As part of my trip, I utilized my voucher from Singapore Airlines Krisflyer Ascend card for a free stay in Kuala Lumpur Grand Millennium Hotel. I had used the Ascend Amex card before but I discontinued it as the perks were not great. I recently re-applied the card to make use of the 35,000 miles bonus for $10,000 spend (which has since been discontinued). That worked out to be about 4.8 miles per dollar spent (including the miles accelerator program) which is an excellent figure. The benefits of this card were recently changed and the current benefits are:
- 2 miles per dollar spent (2 miles per dollar on the months of June and December) : previously it was 0.83 miles per dollar spent
- 50% bonus miles for $1000 spent in first 6 months (effectively 1.8 miles per dollar) : valid till 15 November 2016 (the miles accelerator program has been discontinued)
- 4 complimentary SATS premier lounge voucher (no change)
- 1 complimentary Millennium and Copthorne Hotel voucher (no change)
- Complimentary Gold Level Millennium membership card (no change)
- 5000 bonus miles for first use (only for new cardholder)
- 5000 bonus miles for first $1000 used (only for new cardholder)
- Complimentary Krisflyer Gold membership for 1 year (with $15,000 spent on Singapore Airlines online portal) (new)
After some introduction of the card, let me get back to my review of the Kuala Lumpur Grand Millennium Hotel. It is part of the Copthorne & Millennium group which is a UK based hotel group. Booking is quite easy – you can do the booking on the hotel website but do remember to quote the code (instructions available on the voucher) before checking out. For my hotel, there was no additional charge.
Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur is situated in Bukit Bintang area, a shopping area within Kuala Lumpur. There are many shopping centers nearby (Pavilion, Fahrenheit, Lot 10, Sungei Wang Plaza, and Low Yat Plaza etc) and it is just a stone’s throw away from Jalan Alor Food Street. Traffic however can be a nightmare as it is a busy street made worse with the upcoming MRT construction work.
Check in was pretty fast as it was not busy. I was assigned a non-smoking room at Level 13. The room is pretty spacious with a large bathroom. Toiletries were provided. Water boiler is provided in room with complimentary coffee and tea. 2 bottles of water were also provided with compliments.
The bed and pillow was pretty comfortable but the room can get extremely cold at night. Even at 30C and fan speed level 1, I was feeling extremely cold!
I would recommend this hotel for those who are visiting Kuala Lumpur for shopping due to its location within the shopping district with food within walking distance.
As for Krisflyer Ascend card, the 35,000 bonus miles were very attractive for those who may need to do a large spending. With the increase in fees and decrease in bonus miles, this card is now less attractive. Those who have never had this card before can consider getting it as the new member bonus is still acceptable (especially if you intend to spend $15k on Singapore Airlines tickets soon).
That Time Of The Year! 