Else Kuala Lumpur

Rooms and decor

Picture a 1930 Art Deco building in the heart of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown that once held the office of the Lee Rubber Company, a major colonial-era rubber business — Else Kuala Lumpur is the revival of that near-century-old landmark under Design Hotels by Marriott, done by architects who kept almost every square inch of the original shell. Walk into the lobby and you have to look up: ceilings around 4 metres high, bare red brick, raw black steel beams, old grained-timber floors, softened with warm lighting and minimal earth-toned furniture. The first impression is a private design gallery more than a chain hotel. There are just 49 rooms in all, and every one keeps the building's spirit — some show a full wall of red brick, some leave a steel beam running across the ceiling. Tall windows let in the daylight, king beds are soft under thick cotton, and the open, airy bathrooms use terrazzo tile with Malin+Goetz amenities. Small touches like the bottle opener, a handmade timber bar, even the minibar snacks are all chosen from local brands. Plenty of reviews land on the same line — it feels like staying in a designer's home, not a hotel room — and that is what brings people back.

Food and amenities

The heart of a stay here is RAW Bar, the ground-floor restaurant and bar that pairs a raw bar — oysters, sashimi, tartare — with cocktails from a bartender ranked among Asia's 50 Best Bars. Under the high ceilings and original steel beams it feels moody and sharp, like a hidden bar in Brooklyn, open from afternoon late into the night, and KL locals come to sit here too. Up on the 4th floor is the infinity pool, its edge reaching out over Petaling Street and toward Merdeka 118 in the distance. Sunset here is the hotel's number-one photo spot — orange light across the Chinatown rooftops, slowly turning into the glow of the night market. What really sets Else apart from a standard boutique is the Floatation pods: enclosed capsules where you float in dense Epsom salt water as if weightless, about 45-60 minutes a session. Many reviewers say they come out feeling light and clear-headed in a way ordinary spa treatments do not deliver — a signature you will not find at any other KL hotel. Breakfast is made to order at RAW Bar from mostly local ingredients: organic eggs, homemade bread, fresh-roasted coffee from a neighborhood roaster. It is not a giant buffet, but it is high quality and stays exactly on concept.

Location and getting there

Else sits on Jalan Tun H S Lee in the middle of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown, the oldest and most alive part of the city. Step out the door and you are in lanes full of char siu noodle, congee and dim sum shops and traditional coffee houses that have run for decades. A few minutes on foot brings you to Petaling Street, the night market that buzzes every evening, Central Market for crafts and souvenirs, and Sin Sze Si Ya, the city's oldest Chinese temple at over 150 years old; the Hindu Sri Mahamariamman temple is only a few steps further. LRT/MRT Pasar Seni is about a 5-minute walk and links the Kelana Jaya and Kajang lines, putting KLCC, Bukit Bintang and KL Sentral a few stops away. The Petronas Twin Towers are around 15 minutes by train, and Merdeka 118 — the second-tallest building in the world — is about a 10-minute walk. From KLIA airport, take KLIA Ekspres 28 minutes to KL Sentral, then one LRT stop to Pasar Seni — easier and cheaper than a taxi at rush hour.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk to help you decide — Chinatown is a real working trade-and-market district for locals, not a tidy hotel zone like Bukit Bintang. So around the Else building, especially at night and in the early morning, you will get stall noise, delivery trucks and street-food smells. Anyone very sensitive to noise or smells should ask for a higher floor facing into the building. Standard rooms run roughly 25-35 square metres, which is compact next to a big 5-star chain — if you like a wide room with a clearly separate sofa area, you may find the space tight, since the design team chose detail and atmosphere over size. Another thing to know: there is no full gym or spa here like the big brands. Else's wellness is the Floatation pods and the rooftop pool, full stop — if you expect a long treatment menu or a fully kitted gym, you will need to go outside the hotel. Last, on families with small kids — there is no kids club and the space is designed mainly for adults. The concept suits couples or solo and paired travelers who love design more than a kids-focused family trip.

Our take

After reading the real reviews and going through the building's history in detail, Else Kuala Lumpur is a boutique that protects and extends the life of a near-century-old Art Deco building into a beautiful contemporary hotel. It sells a design no one else copies — bare brick, 4-metre ceilings, an infinity pool over Chinatown and Floatation pods nobody else in KL has — plus a location in the heart of the old town where the door opens onto the oldest version of Kuala Lumpur. If your mental image is waking up to the rooftop pool over the Chinatown rooftops, exploring the noodle-shop lanes in the morning, floating in a pod before dinner, then closing the night with a cocktail at RAW Bar — this is about as clean an answer as you will find. We give it 9.2/10, best for design-minded travelling couples, solo travelers after a tasteful escape, and business guests who want a hotel with a story — though families with small kids and anyone wanting a big chain hotel may want to look elsewhere.