Tag Archives: City Square Mall

Hotel, Johor Bahru

Amari Hotel Johor Bahru

Stayed at Amari Hotel Johor Bahru in Superior room with King Size bed. This hotel is new and is not fully completed. At that time, the swimming pool and Gym were not ready yet.  Amari Johor Bahru is located directly opposite the Komtar JBCC mall. The location of Amari is good; as it is opposite Komtar JBCC and City Square mall. However crossing the road from Komtar JBCC to the hotel is a hassle. You need to dash across the busy road when the traffic gets lighter. Hopefully they could built a pedestrian bridge soon.

To  access  Amari hotel, walked towards the entrance of the small shopping mall in the building, take the escalator up and then walked towards the door out of the mall towards another entrance door. Thereafter, take the lift up to the 6th floor and it will bring you to the hotel lobby. Rather strange way of accessing a hotel; but it is fine with me.

Amari Johor Bahru – Superior Room
Amari Johor Bahru – Bathroom
Amari Johor Bahru – Bathroom
Amari Johor Bahru – Superior Room with King size bed
Amari Johor Bahru

Check in was fast and the staff at the check in counter were courteous and helpful.  The superior room itself was quite compact in size but sufficient for 2 persons. Everything in the room were new. The king size bed was firm and the pillows were soft and comfortable. Sufficient toiletries were provided in the bathroom. The shower was great but you need to wait a while for the hot water to flow into the shower heads. Unlike most hotels, there is no need to slot your room card into a  card slot on the wall ( there is none ) to turn on the lights and air conditioned. It is a Smart room; and the TV in the room is also a Smart TV.

Amari Johor Bahru
Amari Johor Bahru – Restaurant
Amari Johor Bahru – breakfast is served in this nice restaurant
Amari Johor Bahru – Restaurant

Breakfast was served in a beautiful restaurant located on the same floor as the main lobby.  There were limited choices of breakfast spread available.  As compared to similar hotel liked Doubletree Hilton JB and Renaissance Hotel; the breakfast served at Amari is rather basic and limited in choices. I am not too sure whether it is due to the fasting month of Hari Raya or because the Hotel is not fully operational yet.  Anyway this is a something that hotel can easily improved upon.

Amari Johor Bahru
Amari Johor Bahru – Hotel Lobby
Amari Johor Bahru – Hotel Lobby

Overall, Amari Johor Bahru is a nice hotel to stay. It is conveniently located near the  2 malls and CIQ JB Sentral.  The room was comfortable and the staff were friendly and helpful. Didn’t get to see the swimming pool as it was not ready yet. Yes, I will come back soon.

 

Johor Bahru, Shopping

Plaza Kotaraya Transformation to be called Galleria Mall in Johor Bahru

Most people would remembered Plaza Kotaraya as the old shopping mall located next to Puri Pacific Hotel in Johor Bahru. I used to go there whenever I am free to sit and relax at one of my favorite cafe – my favorite Kaya toast bread at Kluang Rail Coffee. There were many shops selling products liked leather goods, gold and jewellery, groceries at the supermarket, music and guitar shop, gift and stationery, etc. I also patronized the Pizza Hut food outlet on the ground floor quite often. Unfortunately, Plaza Kotaraya was closed for a major renovation since last year.

Plaza Kotaraye being transformed into Galleria Mall

I think the renovation work for Plaza Kotaraya will be completed before the end of 2012. And it will change its name to Galleria. In my opinion, I still prefer the old name Plaza Kotaraya rather than Galleria. I went to check on the progress of the upgrading work just last week and the entire mall look spanking new and brightly color as well. The hot red color was painted on the tiles of the building against a backdrop of white.  I saw a few cranes and building materials and heavy equipment on the work site; and construction workers busy working on the building.

The New Galleria Mall in Johor Bahru

I do hope that some of the old tenants of Plaza Kotaraya will return to this mall which it is completely transformed into Galleria mall. I am sure it would attract old and new shoppers when it is ready. This new mall sits on a prime location in Johor Bahru and it is walking distance from the City Square Mall. So shoppers will have an alternative new mall to go instead of just City Square Mall which by the way is also undergoing a major renovation right now. I can see that the old Johor Bahru is transforming itself. Even some old shops along Jalan Ah Fook  and Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman have been taken over by new retail establishments. I saw new hotels such as Citrus hotel and T-hotel which are reasonably priced budget hotels – T-hotel with the cheapest rate at RM100 for a standard room.