This review is about Nova Hotel; situated in Jalan Alor--the brightly lit food street of Bukit Bintang district in Kualalumpur. Whenever I am traveling abroad, I try to book my hotel through Agoda. However, this time around, despite of rummaging through the seemingly unlimited number of accommodation options available in Agoda, me and my wife could not agree upon a hotel.
So what happened is that I kind of gave up the pursuit and my wife took over. She Googled "KL Hotels" and found out about Nova hotel from a website called Asiawebdirect. After looking at the impressive photographs of the hotel exterior, room interior and the toilet, we both agreed that this is the best option within our budget. I tried booking through Agoda but although the hotel was listed there were no free rooms during our traveling time.
We booked the hotel for 2+2 nights. We wanted to do an early check in on 21st July, 2011. We were supposed to reach Kualalumpur at around 5 AM and we wanted to move in to the hotel by 9 AM. When booking the hotel, we mentioned our special requirement. For such cases, Agoda would always give us a specific reply. Usually someone from the hotel in question is contacted by Agoda and the hotel directly replies back to the person who booked the rooms. On such an occasion, I booked a hotel for my in laws and asked Agoda whether there's any refrigerator inside the rooms as my father in law has to keep some medicine inside his room.
The hotel gave a courteous reply that although they don't have refrigerators inside the rooms, they can store any medicine inside their own refrigerators if it is handed over at the reception.
However, in our case, we arrived at the hotel at 8 AM and was told that we cannot check in early. in fact, we could not check in before 2 PM, or even later. We arrived in KLIA (KL International airport) at around 4:30 AM, and could not sleep. We waited till there was some sunlight and took a taxi to reach Bukit Bintang at 8. Me and my wife both were really tired and desperate for some rest. The receptionist at Nova hotel realized our situation and instead of helping us out, took full advantage of our vulnerable state.
She instantly conjured a brilliant(!) solution. I have deep suspicion that these people get a share of the rooms they book. She told me that we cannot check in to our booked room now, but instead she can give us an unoccupied "family room". She will not charge any extra money despite of the fact that we are checking in early. Instead, she will just take the extra amount, i.e. the price difference between the room I originally booked (superior room) and this new one. Sounds like a good deal, right? Read on.
This so called family room was actually for 3 persons, or more. The room was big with a double and a single bed, but nothing more. The air conditioning was good (which we realized later) and we got 3 breakfast coupons (useless as it's a buffet breakfast anyway). However, the fare was exorbitant. It was almost double of what I was paying for the superior room. The deal was almost like blackmailing. The receptionist lady was arrogant enough to say that "you can take this deal or come back after 2 PM". She even refused to allow us to keep our baggage inside the hotel.
Had I been a solo traveler, I'd just reject their so called deal and walk away from there. However, I was with my wife who was damn tired, and our luggage was also huge. So I decided to take the "deal" and check in to the room. We took a good 4 hour nap. After waking up recharged and refreshed, we went out to explore the amenities of KL.
Sleep was pleasant at night. The air conditioning was really good and the bed was comfortable. We woke up a bit late and went down for breakfast at around 9:30 AM. The cafe is ingeniously named "Cassanova Cafe". I have read a few morose comments regarding the average quality of the buffet breakfast in travel websites, but what I personally experienced was way below "average".
The menu was poorly designed with very little variety and irrelevant and cumbersome items. Few people would prefer to have rice as a breakfast item; no matter how tasty or famous "Nasi Lemak" is. There was no proper labeling on the food, so I skipped "cocktail sausage" suspecting it could contain pork. Refilling was done very casually, too. During my short stay of about 30 minutes, a particular dish or two was not refilled at all. The cooking was dubious and some familiar foods tasted different.
We checked out after staying for a couple of days. We were allowed to leave behind some of our baggage in their store room. They only agreed to keep the baggage when I told them that I have another booking and will get back after returning from Langkawi. However, the receptionist insisted that even though I have an internet booking, I should ensure the room's availability by paying the entire amount beforehand.
Now this was a ridiculous and outrageous proposition. The website Asiawebdirect collected 10% of the total room fare and gave me a booking voucher that guarantees a room on the mentioned dates. This voucher should have been good enough for guaranteeing me the room.
Another point to remind--the website and my confirmation slip mentioned free Wi-Fi in the room, but in actuality wi-fi was only available at the lobby. When I inquired about this mismatch, the hotel staff informed me that the information in the website is backdated; i.e. they used to have wi-fi in all rooms before they "renovated", but it is no longer available!
The best things about this hotel can be viewed from outside--literally. Location is the best or perhaps the only selling point for Nova hotel. It is situated at the very end of the illustrious food street Jalan Alor. In order to get to the hotel from Bukit Bintang, you have to enter this street which remains lively until the late hours of the night with roadside food stalls and restaurants. One day we had our dinner at 2:30 AM and still there were no lack of customers in the stores.
These restaurants sell mostly Chinese and Thai dishes. Traditional Malaysian food is also available, and so are a few Indian and continental items. So it is always a better option to have your lunch and dinner in these comparatively cheaper restaurants. Even if you book Nova hotel, you can safely skip the breakfast option and save some of your precious money. You can spend it elsewhere. KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks and Subway are all less than 5 minutes walking distance away from the hotel.
As the hotel is in Bukit Bintang, a number of shopping malls are also within walking distance. These are BB Plaza, Low Yat Plaza, Berjaya Times Square, Sungei Wang Plaza, etc.
Overall, I had a memorable stay in the hotel, but it was not because of the hotel--it was due to the proximity of nice places and the presence of my dearest wife.
I will not visit the hotel again. This is a promise to myself.
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