash, there were drinking machines all over the park, the pool was very clean, there was someone cleaning it all the time... and finally I made it to the Petronas Twin Towers.

They are spectacular also when looking at them from down to up, just magnificent!

There were many people around the towers area, having lunch, meeting friends, taking photos, and also plenty of security guards, which I, once again, appreciated.

I walked across the bridge in the park and towards my hotel... on my way back, walking in the KLCC park I saw some incredible flora and some serious roots! Check these out!

This park really is a sanctuary in the middle of the city. I wish there were more places like this nearby all the hotels I stay at in cities. Quite often it's hot and humid outside but when on city vacation (workcation in my case, most likely), it may not be that pleasant to walk around or just relax outside as quite often the only place is a cafe etc. whereas for me the best place to relax is in the nature, and it doesn't always have to be this huge wilderness, just a well-maintained park will do just fine. I would love to sit down here with a picnic basket and a good book - what a joy that would be!

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It was time to return to my room and get ready to check out and meet my guest.


JP TERES, meeting my guest and CHECK-OUT - time for new adventures!

JP TERES restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel serves authentic selections of Malay, Indin and Chinese flavors. I had a pleasure of meeting Sanjay the sous chef of the hotel, and he was such a pleasant, helpful person. I told him of my multiple food intolerances and that I wasn't really hungry but wanted something salty and he prepared me some deep fried cheese, spiced in Indian style. It was absolutely delicious.
Link to JP TERES (click here to open)

Guests can either dine indoors or outdoors areas. The large outdoor terrace is a perfect place to unwind with a drink and for example, watch sports of their 55" LED TV at JP Sports Bar.

Check-out

Checking out was easy. I had a late check-out, which was perfect timing for me in terms of getting back from the park and getting ready.I just called the guest service and it took about a minute and I got a knock on the door and there was someone to pick up my luggage.

I went to 38th floor to pay my bill and then downstairs to meet my guest. I was given a separate key card so that I was able to use the lifts and take my guest to the Grand Club lounge for our meeting.

However, I decided to have our meeting downstairs JP teres restaurant. So I told the front desk (ground floor) that I'm waiting for the guest. I also told that to the waitress and she actually was able to find my guest and escorted her to my table. Unfortunately we didn't order any of the actual dishes so I have no comments regarding the food, but the service at JP's was, as expected, excellent, kind and caring, the waitress was kind enough to have a small chat with me while I was waiting for my guest, I just love guest servants that are that attentive.

I have to say, even though I had loved every minute of my visit in Kuala Lumpur (well, at least, after I got out of the airport, although, I appreciate also those troubling moments on my journeys as they are part of the adventure!), the best part of my visit was meeting my guest, Samantha.

We had had some email correspondence before our meeting relating to work but we had never met in real life. It was an instant connection. Which in a way was strange as we come from totally different countries. Despite that, we had so much in common, similar values and we are both positive, caring people and mothers of one boy. We just got along so well that I was actually sad to say good bye, even though I was on my way to the airport to meet my dear sister and to go to Bali with her.

It is true, it doesn't matter how much money someone has or how fancy things they own or how glamorous their lives seem to be, what really matters the most is the people you meet and the people you are lucky to have in your life.
Without meeting Samantha this trip would've been a trip to a beautiful city and a stay in an amazing hotel but now, it was even more than that. I feel like I got a new friend and I will most certainly keep in touch with her and, hopefully, meet her again when I go to Malaysia again, which happens hopefully either in March or October 2017.

Our meeting was over way too fast and it was time for me to say good bye, not just her, but also that lovely hotel..

So, here I was, ready for another adventure in a new country with my sister, now that is going to be a trip to remember and you, my dear readers get to read about that later this year!

One more thing; I want to thank Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur from the bottom of my heart, they really showed genuine efforts to make my stay wonderful. Special thanks to NG Kar Yee, who kindly helped me out even before I arrived at the hotel. Also, thank you so much Grand Hyatt KL Concierges, you really are good at what you do - also love your comments on social media while I was posting content during the stay!
This place certainly gets 5 stars from me any day!

Wish you all at Grand Hyatt KL all the best and sincerely hope to be able to visit you again. 💖

(post scriptum: I have visited Grand Hyatt KL again after writing this blog post, only 4 months later, actually, I really wanted to back due to excellent service they provided me with.)

All opinions are my own and represent only my personal and Touchse's professional opinion of the hotel.

- - -

Next blog will be a continuation, i.e. Part II of my Nikki Beach blog post and, hopefully, I get to publish it within two to three weeks.

I have been incredibly busy now since so much is happening this year and I need to plan it all on top of evaluation assignments, blog & social media shout outs, promotion jobs, blog writing and over all expanding my brand, which is an endless task.

I can't tell you how blessed I feel since I already know what my passion is and, on top of that, I get to do all this. Being in a hurry at times is a very, very small price for it.
Thank you all for your support, likes, re-posts and re-tweets and being there for me when I need you.
All this wouldn't be possible without you all!

Lots of love and kisses, take care, go for your dreams, not tomorrow, today!

Hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to Kuala Lumpur.

Make sure you'll be back for my Nikki Beach Part II around the end of Jan/beginning of February!
See you then, folks! 💗💗
- - -
Oh, by the way, if you don't believe me when I tell you how amazing Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, then you should go and check it out yourself!

Here is the link to their website, check it out and book a room, you won't regret it!
Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur

#TouchseGoesAsia tour: Koh Samui - Kuala Lumpur

...and it's time to move on...

My #TouchseGoesAsia trip's blog posts have covered so far

Blog Post 1: 

My first leg; long-haul flight by Finnair from Helsinki to Bangkok on A350 plane's business class, simply fantastic experience - as always, please feel free to enjoy the trip with me by reading about it here:

TouchseGoesAsia Blog Post 1 Helsinki - Bangkok

Read it if you want to get the sense of luxury they offer to their valued passengers!

Blog Post 2:
Arrival and stay at My happy place, Nikki Beach Koh Samui Beach Club Resort, Part I, feel free to join me, by reading about it here:

TouchseGoesAsia - Blog Post 2:Nikki Beach Koh Samui

Blog Post 3:
Now, on this blog post I will tell you about my

trip from Koh Samui to Kuala Lumpur...

With me even a simple journey from one destination to another can turn into an adventure! I guess that is why you guys like reading my blogs, you never know what's happening next - well, neither do I!

Here we go!

Time to say good bye...

I had enjoyed my time at Nikki Beach as always, 6 days of excellent service and rest. 

Unfortunately, it was time to move on to my next destination, namely to Kuala Lumpur. 

My flight departure time was at 10 am from Koh Samui airport, which by the is one the nicest airports I've seen.

I decided to go to the airport early since I knew that there will be fuss due to my excess luggage.

Linda from Nikki Beach drove with me to the airport, which I loved as we finally had some time to catch up.. It is always bitter sweet to leave Koh Samui and especially Nikki Beach.

I always love my stay and those amazing people there, but at the same time, heading to some place new is also so very exciting.

Check-in and some suitcase problems…

We arrived to the airport, got a trolley for my bags and even managed to fit in all my luggage! Now to the check-in counter, to face the challenge No 1.

Let me tell you, check-in at Koh Samui isn't like in other airports, here so many staff members are asking you questions, hassling around, with poor English skills.. at times you wonder if this person in front of me is even one of the employees... After all these years of tourism one would think that airport would function like well-oiled machine.. but no, not really – not when departing. Arrivals are a totally different story, no problems, not once.

So, I told them how many bags I had (1 suitcase, 2 sports bags, I carry on bag and my handbag) and they told me I have to pay 80 USD extra for the excess weight, which I knew already, so no worries there. 

I checked in the luggage and then I had to follow one of the airline employees to the terminal area, wherein their office was located in order to pay the actual fee. Not sure whether he was in a hurry or trying to loose me in purpose but I basically had to run over all the other passengers to keep an eye on him while he rushed through the airport, did he ask if I needed assistance with my belongings or use the ladies room etc.? No. He was plane ignorant.

Ladies at the office were nice, no worries there and I got that sorted and went to the gate. Right before I was about to get into mini trolley/van that takes passengers to the plane, that same man stops me and says: "Excuse me."
Yes, I said.

"Is this your bag?" and shows me a photo of my favorite fuchsia colored suitcase on his phone. (I'm thinking, ok, what now, don't want to miss my flight, please...)
I was so confused. I responded: Yes, that is my bag, what's wrong?

Who.broke-what?

With this kind of judgmental voice he says:
"Madam, it is broken, you checked it in broken."
  

HOLD ON, WAIT A MINUTE! Say what now? ...I said.
(and at the same time, inside of my head, there were much more worse words than those, I admit..)

I told the guy that I most certainly did not check-in a broken bag. If my bag was broken, I’d get a new one. So try again.

He said that there is nothing that can be done about it at this stage as my plane was ready board. Then, he told me that I need to go to "Lost and found" office at Kuala Lumpur airport and explain the situation there. So I asked if I could have the photo of the bag, but he said that he deleted it after he showed it to me. Right... of course it was deleted as it would have helped me a lot to explain the situation at the other end.

This tower stands at Koh Samui Airport and as you can see,
 there is "Singapore" sign up on the right.

Let me tell you, based on what I saw on this photo, my bag was totally broken, as in nearly in pieces. And it was a big, hard suitcase. I was quite nervous and wondering whether my belongings will be inside the bag once I see it next time, which will be in Kuala Lumpur 8 hrs later! 

Namely, I flew there via Singapore, which means that my bag is going to go through the Singapore airport proceedings as well... more tossing around.. oh no...!

Deep breaths & positive thinking

I was upset for a moment. 
Then I took a deep breath and decided not to worry about it yet as there was simply nothing I could do about it now. So I got to the mini car (not sure what to call these vehicles) and got into the plane. 

Flights...

It was Singapore Airlines' flight and as always, the service was excellent. The flight attendants are always so kind, attentive, happy to help and serve you and what I especially appreciate is their excellent English skills. Planes are always in excellent condition, clean and well maintained and the staff's appearance always on par - love it! It's like flying in business class in an economy; service is almost at the same level that in some business classes even though seats are in economy. 

I have many food allergies for which reason I barely eat on flights but on their flights I even found something I was able to eat. This was only 1 hr flight, and yet, I almost wish it was longer as their service is so pleasant, and also, since the plane wasn't full, I had two seats for myself, so plenty of space.

(Off topic, I have to tell you, now that I'm writing this, the travel bug itch is getting worst, my wanderlust is getting out of control! I'm at the moment planning my next years trip but for the first time I haven't booked any flights yet and it feels horrible, traveling has really become a big part of my life, it's difficult to explain to someone who doesn't share the same passion.
Thank God, most of you do! For me traveling is like sports to some, simply can't live without.)

Ok... back to my trip: 

 Singapore views from the plane...

Plane landed, I had few hours in Singapore, Changi airport, which I love since it's clean, logical, friendly and simply very comfortable.

There was still one Singapore Airlines' flight left in order for me to get to Kuala Lumpur. This second flight was as pleasant and nice as the first leg was, no complaints at all. Thank you Singapore Airlines!

...and welcome to Kuala Lumpur airport – an adventure of its own!

Ok folks, has anyone of you been to Kuala Lumpur? If not, prepare yourself for a huge airport! There are actually two separate airports; KLIA1 and KLIA2. (So if you are travelling there and planning the either meet someone, have arranged transportation, or are going to continue with another airline, make sure you are at the right terminal!)

I arrived to KLIA1 as KLIA2 is for low cost airlines.

However, even KLIA 1 is big enough so that you need to take a train to another building wherein all the baggage claims were.

Panic in the train

So I walked quite a bit in order to get to the train station, the train arrived and I jumped in. It was such a hot day and despite the (poor) air con the train was quite hot and the humidity was noticeable. The train arrived to the station, everyone was ready to get out but… what?! Wait a minute, why is everyone still in here? Get out folks (I screamed inside my head, not out loud, of course not!)

 There were double doors there; train doors and the those doors that actually allow you the access to the train station's platform.

Unfortunately, doors on the platform's side opened. I tried to stay cool... Not managing very well. I started to panic, I’ve never liked closed spaces, such as elevators etc. places where DOORS CAN GET STUCK!
…and of course, there I was.
I was trying to breath in, breath out.
Took my phone, turned it on, tried to do something with it to distract myself so that I wouldn’t get into total panic mode. On a scale 1-10 I was somewhere around 5-6 at this point. Especially since everyone else seemed to get a bit restless as well, and we all know that panic creates panic.
There were no seats, felt as if we were running out of air, but that was just because it was so hot, I had nothing to drink… we were there only probably for 5 minutes but it felt like an hour. Finally one of the train’s 4 doors opened and people walked out. Aaaw.. Fresh air! I’m saved!

…well, so I thought until I saw the sign towards the customs and then around the corner all those people.

(Too bad I didn't dare to photograph this as didn't know whether it was allowed or not.)


Customs, not a walk in the park...

The customs line was insane, there were hundreds of people waiting to get into the country. Unfortunately, not until I was leaving the country I heard that in order to avoid the line you should basically run out of the plane as that way you may be able to get to the beginning of the line, instead of being of the last one of those hundreds of other passengers. (Although, most likely I was there because I was stuck in the train!)

There are separate counters for people that are Malaysians, separate counters for First & Business Class passengers etc. and then there were maybe 4 counters for us; the ordinary people, which, naturally, was the majority of those hundreds of passengers.

I guess there just wasn't enough of those counters and due to that those lines started to pile up. People started to get a bit annoyed, normally I wouldn't mind that much as it's all part of traveling, sometimes you just need to wait, but in this case I was getting nervous because
a) I wasn't sure if my belongings were touring around the airport's baggage claim as they may have fallen out of my broken bag
b) I knew I need to sort it all out with Lost and Found office before I get anywhere
c) and because I had made airport transportation arrangements with my hotel and they were supposed to meet me after the landing, i.e. 5.15 pm and at 6.30 pm I was still on the customs line...
d) I only had less than 2 days in this country so didn't want to spend that time at the airport!

However, to my joy I had two elderly gentlemen from New Zealand standing next to me on the line and we had such a nice chat while slowly approaching those custom counters... without them it would have been insanely boring as I didn't even have my internet passwords, couldn't read as had to focus.

By the way, these gents had had very cheap flights to Kuala Lumpur and they told that if they had paid about 30 USD more, they could have had business class seats but since it was such a short flight they didn’t feel the need. Now that they saw that there was no queue to business class counters… well, let's just put it this way; they certainly regretted saving that 30 USD!

In general I do like being at the airports, especially in a new country. It's amazing and wonderful to notice so many different cultures and people, all at the same space, all waiting for the same thing; to get that stamp to your passport and get into that country. 

I finally got all those entering the country formalities sorted and with very quick steps (tried not to run, maintaining my dignity, or what was left after the flights, panic and the line…) I walked towards the "Baggage claim" signs, wondering where my luggage might be after all that waiting and what’s the condition of my broken bag...


Reuniting with my luggage - finally!

Finally I got to the baggage claim and found my luggage already on the floor, and 3 staff members standing around them, one of them talking to a phone, two of them standing around looking a bit confused.
I walked to them and told them, these are my luggage, and asked if there is a problem or are they here because they’ve been here unsupervised for such a long time. The answer I got was: “Yes.”

Ok, let me think, “Yes” to what? I showed them the broken suitcase and I explained them what had happened in Koh Samui. Apparently they understood English better than they spoke as they actually guided me and my trolley full of luggage to their Lost and Found office.

Lost & Found fiasco
At this point it just all of a sudden came to my mind, wait a second, I’m here in Kuala Lumpur less than 48 hrs, how an earth I manage to get a new bag to replace the broken one… Ok, let’s talk to these officers first, maybe they can help me with it. 

Oh, how naive of me, I realized about an hour later.

I consider myself quite good if not even excellent in solving problems, even quite well known for it, so I was confident that things will be sorted out. That’s the salt and pepper of traveling, sometimes things just happen that are out of your control and you just have to adjust, and work on them under the given circumstances.

Chaos and No Trolleys!

Once I saw the class doors of the L&F office I realized what a chaos there was. There were bags all over the floor, and it all seemed very unorganized to me who is, indeed, very organized.
I had just packed everything I had with me for my 4 week’s tour around Asia to my trolley, and was about to enter the office when I saw the sign “NO TROLLEYS INSIDE!”

Of course, let’s not make things easy. Let’s make it a bit challenging!

Right, and what am I supposed to do now?
Leave all my belongings, worth thousands of euros outside the office unguarded?
There was no way I’d do that.

So I asked one of the employees of the office to come outside.
This person had no idea what I was talking about, luckily his colleague, lovely lady (whose name I forgot) spoke relatively good English so I explained her the situation, which was to say the least, tricky; I couldn’t even enter their office if I can’t bring my trolley in, and I had a broken suitcase that was their responsibility, I had no time to get a new one, my driver had been waiting for me for over 2 hrs by now and so on…
This sweet lady just simply moved some of the bags from the floor and told me I can bring in my trolley, just to put it on the side so that it's not on the way. Ok, maybe this will be easier than I feared. Oh, how wrong I was!


Step 1: Call the driver

So, the first thing I did was I asked if someone could give a call to my hotel so that they can send a message to my driver that I'll be LATE, as in very much late. I might have gone insane without this English-speaking lady - or I'd still be there. She asked me for my hotel's name and when they heard it I guess they took me a bit more seriously as it was one of the best hotels in town; Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur.

She got the message to the driver, one worry less for me; the driver will wait for me as long as necessary – well, that’s the type of service said hotel offered for the entire stay, i.e. excellent.

Step 2: "No fix 1 day"

 I had to fill up all kinds of forms relating to broken suitcase.
(I noticed that the English-speaking lady had disappeared…)

 After all the paperwork they told me they get the suitcase repaired.

Let me tell you, it was literally in pieces, there was no way in hell (pardon my English, I was getting quite frustrated) it could be fixed and I told them that and also explained that I'll be going to next country day after tomorrow, so there’s no time for me to find a replacement, to which they answered; “Madam, bag no fix in 1 day.”
(I said, in my head: Daaahh, I know!! That is what I just said!) Outloud I said; Yes, I know. Kindly.

Step 3; Good idea!

Now what? Well, lots of discussions between the staff, and there were about 10 people there, trying to fix the problem.... or at least that’s what I hoped they were doing.

About 10 - very frustrating - minutes later a man with very poor English told me that “May you take one bag here.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant. He showed me one suitcase on the shelf and said, you take that? After taking a closer look at the suitcase I thought, finally, a good idea, as the suitcase was slightly bigger than the broken one and it was brand new, still with all the guarantee tags etc. on it. Didn’t know why they had one of those there among all the lost bags but I didn’t ask because I was pretty sure they didn’t know it either.

Step 4: Not a smart suggestions on their part

Man with poor English skills, presumably some type of supervisor said: You pur things from this (pointed my broken bag) to this (pointed the new one) here.
I looked around, the place was full of people, bags, pure chaos.

Me: “No, sorry, but no. I will not empty all my personal belongings here in front of everyone. Do you have an office back there (they had offices there) that I could use to do it?
I guess he understood as he said: “No, you put it here.”

…at this point I was about to loose my sh.. oh, sorry patience. I asked if they could get that English-speaking lady back. I refused to go any further with their plans before she gets back as it was so difficult to explain a bunch of men why I don’t want to show all my personal items to all of them. That was so disrespectful on their behalf. Luckily that lady came back after they called her!

Step 5: The talk – woman to woman

I explained her the situation; that I didn’t feel comfortable to spread all my items here in front of everyone and that since I had plenty of them, considering that my (broken) suitcase's items were in total 23 kg, it would take a long time to properly pack them into the new one etc.
She seemed to understand me, completely, and was very sympathetic.

Now they discussed it - again - for a while. Then she suggested that I take both suitcases to my hotel and they send someone to get the broken one once it's empty (they needed it as evidence or something), I could just leave the broken one to concierge's desk.

Finally! I could kiss this woman, she was clearly the smart one. Naturally I said, gladly, “YES, please, that sounds excellent!”

So she said her goodbyes and I was ready to leave; took everything out of my trolley, which was quite full already and started to rearrange all of my bags so that also the new suitcase would fit in, being more than ready to leave that chaotic airport.
(Funny enough, the airport was very clean and quite nice if you just looked at it!)


Step 6: No, no!

Suddenly that same man comes back and says: "No, no, you no take bag to hotel, you change here."

Ok, is he joking? I will literally go nuts, about right now!
At this point my patience was gone, I had none left, none.

I bet my look was freezing when I told him;

“No. The lady said I can take both suitcases to my hotel and I will do that because I want to get to my VERY EXPENSIVE hotel now. I don’t have time for this anymore.”
(For your information; I articulated in a polite voice, with a smile, which didn’t reach all the way to my eyes though, so I guess he realized I was being quite serious about it at that point…and also, I spoke  v-e-r-y   s-l-o-w-l-y  so that he would understand me better, as I have a habit of talking fast and a lot – just like when I’m writing..)

I think he understood most of what I was saying but still was not agreeing with me, and yet, at the same time he seemed as if he was a bit hesitant to disagree.
To be honest, at that point even I wouldn’t have wanted to disagree with me, it was quite obvious that I had had it.

I simply decided to ignore him and packed everything to my trolley and at this point, English speaking lady returned (yay!!!) so I asked her if she was kind enough to explain the situation to his colleague AGAIN as he doesn't seem to get it.

That she did and it seemed that in her opinion it was all good, however, the man seemed to feel as if us, 2 women had just walked all over him, based on his passive aggressive behavior. I felt he was upset but to be honest, didn't care anymore.
I didn’t realize it until then that maybe this was about his dignity, women were not supposed to decide, it was not about serving the customer the best way possible. How foolish!


Out and into good hands

Phew! 

Finally, I got out of there, me and my very FULL trolley.

I walked towards the exit sign and what a relief it was to see my driver right outside the exit door…

At that point I knew that now I'm in good hands as these men (driver and his assistant) work for Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, so I'm sure they know what is hospitality and how to treat guests, and I was so right!

It took over 3 hrs to get out of that airport...

On the left, my very full trolley after the extra suitcase was also in it. On the right, the exit of the airport.

...but it was worth it as my visit to Kuala Lumpur was incredible and I can't wait to get back - despite of the airport action.

You get to find out more about my fabulous visit to this amazing hotel soon as my next blog post will be all about my visit to Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur. There will be plenty of photos and also links to my Youtube videos showing hotel views and surrounding areas. Trust me, that blog post is absolutely worth reading!

This one was a long one, a lot happened considering that this was just one stop at one airport, but hey, that’s traveling, things happen and they you just sort them out!

Keep reading, keep traveling, keep smiling!

#Wanderlust rules!

xoxo! 😘😘

Little update on what's to come...

Dear Followers,

My apologies for not posting more often.

However, there is so much going on at the moment and in order to be able to continue to travel around the world, to do things I love and keep on blogging, I need to work on things at times...

Be patient, I promise, next blog post will get out there soon, at least one post will be published this year, maybe two.

Next one is about my trip to Kuala Lumpur, wherein I stayed at amazing Grand Hyatt hotel - that will be definitely worth reading!

The post after that will be Part II of Nikki Beach Review, You loved the first part so I'm sure you'll love this one too. Part III will come out at some point next year...

Keep on checking, new posts will come. In case you need to find out what's happening in a mean while... well, just check out my Twitter and Instagram accounts. Or, just send me a message if you wish to contact me directly, you can always use the field on the right side of this page, the one that seems as if it is only for sponsors etc. Anyone of you readers may send me a message via that form, you are all important and I'm happy to hear your voice too.

Until next post, keep smiling, be positive, and enjoy the Christmas spirit!

xoxo!

Nikki Beach Koh Samui, luxury resort where your soul rests and feet dance! Part I

Dear Reader,

This is not just a hotel review.
It's a love story of a hotel expert who has visited over 220 hotels around the world i.e. me, and an amazing beach club resort hotel, namely Nikki Beach Koh Samui.
You know how it goes, sometimes you can't really explain it, the other part just feels right, not always perfect, because we all have our little flaws, and still, the other part just feels like a match.

Oh, too sweet?
Well, you just have to cope as that what it is. Something just clicked the moment I found out about this place and I just keep returning and based on what I've heard, I'm not the only one.

So I guess, it's a kind of magic...




How did I discovered Nikki Beach for the first time

This love affair started almost 4 years ago.
We had bough tickets to Koh Samui and booked 2 hotels. However, for some reason the other hotel just didn't feel right. So I kept searching same OTA (Online Travel Agency) pages again and again. Then I came up with an idea; why not open google map and check all the hotels in this specific area that I wanted to see, maybe I've missed something.


DOT ON THE MAP

So, I started browsing through the hotels I saw on the map.
Then I found this one dot on the map that seemed to have a perfect location. For what?
Well, I love to photograph sunsets (and sunrises) and that dot on the map was located in the middle of the west coast of the Koh Samui island, meaning sunsets probably would be great.
I wondered what's underneath that dot... So, I clicked the link open and there it was:
Nikki Beach Koh Samui Beach Club Resort (NBKS)

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been intrigued by the name Nikki, so I immediately got a little excited, and wanted to know more.
I checked out, naturally, the Tripadvisor reviews, which I only found a few since the hotel was relatively new, but they seemed very promising, and I got even more excited...
Then, I checked out the photos and got a LOT excited.

Finally I found it. Now my hotel choices felt right, no more searching, this is it.

So, despite the 2 other bookings we had already, I contacted Nikki Beach, told them all my special wishes and also asked for the price for the particular villa I had in mind.
Why particular?
Well, those garden villas are located so that on the map it may seem like they are very close to the pool area, where all the action happens. You see, I was a bit worried about the music; by the pool I liked the idea of it, DJ playing cool music, creating chill ambiance... sounds lovely, of course, but I was very specific; didn't want to hear the music inside my villa, tranquility inside the room is very important for me. (Fyi, and there was no problem with that, we heard nothing when closed the doors.). I also had some other questions regarding transportation etc.

I got such a warm and welcoming response every time I asked for further information. Even the price for the villa was exactly what we had in mind budget-wise.
So we found it. Yay!
Thus, we cancelled the other reservation and booked my first visit to Nikki Beach Koh Samui.

The dot on the map and the name Nikki, couple of photos and emails. That's all it took and the love story of Nikki Beach Koh Samui and myself was ready to begin. Had I known, by that time, the story behind the name, I would have been even more intrigued.

As one wise, elderly lady once told me, there are no coincidences, there are things that are meant to be. I believe this was one of those.
Really, sometimes it only takes a dot to change one's life. Sounds dramatic? Well, in a way it was, as it turned out the be a life changing experience for me and had huge impact for my future.


My first visit

..to Nikki Beach was 2013 when it was a small 4 star boutique hotel, with only, if I recall right, 13 villas (most of which were garden villas, couple of sea view villas), a breakfast cafe and a restaurant, pool and the beach.
Sounds nice, but not just quite 5 star fabulous luxury, right? Well, let me continue...!

The moment I arrived I felt as if I came to a place with positive, good, happy vibes.
..I will enjoy my time, for sure, I thought.
And I was right.


Villa

We saw our garden villa and I fell in love.
There it was, so peaceful, so inviting..

It really looked like everything we had been looking for; nice garden, lovely patio, wherein you can chill without burning sun shining directly to the patio. The villa was very clean, very spacious, with a daybed, desk, minibar, lots of storage space... It had a great bathroom/rain shower/toilet area - loved the tiles there, so beautiful - and I actually have now something similar in our house as well!

But the absolutely best part of the villa was the bed. I've stayed at hundreds of hotels around the world and that is probably one of the best beds I've ever slept in.
Good bed is so, so valuable when traveling. Due to poor sleep you may get your entire day ruined. But not in here!

We didn't have direct ocean view from inside the villa but once we stepped outside to our patio, we were able to see the ocean, and how beautiful it was.

A lovely young woman, Mariska took us our villa and told us about the surrounding area. She had just recently started working for Nikki Beach.

I love the fact that we met already on my first visit. I've met her many times after that and I feel grateful to be able to call her a friend. She has played an important role in my opinion of Nikki Beach since, as you know, the first impression is very important, and she was a big part of that being a person to welcome us to the hotel and on our first visit she took such a good care of everything. She also arranged us an amazing snorkeling trip to an island south from Koh Samui and a picnic after that to this incredibly beautiful uninhabited island that had the most amazing, pristine beaches...

The picnic island

We still remember that excursion and the lovely picnic basket they had prepared us including sushi and house wine - loved the little detail; Nikki Beach wine glasses...

During our visit we asked whether there were any shops nearby as we wanted to by some bikinis and t-shirts etc and Mariska even drove us to this store, waited for us while we purchased what we needed and drove us back to the hotel via scenic route so that we got to see a little more of what was in the area.
(Which actually turned out to be an excellent thing as once when driving around the island with a scooter we got little lost and at some point I recognized the road the be the the one we then drove and it helped us to find our way to NBKS.)


Villa's action night

I remember how I came back to our villa on one evening just to hear that there has been some action there. I was, naturally, eager to know what had happened. My partner, "Joe" told me that there was a gecko in our villa and he was not able to get rid of it by himself so he had called the guest service and one of the housekeepers came over and together they chased the poor gecko around the villa, gecko running around up in the roof and my partner "Joe" and the housekeeper with her broom around the villa on the floor.
I visioned this sight in my head and couldn't stop laughing. That's hilarious!!! ...but wait a minute, why an earth did you chase the poor thing? "I knew you couldn't be here if you knew it was here." said Joe. Oh my days! They had done all that for nothing! On the contrary! Geckos are just fine in my opinion as they eat the bugs, which, unlike geckos, I can't stand (despite the fact that I've lived, for example, in Australia, where there's more than plenty of them - never got used to them!). So all that fuss about nothing... well, that's traveling, things happen, right?
(Did they get the gecko out? Yes. Did it come back in? Don't know, I never saw it - but in most villas I've stayed at around the world, there has been a gecko but... no bugs, so gecko is a welcome roommate anytime, and no worries, no one is "brooming" them out!)


Location and surroundings

Nikki Beach Koh Samui (NBKS) is located in beautiful, peaceful Lipa Noi Beach, western part of Koh Samui. It's not close to Chaweng, the "action center" of the island, which I actually like. If you are looking for partying every night, then you may not be in the right place. However, if you are looking for a place where you can enjoy great ambiance by yourself, with your spouse, friends, family, group of people... then you are in the right place. Oh, but don't get me wrong, Nikki Beach does have some of the most amazing parties as well!
(I will tell you more about that party side of this serene place on the 3rd part of Nikki Beach Koh Samui review series, so stay tuned!)

It takes about 30-40 minutes to drive to hotel from the airport, especially daytime I actually like the drive, because it gives you an opportunity to see what else is on the island, you get to see the real local life, shops, mountain views, glimpses of the ocean... and it makes you get excited of what's a head.

This place is surrounded with beauty and its ambiance is unique. When you sit at the breakfast cafe you feel like you are in paradise, you can hear (and sometimes even see) birds singing and you sip your tea in harmony with the surrounding nature. There is a water feature, long garden pool wherein carps swim around, ready to get a bite if anyone happens to offer them some. They actually look, not just beautiful and graceful when swimming around, but also quite funny at times.
I had a good laugh when filming them while some other guest fed them as they really looked like talking fish on the film. I bet they said, c'mon man, just throw the bread!

Morning concert by the bird 

Breakfast view of present Nikki Beach

Peaceful, clean, good vibes

When you walk around at NBKS premises, you really get impressed over gardeners' work. There are never leaves or trash on the lawn and the lawn is always green, all the flora is well taken care of and flourishing, love the fact that there is so much greenery as well, instead of just adding concrete everywhere and buildings after buildings.

There are nowadays two pools. Peaceful, long pool, which, by the way, happens to be the longest on the island; 75 m, on the new side and the beach club pool on the original side. Lovely pools both, serving a bit different purpose in my opinion. The longer pool is for swimming and relaxing in peace, whereas the beach club pool seems to me more of a party pool, although, that is mainly so on Sundays when there is the famous Sunday's Brunch.

Fabulous, 75 m pool

Beach Club pool area

Growth and changes

Nikki Beach has changed over the years, it has grown, more buildings has been built, more services are available, more staff has been hired and so on.

That first experience was quite different than my latest one (in October 2016) as now Nikki Beach Koh Samui has two new big accommodation buildings, new villas, new reception building, new spa opening up soon etc.

The change has been for the better, absolutely. It's not always the case when a resort expands, but here, they really have succeeded in making it bigger AND better.


Rooms, Villas, Suites

NBKS has three different types of villas: Garden Villas, Sea View Villas, and absolutely amazing BeachFront Star Villas, 
which have their own private garden and a wonderful vista of Lipa Noi beach. These fabulous villas have about 300 m2 and even their own pool and sauna. Guests can even have, on request, get their own butler service.
Pure ultimate 5 star experience, without a doubt!

In the newer part of the premises there are Pool Suites on the ground floor which are really convenient if you love having a quick access to a pool.

There are also Ocean View Suites on the second floor, which overlook the fabulous pool and have their own large balconies. To be more exact, there are: Chick Junior Pool suite, 2 br Ocean View Suite, 3 br Chick Family Pool Suite, 4 br Rendezvouz Pool Suite, 5 br Generation Pool Suite and Ocean View Penthouses.

For me hotel room is really a big deal. I often work during my trips and, therefore, spend quite a lot of time also in the room, unlike many guests who go to adventures etc. and just basically sleep in their rooms.

NBKS rooms have amazing design, with dark wood, stone floor tiles, and like I mentioned, the best king sized beds with luxurious bedding (and great pillows, which I always check out first, can't stand bad pillows!).

All suites & villas have well equipped bathrooms with his and hers sinks, plenty of closet space (which is also very important for me!), nice slippers and robes, which I actually even wore, which, normally, I don't because in a tropical climate they are too hot to wear, but not these, and they were actually decent size even for me, so I loved wearing one).

I personally appreciate the complimentary Aromatherapy products, such as lotion. I never take my own body lotion when I go to Nikki Beach, because I know I'll be using theirs. I can still smell that lovely scent, it takes me back to my favorite beach resort



My experiences of the room types

I've stayed in a garden villa, ocean view suite and the ocean view penthouse.

Ok, you guessed right, that luxurious Ocean View Penthouse won, it was absolutely incredible!

The Penthouse is on the second floor, overlooking both the pool and the ocean. It's so spacious, 160 m2 and has all the amenities you could need. I love the king size circular bed overlooking the ocean, my absolute favorite, not to mention the circular, wooden large bath... The penthouse also has 2 private balconies, which was more than luxurious.

I will put together a video clip of the penthouse and add it to my Youtube channel. You will receive a link thereto on the Part II of this hotel review.


So, what makes me return time after time?

Despite the growth of the resort, there are things that still remain the same and make me return again and again. It's the people who work at Nikki Beach Koh Samui

Of course, I have to mention first, and send my special thanks to amazing
Director of Nikki Beach Thailand, Bruce Hanrahan - without him I wouldn't, probably, be even writing this blog today. He gave me so much positive feedback many years ago that I got the courage to start my business, TouchSE. For that I'm forever grateful!

Bruce is the soul of the place. He represents everything that Nikki Beach is: Genuine, warm, caring, wants to make guests enjoy; to be happy and get quality service by the professional staff.
Wanting to create a connection with guests is extremely important feature for a manager these days. Guests want to feel noted, they want to feel as they are all important and Bruce certainly does his share in this regard; instead of just sitting in a high tower and leading he is always on site to be seen, to have a chat with, guests get to say Hi and he is always ready and willing to make sure that guests have everything they need.
I've seen tens of hotel managers, if not hundred and what I appreciate so much about Bruce is the fact that he really leads by example and for that reason, the staff at Nikki Beach is unlike anywhere else.

I have to also mention my favorite South African women, living in Thailand, who I really miss and adore; Linda (Guest Service) and Mariska (Hotel Sales & Marketing Manager, I mentioned her already earlier as I met her already on my first visit to NBKS).
I've gotten to know them over the years and they are amazing, inspiring, warm, caring, fabulous women with huge hearts. So, so happy to know you both! (lots of hearts here!). They live and breath guest service, always trying to think one step a head of the guest so that everything would be as pleasant as possible for the guests.

On my last visit I also got to meet Nikki, the room division manager, what an amazing, wonderful and kind woman she also is. Thank you for the room upgrade, I loved the penthouse, I absolutely fell in love with the view (ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted a round bed, so it was quite convenient that I got to do that, finally.).

Key to the Ocean View Penthouse - as fabulous as the Penthouse itself!

The entire staff is always doing their best to assure guests' happiness and taking care of guests' needs. It's a group effort that has been noticed, and not only by me but also by many others that write amazing reviews of the place.


Family away from home

Nikki Beach staff becomes like your holiday family while you stay there. Everyone greets you, if you need anything, feel free to ask and they'll do their best to make it happen. If there is a language barrier, they find someone who can help as there are native English speakers among the staff.
Especially for me, who travels often alone, it is important to feel safe and that is one thing that has been well taken care of at Nikki Beach Koh Samui.

Photos of celebrities visited Nikki Beach clubs

By being safe I mean, for example if unfortunate happened, for example you would get sick, you wouldn't have to worry as they genuinely care and would, for sure, take care of your needs and would get you the medical assistance that you may need. Weather you have a question, a request, a simple need, such as more sugar etc, no problem, your needs will be taken care of here, just dial the guest service and assistance is on the way.

When people travel, obstacles may occur, we all know that. That may happen here as well. It may not be perfect in all areas at all times, but in my opinion, no place is. But it's perfect for my needs and what I really appreciate and respect is the fact that if there is a problem, just say the word and it will be sorted.

Perhaps, because Nikki Beach chain is family owned, its management also cherishes soft, family values. Part of that is appreciating and taking care of its staff and that, naturally, reflects to guest service - only happy staff can make happy guests.

I've been fortunate to be able to visit world famous 5 star hotels, those that everyone dreams they could go to. Yes, they are magnificent, no doubt. What separates Nikki Beach Koh Samui from those is that NBKS has soul. It's staff is mixture of international hotel professionals and local community members who want to do their best to make guests happy. You don't find this in very large, chain hotels. They have their own pros and cons, just like every place does, but this place's benefits can be found in the fact that it's staff is a team, like a family to each other.


5 stars and 3 Es - that's what you get here

Effortless, that is what today's traveler expects and that's what you get here.
Emotional bond, especially for millennials that is important aspect of hotel stays.
Excellence in so many ways!

The ambiance

At NBKS staff provides guests with service that is kind, warm, caring and genuine. They don't smile because they have to, they smile because they are happy. And you know what, happiness is contagious. Someone smiles at you, you smile back, then you smile to someone else, and they smile back, and they smile to someone else as well, and soon you realize, everyone looks happy and smile and greet everyone. That is the kind of intimacy I love about high quality boutique hotels.

People are treated with respect, but still every one is close enough to each other to get the sense of belonging to this place; you know, as if it's "us" not "me and other guests and the staff".

It's like an extended Nikki Beach family when you stay there. If you want, it's quite easy to get to know the staff, and also other guests. For some reason on my each visit I've gotten to know other guests as well. Perhaps many of the guests have similar personalities; open and outgoing, travel and hospitality loving people and, therefore, you get along so well also with other guests.

It's glamorous and yet dreamy, unique design and yet warm, hot and yet cool!

My favorite spot to relax.

I would visit Nikki Beach Koh Samui every day if I could. I feel so happy and in peace in this unique place. And since this place and people who work there have started to mean so much to me, I want to write about it, give it a proper shoutout, so that you, my dear readers, find out about it too.
I see no point in hiding this gem. I bet you would love the experience, just like I have, and will in the future as well, I'm sure.

However, remember, just like love, magic and that sense of happiness will only come if you keep an open mind. Let the place charm you, be kind, open your eyes, mind and soul and you will find what I've found already. The secret of Nikki Beach, the sense of happy place. It's glamorous and yet it has this warm charm that cannot be explained.

It has its own, unique style that celebrates life, it's vibrant and yet a perfect place to relax.

Do - or don't but don't miss the sunset

Try its amazing foods, go for excursions, swim in that 75 m long pool, go to the gym, let your body do the work while your mind rests. Take a paddling board or a kayak, and go for a little trip by the shoreline. You'll never know what you might end up seeing. Gather up a group and play some beach volley ball or just take a bike to check out the neighborhood.

There is always something to do - if you want to do something. Or, you can just chill. Order a cool drink, for me it would be a Mimosa, for sure, and take a book. Choose of those amazing sun loungers and just relax; read the book, zip your drink, let the sea breeze cool you down and sun make you warm... or if you are a beach lover, just go to the beach, relax there. It is nice, beautiful, clean and private (in a sense that there are no other people there, I've only seen 3 salesmen during the entire time I've been there).

Trees bending over the sundeck provide little cover so you can get little shade if you wish.

The absolute best part about the beach for me are the sunsets. Nikki Beach sunsets are becoming well known around the world and I often hear other guests saying the same thing I've said so many times, you don't find better sunsets anywhere, at least not on that island. I haven't! Here are some examples for your eyes only to prove my point. Don't you just want to book your stay already and get to the beach?



How did the Nikki Beach saga get started?

Nikki Beach was founded by Mr. Jack Pernod, a man who wanted to celebrate the life of his daughter, Nicole.

"In 1998, entrepreneur Jack Penrod introduced the world to Nikki Beach, the first and original luxury beach club concept that combines the elements of music, dining, entertainment, fashion, film and art into one. Today, the Nikki Beach concept has transcended its international venues and grown into a global, multifaceted luxury lifestyle and hospitality brand comprised of a Beach Club Division; a Hotels & Resorts Division; a Lifestyle Division; a Special Events Division and Nikki Cares, a 501c3 Non-Profit Charity Division....

...Everything was designed with my daughter Nicole in mind. The look is meant to be soft, friendly, carefree, beautiful and safe. Guests feel at home, whether they are sunbathing, sharing a meal or joining our events. We create the perfect stage to allow them to “Celebrate Life”. Nikki Beach is all about keeping the look natural and simple. There’s nothing synthetic or over the top. When we first started coming up with ideas, I spent a lot of time in Central America with my wife Lucia, and we went around farms acquiring some of the large wooden tables that are made out of one big piece of solid wood. It was this natural look combined with soft sophistication in all white fabrics and free-flowing white curtains that made the essence of our Nikki Beach design. Basic, simple and with a touch of heaven. Like you are in the clouds. The teepee is a symbol of living close to the ground and nature. It is a great reminder to stay grounded and respect nature. It conjures up memories of family around a campfire, sharing meals and stories. Celebrating life in a simple but very rewarding way. Another important factor in designing Nikki Beach was to make sure we kept the good energy flowing through the space. Nothing should block the flow. My biggest surprise is when I see our customers’ attitude of feeling like they just got home. It’s very rewarding. Our Nikki Beach design is never exactly the same, but all of the locations have the elements that we know make our customers feel good. When we enter new regions, sometimes we collaborate with other designers and architects but always following our vision of “Celebrating Life” surrounded by natural and earthy elements and this is found all over the world."

Would you like to read more?

Check out Nikki Beach website:
http://www.nikkibeach.com/


On Part II /of the review of Nikki Beach Koh Samui you get to know more about its services, such as transportation, excursions, restaurants, entertainment, events, butler service etc.
(Will be posted later this year.)

On the last part of this review, Part III you get to taste the amazing, world famous Nikki Beach Sunday Brunch, trust me, you don't want to miss that experience!
You get to check out photos, video clips, stories and interviews, all material that I get to gather when attending to my next Sunday Brunch - sounds delicious? Well, it is! Just wait and see!
(Will be posted next year.)

I know, it's not the same as experiencing it yourself, but why not consider it as an appetizer.

(I would have introduced you the fabulous Sunday Brunch already on the second part of the review but, unfortunately, the respected, beloved, King of Thailand passed away during my latest visit to Nikki Beach and I was supposed to document the Sunday Brunch during my visit via photos, filming etc. Due to that sad event 1-month's official mourning time was declared to the entire country, which of course meant no Sunday Brunch or any other parties either. It was not a time to party, it was time to pay our respects to the King and the royal family.)

So, this is it -  for now.

* * * * *

What? You can't wait for the parts II and III?
Well, as they say, if it's good enough, it's worth waiting for, right?

...or you can just book your own trip to Nikki Beach Koh Samui!
...and experience this gem yourself, you won't regret it! However, be aware that it's unprecedented allure will might make you to fall in love it. I dare you - take the risk and go for it!

It's easy, start here:

Nikki Beach Koh Samui

Nikki Beach Koh Samui - Booking

and I give you a tip:
Stay 3, pay 2 offer is valid until December 25, 2016.

...and not to worry, you get to fulfill your blog post hunger with my other blog posts in the meantime, I've got plenty of topics and stories to tell you from my #TouchseGoesAsia tour!

You may check out my photo gallery thereof from my Twitter and Instagram accounts.
TWITTER Touchse
IG Touchse_by_Mia

I hope I have been able to pass on my admiration to this amazing boutique resort that stole a piece of my heart. I am the kind of traveler who loves to explore new places so it is a huge compliment from my part when I tell you that I really want to return to this place again and again. Every time I go to Asia, I love to start my trip by staying at Nikki Beach for a few days, because I immediately feel relaxed and get to my happy traveler mood.

Who wouldn't smile and feel happy when staying at a resort where the weather is hot, people are warm, but the drinks, they are cool!