Mutiara positions itself as a premier business hotel located in the nice city center beside popular entertainment venues like KSL and Holiday Plaza. The property is accorded the Gold Circle award by online travel agent Agoda whom also rated them as a 5 star property. Does the hotel deserve such an accolade? Read on to find out more.
Mutiara is at most a 4 star property when you do a Google search and is far from the 5 star rating that Agoda has indicated. Even for international standards, I will probably rate it as a 3 and a half star hotel.
We arrived at around noon having book a suite room. Unlike most 4 star properties, there is no dedicated line for suite guests and we had to wait in line just like everyone else.
The check in staff seem pretty happy to assist guests cutting to our queue and asking for parking coupons and other inquiries. This was a major let down in service standards and was the start of what was a major disaster for our stay.
There are some nice sofa seats at the lobby and a wooden decoration which reminds me of what a kampong wooden house would have been like.
We booked the suite room which is 60sqm large and that is probably the only good thing about the room. Entering the doorway leads you to the living room which was decked in muted and neutral tones. The entire flooring was fully carpeted which was nice.
A 3 piece sofa sets awaits guests in the living room which was comfy enough to rest and watch television.
A full size vintage looking working desk sits in the center of the room which will provide business travelers sufficient space for their work.
Behind the work desk will be a glass shelf where you will find tea and coffee making facilities.
At the bottom of the shelves, will be the mini bar which came already stocked.
A small dresser seats in the corner of the room which will prove useful for doing a double check on your appearance prior to stepping out of the room. The drawers are supposed to contain the hairdryer which we found missing and called guest services to rectify the problem.
Right beside the door of the room is also a restroom which is clean and we have nothing to complain about.
The bedroom lies our king size bed which sink right in as we lay down. That was not due to the presence of a comfy mattress topper but was due to the mattress having seen better days.
Another flat screen tv is available in the room which you can enjoy while lying in bed.
The view outside our room allow us to see the train tracks which thankfully did not disturb our sleep. We did hear the roaring sound of the train as it whizz past our room during day time. We also avoided getting near to the windows as we found gem stuck to the glass panels from the previous guests and it was left as it was. There was also lots of dirt and grime stuck on the glass from the exterior facing side.
We were skeptical about the bathrobes found in the wardrobes and did not put them to use. The antique looking safety box was also not tested for its safety features.
The washroom found in our bedroom was large and provided plenty of space. The large mirror was useful but do be careful of the floor which can be slightly slippery when wet.
The hotel amenities went for quantity rather than quality as we found the shampoo to irritate our eyes after a bath.
We do not recommend taking a soak in the bathtub. There is no separate shower stall so do be careful when getting out of the tub after your shower as it can be slightly slippery.
We left our room and went to check out the pool. The picture made the pool look better than how it was, We found the condition of the water murky and thought it was maintained reguarly. Swim at your own risk.
This was the aerial view of what is supposed to the children's wading pool.
Having booked the suite room, we were able to enter the lounge. We had to ask a few people at the reception before someone was able to direct us to the club lounge. It was also rather inconvenient that the lounge was located in a separate wing and we had to take another lift to get to it. After some difficulty we found the lounge which was pleasantly decorated with the local royalty sort of influence.
We did not find much food served during cocktail hour. I settled for a glass of wine and the service crew recommended a Gin and tonic when the missus asked if they served any cocktails. The drink the missus received turned out to be Gin + Sprite instead and the missus gave up after a sip. It was certainly a very forgettable evening and not what we would have imagine.
We had a tour of the buffet breakfast the next morning and found that it scored high on variety but we were not impressed to sit down for a meal and headed to a cafe for breakfast before we left for the comforts of home.
We were genuinely impressed by the wifi speed of the hotel as it was blazing fast, the only other good thing about this property which might have been the result of the IT department not doing the job properly to limit the bandwidth of guests wifi.
On the whole, I will not recommend this property if you are looking for a luxury stay.The facade of the hotel requires a facelift and the service standards need to be improved. Cleanliness which is the most basic necessity was absent from our suite rooms and we cannot imagine what is the condition of the leading category. If you are looking for a room in the same area, I will recommend the KSL hotel instead.
Wifi Speed:
21.45mbps
Location: Mutiara Hotel KB No 779, Jalan Dato Sulaiman, Taman Century
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Telephone: +607 330 0300
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Oh I love the pool in the suites .
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