The Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur, Fairmont Rey Juan Carlos I, Barcelona

BACKGROUND The 364-room, all-butler RitzCarlton Kuala Lumpur originally opened in December 1997. US President Barack Obama stayed when he visited Malaysia in 2014, and it reopened in April 2016 following a year-long refurbishment. It is owned by YTL Hotels, the hospitality arm of Malaysian conglomerate YTL Corporation Berhad.

WHERE IS IT? It is in the ‘Golden Triangle’ of the Malaysian capital, next to Westin and the Marriott, and close to the large, upscale Pavilion mall. It is also near Ain Arabia, or Arab Street, which is dotted with shops and Arabic restaurants catering to Middle East travellers and locals.

WHAT’S IT LIKE? The hotel’s exterior is a nondescript high-rise, and its floor plan is a twisted L-shape that means moving from where you are in the hotel to where you need to be inevitably requires a long saunter through public areas. This was no bad thing, as I passed butlers in tailcoats and bow ties, and a four-piece band that was playing Stravinsky in the morning and paying homage to Charlie Parker after dark. At one point the first-floor parlour was hosting a surprisingly well-behaved fourth birthday party, where teddy bears outnumbered guests three to one.

ROOM FACILITIES My seventh-floor room was spacious with a comfortable, large bed. The view wasn’t great – of a building site – but the room was quiet. A large flat-screen hung on the wall opposite the bed, with a standard hotel desk and a slouching sofa next to the coffee table in between. On returning each evening, this table had freshly baked chocolate brownies on it, which were messy to eat but very tasty. The bathroom was a good size with walk-in rain shower, and there was a bowl of bath salts on the side of the tub.

RESTAURANTS AND BARS Breakfast is served in the Cobalt Room. A wide range of halal food is on offer, and live stations included one chef kneading, stretching, folding and frying fresh parathas, a local breakfast staple. Fruit juices are individually bottled, and can be taken from a fridge, rather than poured from an urn. The Library looked like the dining room in a 1920s stately home, an effect many hotels yearn for but few achieve. Perhaps guests in KL just dress for dinner better than elsewhere, as Champagne, dinner jackets and cocktail dresses abounded among the wood-panelled room when I passed by. The guests were seated around one large dining table in the middle of the space, making the restaurant look ideal for entertaining corporate guests or intimate dinner parties. Next to the Library is The Smoke Room cigar lounge. Other options include the Li Yen Cantonese restaurant, The Cobalt Room for Sunday brunch, the Lobby Lounge with scores of flavours of tea, and the Patisserie for pastries.

MEETING FACILITIES I had the pleasure to sit in two meeting rooms, which were uninspiring but functional. There are 13 others, with capacity for between 30 and 190 people in each, and a 350-seat dining hall as well.

LEISURE FACILITIES The hotel houses Spa Village Kuala Lumpur, which offers as broad a range of treatments as you could want. It also boasts Asia’s only sensory sound bath room. There, “the frequencies of our Symphonic Gong” will “harmonise the subtle energy and nerve paths, leaving you feeling relaxed and rejuvenated”. Austyn Allison