I live in the UK.  The UK is a very, very long way away from the Hilton Petaling Jaya.

I was travelling alone on business and had flown from Newcastle to Dubai and then onto Kuala Lumpur.  I paid for the budget taxi (not dodgy or falling apart – perfectly functional) in the airport and then followed the signs for the cars.  The heat hit me as soon as I got out.  I removed my heavy winter jacket and tried really hard to stay awake during the 40 minute journey to the hotel.

As my taxi pulled up the bellboy appeared and helped me with my luggage.  The hotel lobby was cool (in an air-conditioned way, not trendy) and I walked right up to the counter.  I am a Diamond Hhonors member (Hilton’s frequent guest program) so could have checked in upstairs.  I was reminded of this by the clerk – I didn’t see the point in going upstairs to come back down so I just asked him to carry on.

He wore a badge that read ‘Training to help serve you better’.  This was probably apt – he wasn’t your standard Hilton clerk – he didn’t ask about newspapers, my journey or anything else actually.  Nor did he welcome me back… He did take a credit card swipe of 2500MYR (about £550) for an 11 night stay which is probably about right.  The room rate was being billed direct to the company but came in at just under £60 per night.  This rate turned out to be pretty good value.
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