We stayed at Tower Regency Hotel while in Ipoh for 2 nights. It is located at Jalan Dato Seri Ahmad Said, Greentown. It is quite an ideal location as a base to explore Ipoh old town from here onward.
The hotel is newly opened, around January 2009. This is probably the tallest building in Ipoh as well as the whole Perak state. It is rated to be 4-5 stars hotel.
Tower Regency offers 2 types of accommodation, apartment and hotel rooms.
I was impressed with the lobby area. Spacious and clean. There are a lot of seats available here for the visitors to sit.
Interestingly, there is also a shoes polisher machine at the lobby area. This is something I never come across in any hotels I stayed before.
Once the lift door is opened, there is spacious and comfortable communal area for the room guests to mingle.
The hotel and apartment rooms are separated. The apartment room rate is RM200 (corporate rate)
This corridor leads to the hotel rooms. I notice the floor has carpet.
And this is the corridor that leads to our apartment. There is no carpet here
The access door to the apartment rooms are rather peculiar. One will have to negotiate 2 doors to access the room.
One thing I like about the door card system here is basically one need not insert it into the door slot. Basically, just scan it and the door will unlock. It works like the Touch and Go card.
The room's power supply also depends on this card. I tried to substitute the power supply slot with my ATM card and the power supply simply shut off in less than a minute!
The apartment room door here is made of poor quality wood. I note it is not fire door material. It is so light I reckon I can ram it through without much issues.
There is also no scope on the door and I am unable to see who is on the other side of the door should someone knock on it.
The living room of the apartment is spacious and comfortable. I'm surprised they still use CRT TV here instead of the LCD TV which is quite common now for new hotels. All the rooms in the apartment are cooled by a Daikin split unit air conditioner.
The floor appears to be a bit dusty and dirty. Maybe this is a common issue with new hotels where these dirt had yet to be cleaned off completely.
There is a small kitchen area which lack of cooking utensils. I particularly like the kettle here.
Each apartment has a balcony that offer a panoramic view of the Ipoh Old Town which is surrounded by hills and mountains.
Each apartment has 2 bedrooms, a master room and a single room. Somehow our master bedroom has 2 single bed joined together with no side tables.
Each master bedroom has a bathroom attached to it. Somehow the bathroom in my room is a bit small with the shower and toilet bowl just next to each other (this is not the case with some apartment rooms which I surveyed at the same hotel).
My master room has another nice feature which I like. These seating arrangement has a nice view of the Ipoh Old Town. It's a perfect place to relax after a tiring day.
All the rooms and living room has a ceiling fan. This prove to be useful and energy efficient if the air conditioner proved to be too cold.
This hotel also has a maintenance issue. The door knob to my master bedroom was defective and can't be locked.
The water heater system for my apartment was also defective. Called the hotel management twice with no proper corrective action even though we were assured they will sent someone to fix it. So, we were forced to take cold shower during our stay here.
The single bedroom in my opinion is much better than the master bedroom. Even though the room is smaller, it is equipped with a king sized bed and side tables.
Unless you plan to splurge while in Ipoh, Tower Regency Hotel might be the best choice (besides The Syuen Hotel).
The apartment here is ideal for big family. I notice there are 8 family members who are able to squeeze into an apartment nearby where we stayed. I also reckon the hotel rooms here are better than the apartments.
Will I come back to stay here again? Maybe not (unless been sponsored). There are a few decent hotels around Ipoh with a lower rate like Regalodge, Excelsor and Grand View Hotel which are worth a try.
For those who stayed in Tower Regency Hotel Ipoh, there is a complimentary buffet breakfast at its only coffee house on the 6th floor (if I remember correctly). The coffee house is a bit small for such a big hotel and can be overcrowded if the hotel experienced a full occupancy.
There is not much food selection for a 4 star hotel. I have to say, I'm very disappointed.
Except for the beef bacon, the other food served here are below my expectation. The hawker food just outside this hotel are much tastier than the food served here.
The fruits here were pale and tasteless.
Just outside the coffee house is the swimming pool. One can also opt to dine by the pool side if the coffee house was full.
The apartment's balcony as seen from the pool side
The pool area offers another excellent view of the Ipoh old town with the hills and mountains as the backdrop. It is quite a pleasant experience just to chill out by the pool side and enjoy the surrounding scenery.
