The Establishment Bangsar by SYNC

The pool and sauna were beautiful and clean, and there’s a nice brunch cafe on the ground floor. My Airbnb room, booked with super host, inspired home, was clean and nice, with a fantastic view. There was enough elevator capacity for guests and a 24-hour reception. The location is very good, with a covered bridge connecting to Bangsar LRT station. Nearby, the LRT has convenience stores, restaurants, and fruit shops, and it’s easy to get grab. Highly recommended.

Check-in was very unpleasant. Airhost said valet parking came with unlimited entry, but the valet staff rudely told me it was charged per entry. There’s no free parking, even though I was paying to stay there. The housekeeping was poor, and I was faced with a lot of unnecessary house rules when checking in. With a $100 cleaning fee, I expected the place to be neat, and the final price was higher than the amount shown because of hidden charges. Do not stay here.

The flat’s location was convenient and the place itself was okay, but there was friction at pretty much every step with the unit and Plush Homes Services. They’re responsive, which is good, but the experience could be much better for the price. So many basic things were missing that I had to ask about them one by one. I expected drinking water and laundry detergent, and there weren’t any. The sofa bed was broken and took some skill to set up. The queen bed felt cramped for two people, and a king would have been better. The unit itself was fine for two. The washing machine drum wasn’t clean around the fold under the rubber, and there were no instructions for using it. Water took a long time to fill the tub. The balcony light was too weak to see the laundry area. The room was reasonably clean otherwise. The kettle has a plug attached to it, so you have to unplug it to fill it, then plug it in again to boil. If guests are expected to boil water, why isn’t there a water jug? The TV had little to watch. They use Hyppies TV, but most movies cost extra, and Netflix was available only if you asked. Even then, the Netflix remote didn’t work after the batteries were replaced, so we ended up watching YouTube. They should set aside a day to check all the furniture and equipment. The daily rate was nearly 170, so I expected better quality. You can hear the next-door door opening as if it were your own. It startled us a few times before we realized it was the neighbors. People chatting loudly in the corridor woke us every morning, and the housekeepers did it too, talking and calling to each other outside. The host didn’t seem to know the building well, and there were no instructions for taking the lift to the Bangsar link bridge, so we worked it out ourselves. Checkout felt especially uncomfortable. The host kept asking when we’d leave, and the housekeeper waited for us to go. Every extra hour costs more. A noon checkout would make more sense, or a little flexibility like a hotel, where late checkout can be free if nobody is arriving. Instead, check-in is at 3 pm, an hour later than usual, and checkout is 11 am, an hour earlier than a typical hotel. We decided to spend our last night in a hotel.

Watch out for the confusing parking spaces. I got clamped and had to pay 100. I’m wondering if that big sticker was already there the night before. Be careful here.