WHERE TO MEET, PLAY, AND EAT
Meet at the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur
The Grand Hyatt has more than 35,530 square feet of meeting space, including an 11,248-square-foot pillar-less Grand Ballroom. During our trip, one of the smaller meeting rooms was transformed by local DMC Diethelm Events into an interactive spice market where we could exchange fake currency for real local delicacies and goods.
Play at the Royal Selangor Factory Tours
The headquarter factory of the world's largest pewter maker lies just outside the Kuala Lumpur city limits, and here groups are invited to get hands-on experiences in making their very own pewter creations. Our group got to make its own jewelry in The Foundry, while larger groups can pound out its own pewter dishes at the aptly named School of Hard Knocks.
Eat at Tamarind Springs
This peaceful retreat in Kuala Lumpur comprises a multi-level restaurant where Executive Chef Somjuhan Wandee takes flavors from her native Chiang Mai, Thailand, and combines them with local Malay dishes.
What might surprise one most about Malaysia is not its world-class meeting facilities, but its people. The country is home to such a diversity of cultures and religions that visitors there will feel as though they are someplace else -- but with all the modern comforts of home, of course.
That was certainly the case for me when I traveled to Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi last summer, and even when I traveled to the UNESCO World Heritage City of Melaka for leisure as far back as 2010. The richness of cultures that you find in Malaysia -- Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Malay among them -- coupled with the warmth of Malaysian hospitality, make it a truly intriguing MICE destination.
"I love that there's such a complex, interwoven community here," said Andrew Stull, my fellow traveler and former conference officer for the Cognitive Science Society, as we journeyed through Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi.
He added, "This is my first time to Malaysia and I'm impressed with the growth that I see. They're putting money into the hotels and venues that they already have, and building so many new ones. It's impressive to see people making capital investments like that."
Looking out onto the skyline of Kuala Lumpur last August from the famed Petronas Towers, I saw the shadows of multiple construction cranes. This March, the city welcomed the Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral, and in August, I stayed in one of the city's newest properties, the immaculate 370-room Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur, which opened in August 2012.
The Grand Hyatt is just one of at least four major convention center hotels within walking distance of the world-class Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC). The other three include the 520-room Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur; the 643-room Mandarin Oriental, Kuala Lumpur; and the 510-room Impiana KLCC Hotel. With such a concentration of hotel and meeting facilities in one location, I could see why the KLCC continues to attract so many major global conventions and congresses.
A little over three miles southwest from the city center, you'll find the main KL Sentral district, which is only a 38-minute train ride from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Here, too, are impressive business hotels with plenty of meeting space, including the neighboring Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur and the Hilton Kuala Lumpur, both impressive properties that have undergone recent renovations. A 200-room St. Regis Kuala Lumpur is slated to open in the same area in November 2015.
Further north, closer to the island of Langkawi, the city of Penang is welcoming a brand-new convention center that should open by 2017; construction begins this year. The Penang Waterfront Convention Centre is partnering with Suntec International, the same organization behind the Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, to design, market, and operate the new center.
To really experience the heart of Malaysian hospitality, however, is to experience the local culture. I got a chance to do just that on Langkawi island, an hour's flight from Kuala Lumpur, when our group visited Pak Long Cultural Village, a traditional Malay village (kampung), where we celebrated the Muslim New Year with a local family.
By the end of our visit, after sharing many laughs, stories, and smiles, I found it difficult to leave. I wasn't alone, either. "This was such a wonderful way to introduce people to a culture, a religion, and a country that they might not know very well, or might even misunderstand," said Stull. "To feel the love and respect that that family had for their neighbors and their community was just amazing."