We review W Kuala Lumpur, a maximalist playground in the heart of Malaysia’s capital

KL is a place where opposites seem perfectly happy sharing a postcode. Glass-and-steel towers loom over kopitiams, tropical greenery pushes through the concrete, and gleaming malls coexist with streets where dinner is still best eaten on a plastic stool. And the best hotels in Kuala Lumpur offer a front-row seat to all this magic. We recently checked into W Kuala Lumpur and discovered a hotel where the Petronas Twin Towers practically peek through the windows.

While this stay was complimentary, all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Review of W Kuala Lumpur

Hotel snapshot

Hotel: W Kuala Lumpur
Location: KLCC, next to the Petronas Twin Towers
Address: No. 121 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 50450
Rooms: 150 rooms and suites
Brand: W Hotels, Marriott International
Style: Bold, contemporary and playful luxury, with colourful interiors inspired by Malaysia’s jungle-city character
Best for: Couples, city breaks, nightlife, food lovers, luxury travellers and anyone wanting a hotel with a lively atmosphere
Family-friendly: Yes, with interconnecting room options and larger suites suitable for families
Wellness: AWAY Spa, 24-hour FIT gym and outdoor WET pool with Petronas Twin Towers views
Prices from: 1108 MYR per night, depending on room and season.

First impressions

W Kuala Lumpur opened in 2018 as the brand’s first Malaysian property, occupying a particularly enviable patch of central Kuala Lumpur just steps from the Petronas Twin Towers. Location is often described as everything in hospitality, usually by hotels whose primary geographical distinction is proximity to a motorway. Here, the claim has some merit.

Some hotels are designed to lower your blood pressure, but W Kuala Lumpur is certainly not one of them. From the moment I arrive, the hotel appears determined to grab my attention. Metal gleams. Colours ricochet off mirrored surfaces. Overhead, streaming LEDs imitate tropical rain; beneath them are artistic references to rivers and rippling water, bamboo-inspired chandeliers and traditional Malay spinning toys. Larger-than-life batik motifs collide happily with polished metal, forming a sumptuous kind of chaos. It is not for the faint of heart, and thankfully I prefer my luxury with a pulse.

The hotel’s recurring pixel motif is perhaps the cleverest expression of this. Individual dots gather to form a larger picture, conceived as a visual metaphor for multicultural Malaysia. It’s a surprisingly thoughtful idea lurking beneath all the visual exuberance.

The rooms

Upstairs, the sensory volume drops several notches. W Kuala Lumpur has 150 rooms and suites, and the same dialogue between contemporary design and Malaysian heritage continues inside them. Pixelated interpretations of batik appear alongside indigenous wau tassels inspired by the traditional Malaysian kite, while the brand’s signature W beds reminded us that eventually even the most enthusiastic traveller must sleep.

After the theatricality downstairs, the Deluxe King Guest Room allowed us some breathing space. What I like most is that the Malaysian references don’t arrive in the usual luxury-hotel manner. There are no strategically positioned pieces of vaguely ‘local’ artwork accompanied by a paragraph in the room directory explaining its cultural significance. Instead, the motifs have been abstracted and folded into the hotel’s contemporary visual language. The result feels playful rather than dutiful.

And of course, there’s the view from the room. By day, the city spreads beneath you in layers of glass, concrete and green. By night, it becomes something else entirely. Office towers ignite. Roads turn into ribbons of light. And the Petronas Twin Towers glow silver
against the darkness with all the restraint of a pair of diamond earrings worn to breakfast. In particular, I enjoyed the front-row perspective of the Petronas Towers from my bed.

The WET Deck

The WET Deck is where all the buzz is at. The hotel’s rooftop pool and bar sit on the 12th floor with the Petronas Twin Towers rising spectacularly behind it. During daylight hours, it functions as a poolside escape. When darkness approaches, DJs arrive and the space shifts into something more nocturnal. It is extremely photogenic, so much so that my camera roll had (at least) seventeen subtly different compositions of myself, a cocktail and the towers.

The drinks themselves borrow fromMalaysia’s tropical pantry, incorporating ingredients including coconut, pandan vermouth and Malay gooseberry, with inspiration drawn from the hornbill and the rather appropriately mischievous monkey.

Breakfast at Flock

In the morning, breakfast starts at Flock, the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant. The room continues W’s fondness for bringing the outside in, with nature-inspired interiors and live interactive kitchens. The restaurant emphasises sustainably sourced produce, a
pleasingly grown-up counterpoint to the hotel’s more hedonistic tendencies.

The pastry selection was a highlight, particularly with a strong coffee in hand, proof that butter and caffeine remain among the more reliable cures for an (overly) enthusiastic evening at WET Deck.

YEN: A classic Cantonese feast

The Cantonese restaurant has been imagined around the relationship between heritage and modernity, both in its interiors and its cooking. Under Chef Weng, the menu moves between familiar Cantonese foundations and contemporary presentation. There are abalone and sea cucumbers alongside foie gras and Hokkaido scallops. But the headline act is the YEN Golden Duck, a whole bird turned into two courses. The crisp bean curd with caviar is served before the remaining duck meat, which is wok-fried with Dioscorea yam, black fungus and truffle sauce. It is a clever expression of YEN’s entire approach.

There are pleasures of a more traditional sort too. In particular, we enjoyed the roasted Peking duck with wheat pancakes and traditional sauces, and double-boiled chicken teapot soup with fresh ginseng, the latter possessing that clear, deeply
restorative quality that Cantonese soups excel at. At the opposite end of the spectrum, pan-fried Miyazaki A5 wagyu with king oyster mushroom brought the requisite hit of indulgence to our meal.

The Living Room

The lobby bar is called The Living Room, although few domestic living rooms I know employ mixologists. The concept pairs cocktails with desserts, treating the two as equal participants rather than regarding pudding as something one reluctantly orders after
dinner just because somebody else at the table wants one. Cocktails are created using inventive techniques and an emphasis on sustainable practices, while the space itself is intended as a genuine social hub rather than merely somewhere to wait.

Come afternoon, the Living Room’s sociability takes a more elegant form, as cocktails give way to tea and pastries. Afternoon tea, as a concept, has always struck me as one of civilisation’s better ideas. An entire meal invented because the stretch between lunch and dinner was deemed simply too arduous to endure unaided. At the Living Room, W Kuala Lumpur makes an already indulgent institution even less defensible.

During my stay, afternoon tea comes via a collaboration with Fauré Le Page, the Parisian house bringing a little Left Bank polish to W’s considerably more tropical surroundings. The menu performs a pretty charming geographical dance. On one side are French-leaning savouries: white anchovy tartine, prawn rémoulade crostini, smoked salmon brioche, truffle croque and caramelised onion and Brie gougère. Then Kuala Lumpur elbows its way politely onto the table. Penang white curry mee, ayam percik, Wagyu roti john and satay appear alongside the French repertoire, and suddenly afternoon tea becomes far more interesting than another procession of finger sandwiches. The sweet side is equally difficult to approach with moderation. There is Noir raspberry opera, vanilla rose gâteau, cherry clafoutis, saffron crème brûlée, mango-passion choux and salted-caramel canelé, followed by rose-lychee and lemon-citrus macarons. A Madagascar vanilla scone arrives with French marmalade and clotted cream, maintaining just enough allegiance to afternoon- tea convention to prevent constitutional outrage. Even the drinks are dressed for the occasion. A Lavender Berry Fizz combines lavender tea, berry purée and basil-infused syrup, and the Tropical Elixir goes considerably sunnier with mango, pineapple, passionfruit and coconut cream.

I loved the afternoon tea, particularly because it sidestepped the usual procession of banal cucumber finger sandwiches. Any offering confident enough to seat Wagyu roti john and Penang white curry mee alongside macarons and French pâtisserie at the same table has my vote.

Getting there

W Kuala Lumpur is approximately 68km from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). By taxi or Grab, allow roughly 50–70 minutes in lighter traffic, although Kuala Lumpur’s traffic can make the journey considerably longer at busy times. The hotel does not operate an airport shuttle, although it can arrange private transportation for RM310 one way.

The easiest public transport option is the KLIA Ekspres, which runs directly from KLIA Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 to KL Sentral in around 28–33 minutes. From KL Sentral, take a taxi or Grab to the hotel; alternatively, you can connect to Kuala Lumpur’s rail network.

For travelling around the city, the nearest useful stations are KLCC LRT station, on the Kelana Jaya Line, and Ampang Park, which provides connections between the Kelana Jaya LRT and Putrajaya MRT lines. KLCC station is around an 11-minute walk from Ampang Park and is particularly useful for getting around the city centre.

For most sightseeing trips from W Kuala Lumpur, however, Grab is likely to be the easiest option, particularly in Kuala Lumpur’s heat and humidity. The hotel is also well positioned for walking to KLCC attractions, while the LRT and MRT provide a useful alternative when traffic is heavy.

Frequently asked questions: W Kuala Lumpur