Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Westin

What should a 5-Star hotel absolute have? A kick-ass lobby. The Kuala Lumpur Westin has taken it a bold step further: It's lobby's ambience resembles that of a night-club (see pic).

Like an action movie which looks like a comic book. A bakery which could be mistaken for a diamoud boutique. An office which feels like a bedroom. A church which doubles as a pub (or vice-versa, it may be hard to tell).

Profitable juxtapositions are usually fun ones, too.

Unfortunately for the Westin, waiting for the lift on the lobby could take almost as long waiting for the 10pm flight - at 8pm. I have never seen a set of hotel lifts (in Westin's case, all four of the main elevators) show numbers no smaller than 15. And they didn't seem to be coming lower.

Sure there was probably some hot function happening (on the top floors?), but standing and staring at them was as hip as watching paint dry. What can I say? Not all mix-and-matches work.

4 comments:

Yan said...

Oh? At Westin? I held a function there sometimes back. Could not quite remember - probably mine was at the lower floor, or there was a YB coming?

In Vietnam, waiting at lift of the 9-storey hotel that we stayed in was like waiting for the lucky draw. It stopped at all floors, and seemed never to stop at my 7th floor. In stree-less holiday, I walked up to 7th floor! Yay!

blogpastor said...

Westin in KL looks like a nightclub? This is rather odd, maverick. It's so un-Westin.

Don't all the big boys have some kind of brand distinctives that include decor?

Anonymous said...

Yan, the Westin's lower (or mezzanine?) floor is usually used for 'high-powered' functions, yes. i suppose in Vietname for a 9-story hotel can still 'accept' (probably no higher than 3-star, right?).

but for a 5-star hotel in the middle of KL's most expensive street?? :)

Anonymous said...

Blogpastor, Westin KL is located in the thick of the notorious/famed "Starwalk"...where people pay to sit around in the dark having coffee, smoking those long mid-East pipe things, eating unpronounciable Italian food, getting drunk, etc.

i suppose the Westin thought it's cool to emulate the ambience and move it up a notch? ;>)