Hotel: Melia - Jalan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur

For my first two nights I stayed in KL and booked in at the Melia Hotel. For me this hotel is ideal. It is reasonably well priced and is very well located opposite Times Square on Jalan Imbi and is in walking distance from Bukit Bintang, home to plenty of restaurants and hawker stalls and the numerous bars nearby in Chankat Bukit Bintang. The Times Square shopping mall is enormous covering 10 floors and there are plenty of places to buy goods should you have forgotten anything. There is a 'Cold Storage' (supermarket) on the lower ground floor, a cheap food court as well as plenty of other food outlets. If staying at the Melia and you need to book an Air Asia flight there is also one of their ticket offices nearby (turn right as you come out of the Melia and it's about 50 meters along on the right hand side) though prices are generally cheaper online.

The hotel corridors look a little tired but the staff were helpful and friendly and the rooms I found to be clean, well appointed and spacious. The only thing I did do was turn off the fridge at night as I found it a little noisy when the thermostat kicked in occasionally.

The included buffet breakfast is very good and had a range of Malay (curries and sambals), Chinese (dim sum and soups etc), fried/grilled, continental and also a section doing fresh omelettes etc. The coffee was very good and there was also a range of fruit juices etc. Breakfast is served between 06:30 and 10:30 and the buffet restaurant can get busy. I never had to wait for a table but the closer you get to 10:30 the more chance there is that some of the food types and juices and will not be replenished given the time. You get a free newspaper delivered daily also. The only thing to bear in mind, especially for longer stays, is that the internet is charged for unless stopping in a suite etc and there is no free wi-fi in the lobby which many hotels would have. This would put me off long term but was of no consequence seeing as I had the Digi service on the iPhone.

Like many hotels the Melia takes a credit card authorisation to cover themselves but once you pay this authorisation is cancelled. In my case, the pre-authorisation was for RM 700. I may well look to stay at the Melia when I return from Penang but will also check the Grand Millenium which is also nearby, and also perhaps the Crown Plaza which is near the busy Jalan P Ramelee. I was quite happy with the Melia however and would certainly stay there again.