Five star hotels tend to pull out all the stops when it comes to their guests but never have I been to a five star hotel that offers their guests butlers. Yes butlers. But the iconic and regal Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur offer that service to all guests, you even get a personal butler if you are special enough.
Now the concept of having someone wait on you or tend to your every need is pretty amazing, in theory. I was raised to be a pretty independent person who can do most things for herself, so the idea of having a butler around to do little tasks was rather foreign to me. But I was going to find out that it was more than having someone around (we shared a butler with several rooms on our floor) to help out every now and then proved to be very handy.
He drew me a bath
After a very long hard day shopping in the (tax free!) shops of busy Kuala Lumpur, I came back to my room from dinner to see a man in my room. I was a little taken back by it, but he introduced himself as Velu, my butler for the duration of my stay, and he was just drawing me a bath filled with relaxing bath salts. Velu asked if I would like the bath immediately or in a little bit, so he could adjust the temperature accordingly, then excused himself and said he would be just a phone call away if I needed anything else.
I can’t remember the last time someone drew me a bath, so as I sunk into the warm water later, I had a huge smile on my face as I was thinking ‘a butler isn’t such a strange thing after all’.
He packed my suitcase
Aside from drawing me baths, I honestly didn’t know what else to ask Velu to do. After all housekeeping kept my room in tip top shape and I was pounding the pavement looking for the best shopping deals in the bustling city of Kuala Lumpur. But during high tea with the lovely PRs for the Ritz Carlton, she mentioned that they do an impeccable job at packing suitcases. Now that was a service I could get on board with! No one likes to pack their suitcases after a holiday because the luggage has expanded by so much that nothing seems to fit any more.
And how did it go? In one word: amazingly. Not that I stuck around to watch, the idea of sitting around while someone packed my suitcase was a little uncomfortable for me, so I ducked out to Skype by the pool (pictured above) while Velu put all my shopping into my suitcase for me.
I wish I remembered to take a before and after photo of the packing, but in my haste to find my bikini upon arriving in Langkawi, I forgot. But I can tell you that it was so expertly packed that I swear my suitcase seemed slimmer than before. And tissue paper was used to keep shoes apart from the clothes, my clothes were sorted into going out clothing, pyjamas and gym gear, little items were tucked away and of course the suitcase was perfectly weighted so that it didn’t tip over when it was standing up (admit it, sometimes you forget to put the heavy stuff in the top of the suitcase and it tips over when you stand it up).
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Our stay at the Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur was complimentary and all thoughts and comments are our own. We definitely recommend you stay there, it’s just a block away from some of the best shops in KL. And high tea there is pretty delicious.
