The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur

I had an outstanding experience during my whole entire stay as a returning consumer at the Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur. Their entire leadership took the time to meet with me including their General Manager, Director of Rooms, Director of Sales, and their Club Lounge manager. As a platinum guest, your loyalty definitely matters to them and they know how to assign you a nice suite upgrade routinely. They are happy to connect you with familiar leaders on every visit and treat you like family. I would definitely recommend staying here if you like a peaceful and sophisticated atmosphere. They do focus a lot on the environmental safety for those consumers who focus on that and change the bed sheets every two days unless a guest request it to be done daily. I had no concerns during my stay.

Kudos to the amazing staff at The Ritz-Carlton!

Headed here for 2 nights at the 3-bedroom suite with 2 other friends. The suite was massive, with a big dining area, study, kitchen, living room, one master room and two other bedrooms. Each room had an ensuite, with the master room having a large bathtub. I think it can take up to 6-8 people. The location is amazing as the Grab vehicle need not head into the crowded Bukit Bintang Main Street but instead go by the back street near Dorsett. Check-in, concierge and lobby staff were always welcoming and nice; breakfast at level 1 was average compared to many other KL hotels. However, given that it was only for two days, it was still good. Overall, good place to be at for a short trip.

I debated rating this hotel as "excellent" as there are some superlative features. The Lobby is great, there are many eating options, the location is great, the staff is excellent, and the rooms are grand. Breakfast was expensive, but it is one of the best buffets that I've seen. Why 4.5? The room felt like an old design, my room at the end of a corridor next to the stairs was too noisy, and the room service laksa is terrible.

Perhaps it is time for this hotel to be run by better management as the current management seems clueless as to what a luxury hotel should be like. Under the current management, the Ritz Carlton KL has been declining in many aspects including basic cleanliness, hygiene, food safety, food preparation and storing food. can easily lead to food poisoning or adverse food reactions due to allergy. This Ritz Carlton KL is a disgrace to other Ritz Carlton Hotel's around the globe such as the one in Singapore. It almost felt as if the current management has no clue on how to run a hotel and ensure basic cleanliness, hygiene, food safety and food preparation. Instead they seem to rely more on guests to ensure that food is safe for consumption. This was perhaps the first luxury 5 star hotel I have stayed in with such terrible, disgusting standards of food hygiene and safety I have stayed in so far. We stayed there for 5 nights. On the first night during dinner service in the lounge there was plastic stuck to the papaya fruit. On the 2nd day for breakfast, there was a piece of plastic stuck to their food again. I thought that would be the end of it but when I went to the lounge during afternoon tea and requested for a food platter, there were egg shells on the fruits. This goes to show how messy, disgusting, dirty, unhygienic and filthy the kitchen is and how little the staff cares about food safety, food contamination, and storing or separating foods. It also shows how terribly untrained the staff are. The breakfast in the main restaurant had little variety and I was surprised by how small the spread is. There are 5 meal servings in the lounge, but the 2nd and 3rd meal servings are the same everyday with no change. The 5th serving is not buffet style, and you have to ask the staff what desserts they have as they go into the kitchen to see what is left over. Desserts are often repeated during that time as well, and pale in comparison to the delicious chocolates offered that the Ritz Carlton in Singapore offers. Compare this to the Singapore Ritz Carlton which changes their options for all 5 meals daily, resulting in a truly culinary experience. On the 3rd day, our shower head did not work and a new one had to be replaced. In terms of entertainment, the TV only has 16 channels, lacking international broadcast such as HBO and Paramount. On one of the days, I made a call for room service and went down to the lounge. When I came up around 1 to 2 hours later, my room was not made yet, and I had to make another call to get the room serviced. Staying at this hotel made me feel more like a food and safety inspector than a guest, having to carefully check the food before eating. For all the reputation built up by other Ritz Carltons around the world, staying in this hotel is disappointing, leaving much to be desired and greatly brings down my impression of the Ritz Carlton brand. Lacking in basic hygiene, if you are worried about food poisoning, food allergies, food contamination, poor food storage / mixing of different foods together and all sorts of issues with poor food handling practises, you should stay away from the Ritz Carlton KL. There are far better, cheaper hotels out there - better value, with better hygiene and food safety - that are more convenient such as the Westin KL and Park Royal Collection KL.