Top 5 Budget Hotels in Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is a very competitive market for Hotels. As far as numbers go, Kuala Lumpur has more than enough hotels however by 2020, the government has estimated an excess of 48 million tourists. This will surely lead to a shortage of accommodation. As most of us are aware, Budget Hotels are the current trend in the market. I have listed 5 of the best hotels in Kuala Lumpur. I have not been paid on endorsed by any of the Hotels.

Let's start with the pick of the bunch. The cherry as we like to say. My choice for this is a little known boutique hotel which is gaining big traction in the market. The Hotel has only been operational since October 2010 however it has made waves in the budget accommodation market and the wonderful branding has made it a power to be reckoned with in the future.,

1. Apple Hotel in Kuala Lumpur is a unique boutique hotel in Jalan Alor. Why is it number one? The Hotel has gone out of it's way to be Green. It has environmentally friendly towels and pillow cases which can be easily disposed of after use without causing harm as opposed to big normal towels. The hotel is clean and comfortable. The security is excellent. As far as location goes. This Hotel is a dead set winner. Right in the heart of Bukit Bintang in Jalan Alor. The food crazy street of Jalan Alor pays a lot of homage to many travelers and Apple Hotel in right in the middle of it. Either, you want to rough it for simple street food or something a lot more extravagant, it's all available in this area. The price point is very good, from RM108 to RM148. I give it a nice 8/10.
2. Tune Hotel. Without a doubt, Tune has been a leader in the market. The hotel is clean and comfortable, the security is very good like Apple Hotel, the location is great. The monorail is next door making it easy to access other areas of Kuala Lumpur. The only issue for me is the price point. I feel charging for every little thing is a bit much. The add on of air con etc should be free and the price point is not to my liking. 6/10.

These two are currently the market leaders, Next week i will cover the other three I have discovered in Kuala Lumpur. Think these are the best. Why not let me know what you think.

My Hero - Happy Mothers Day

Recently, one of my friends asked me who was my hero? I remember back when I was younger, I would answer back with a "Michael Jordan " or a " Sir Edmond Hillary ". However, times have changed. I have grown. As has my knowledge of the real world. With growth, I have gone thrown failure and success, ups and down.

But at last I know, I can name my true hero. They compete on all levels with the greats of the world. They may not be a Einstein or a Pele, but to me, they will forever be my hero. You ask me who my hero is, well, it's simple. They are my parents. If people don't know me, they will ask the question, why your parents? Let me answer that in the simplest fashion possible.

I was born in Fiji in a very remote place called Labasa on Vanua Levu. Not the main island called Viti Levu but the other one that not many tourist go to. We moved to Suva and my memories of Labasa are dim at best. We moved to Suva the capital and with his job and career prospects, we saw Nadi, the international airport is there. During the first coup, we lost a lot in it and had to move to New Zealand. I was still a little shit than but New Zealand opened my eyes like it would never have happened in Fiji.

My Father left Fiji before us to set up shop in New Zealand , looking for a job etc. My mum with six children in tow took a plan to New Zealand around 6 weeks later. With little or no money, All eight of us shared a room at my Aunties house. A experience i would never forget. We didn't have enough money between us to catch a bus or train to the local town, things were very tight, so we walked. My father took a job at the bank and my mum took a job at the nursing home. Both walked tirelessly to make a better life for myself and brothers and sisters. We worked after school sometimes juggling different jobs, including a paper route or milk run. We even took a job at the local supermarket. Times were tough.

With time and hard work, our conditions improved in New Zealand. We are all away to different parts of the world chasing our dreams. But we can never forget the how we got here to this point. My friends are chasing there dream with Apple Hotel and they all had a similar start as me. My story may not be unique or inspiring however when I asked the question who is your hero, give some thought to your parents and the sacrifice they make.  I want to take the time to thank my Mum for always cooking my favorite food when i'm home and going out of her way to do so. Happy Mothers Day

Taxi Drivers in Kuala Lumpur

Normally, I don't like to say a lot about people scamming etc however my patience has finally run out. Yesterday I tried to catch a cab from Jalan Alor to Bangsar, taking into account it wasn't peak time. I walked from Apple Hotel which is in Jalan Alor to Bukit Bintang, areound a minute. Walked across the road dodging crazy traffic and went to the que of taxis.

I asked the taxi driver if he could take me to Bangsar, price quoted going by my accent , as I can easily pass as a local with my Indian background. RM45 was the price. I knew the fare was no more than 10 0 15 depending on traffic. Now I have heard that the cab drivers here were some of the nastiest in the world but now I have had first hand experience as a tourist. This has happened to me at KL Sentral and Mud Valley as well. also when my family arrived here. Some Hotels seem to have a deal with these taxis, how far can the Hotels go to police the situation, maybe ban the cheating drivers?

I am aghast at this situation here. It clearly states that the Taxis are not allowed to bargain, or more to the point that we were not allowed to bargain with them. In any event, if i threatened to complain, I feel the driver would only laugh at me. To top it off most of the cabs here are illegal. Will the Government take a stance against them? I feel and saw how this is really hurting the tourist business here. A bright block came up with a solution for this and introduced the blue cabs. Funny, I say, the price you pay them is double including RM6 just to get started.

In summary, whether your catching a cab from Apple Hotel in Jalan Alor or catching a can anywhere, be prepared to get ripped off. Welcome to Kuala Lumpur people. The Malaysian Government could surely do something but i fear this is a dead issue as they don't give a shit. I am not slagging the government as such but I feel in terms as a nice image of their country, it may be a good idea to really crack down on these taxis. Anyone had a bad experience? Feel free to comment. 

Battle Between Facebook & Google for Likes

For anyone who is anyone, you may have jumped on to Facebook and gathered a community of friends. When you post something, your friends may press the like button on Facebook. Sometimes it's good to see how many of your friends support your cause or simply that your friends are paying attention to your life and they do care. Now what has this got to do with Hotels in Kuala Lumpur you ask ?

Well, Google just introduced the +1 function on the web. (this is currently only available in the US) The function is similar to the like button and lets you add the +1 to a website you like. Great, you think? Well there is more. Through this you will be able to see how many other uses have added the +1 and it will give you a tally of your community and other people as well thou you won't know who they are.

We as Hotel Marketers are already fighting for the Social Media space knowing full well the signals provided by Facebook do provide a boasting hand to your SERPS. Now, we all expected the Panda changes or farmer update but this, I have to admit, I was not ready for. Now I am at the drawing board already getting ready to fire up plans on how this will effect Search Engine Traffic.

Clearly moving forward this +1 function will have an effect on our Search Results. The fact that users are now directly influencing our results may not be a bad thing. Our daily battles with content optimization, searching for Back Links like the Holy Grail has now given us something else to mull over. The mix of internet Marketing into the Social space has been the trend for a while however with Google jumping in as it has tried a few times already will make this a lot more interesting. I for one will be following this one as I also feel they will be a lot of abuse of this product.,

I ask Google to prove me wrong here =)

The good the bad and the ugly in SEO

Most companies now have taken the foresight to dive into the SEO market. Some will do it head first will others will dip a toe to find the best way forward. SEO in the near future is here to stay. Combine that with Social Media and your armed to the teeth in a never ending war against your competitors.

The Good

The good part is that most SEO services will stay within the safe guidelines that Google has provided. That means natural link building by providing quality content. Not copying and pasting into your CMS. Most will do a through analysis of your site, starting onsite, working with relevant keywords, by that I mean converting keywords. A good example of that is in the Hotel industry. a phrase like "Hotel Kuala Lumpur" might not be the best converting phrase. In terms search volume, it is pure mass. Around 130,000 searches locally per month. Now getting a percentage of this market would make anyone happy. I would consider this a branding phrase. Great to get your name up there however the conversion would not be high in terms of sales. If you were a budget Hotel. The better converting phrase would be "Budget Hotel in Kuala Lumpur". The search volume is lower hence not so Generic.

This would give you a better chance at converting the phrase. You could funnel it down a bit more to "Budget Hotel Jalan Alor" Now Jalan Alor is a street. This is a lot closer to home. The chances have increased dramatically. The search volume is not high and the competition value is low. A great phrase to target to get to the first page.

Now being on the first page is great. But let's face it! the bottom of Page one is not good. You might as well shoot yourself on the foot instead of celebrating. The position your after is top 3. The click ratio increases to 33% of the total search volume. A friend of mine recently started looking after Apple Hotel in Jalan Alor. The company has some great social media strategies as you can see on their Facebook Page. However, all the pages on the site have an error in the root directory. This is considered a major problem in terms of having a clean indexable site for the keywords.

Tomorrow will dive a bit more into the bad of SEO. In the mean time feel free to go onthe Apple Hotel site and be sure to fire back some suggestions on how to improve it.

Facebook Questions Feature for Apple Hotels in Kuala Lumpur

Yesterday was a day of trail and error. Facebook recently launched it's new question's feature and being a willing participant I decided to give it a bash to see the engagement level. So we decided to post it up on Facebook, the question being "Where should Apple Hotel Build a New Hotel".

Apple Hotel usually gets engagement level of around 0.98% of it's 1690 or so fans. When we started this campaign, the  level was 1680 fans so maybe it's lead to a slight growth. However, what is really great is the raise in engagement and also from countries unexpected. When I went to sleep last night, our level was around 1.3% so already a bit of a success. I woke up today to find that we had people voting from Ireland and that was winning the poll. The total engagement level is now at increasing the ratio to around 1.6%.

Now, this is great. However, not only can we use the poll for this but we can also use it for many other things, including research in making the Hotel better. Companies can use this for consumer research and the numbers don't lie. I have already become a fast fan of this product. Already preparing a list of questions to ask per week to engage our fans at Apple Hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

So many uses for such a great tool leaves me wondering which other clients of mine could use it. Apple Hotel is making a big point in doing something new. No other company in Malaysia has so far used this feature and Apple Hotel's is clearly a step ahead than the rest.

Budget Hotel in Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur

We all know they are plenty of hotels in Kuala Lumpur. With the current trend towards budget hotels, we seem to be seeing a lot more spring up everywhere there is land or building. In my recent venture to Kuala Lumpur, I was in Bukit Bintang, more specifically Jalan Alor. 

For those who haven't been there, Jalan Alor is a food lovers paradise. Walking down the street at night (dead in the day time) the street is vibrant and full of life. Food stalls pop into existence from little side streets. The whole street is full of color and life. The hawker's stand at every restaurant trying to pull you in. The table cloths are out for the more expensive restaurant. 

A few icons stand out while walking down Jalan Alor, you got old town coffee, and of course the other beacon of light in Jalan Alor is Apple Hotel. The big green hotel is like a beacon of hope for weary travelers passing by. I walked in to a very nice lobby, by far one of the nicest for a budget hotel in Kuala Lumpur. The Lobby had the chairs all designed like an apple which i thought was way cool. 

I moved to my room after checking, prices range from RM88 to around RM148 depending on what your after. Their is a loft service provided and it works. The room was a bit small however, the way i figure it, I'm here to see the city and not spend time in my room. Now travelling around Asia, I have to say "this was the best nights sleep, so far in Asia". The beds are super comfy, the toilets are a bit weird with the shower and toilet very close, but hell, this is Asia. 

Later the manager told me, the beds are "dreamland". The high end beds here in Malaysia. Making it a super comfortable sleep. I asked to have my room cleaned as i extended for a second night. I came back after a hard day of wondering about, the room was spotless. Now, once again I have to say the thing that got me was cleanliness.  Upon check out, i thanked the lovely staff and went on my merry way. A great hotel and would easily recommend. Apparently they have iPad check in now as well. Dam, how i wish i was there for that. Sounds like a traffic idea. I wish Apple Hotel in Jalan Alor all the best for the future. They Facebook page is pretty cool as well.