I’m a complete coward when it comes to travelling. Thanks to my friends’ fanatical stories about being cornered at gunpoint on a truck in Johannesburg to having their bags sliced open by robbers in Kuala Lumpur, I feel like I’m about to be abducted at every street corner when I’m overseas. So when Renaissance Hotel Johor Bahru invited me over for a stay with them, I was slightly hesitant to cross the border and brave immigration/ possible abduction. But Renaissance Hotel is the only 5-star hotel in JB, so I was definitely intrigued!
Eventually Zac convinced me by booking us the straight train to JB Sentral, claiming it will only take us 5 mins. And now the only way I’m going into JB is by train. THERE WAS NO JAM AT ALL. Customs was unbelievably empty, the train was pretty fast and we really reached JB in 5 mins, from the moment we entered the train station. Complete breeze compared to the usual hell at immigration.
So we reached JB Sentral in good time, very pleased with ourselves. The train station is connected to City Square so we popped over for some Gongcha and shopping, before booking a Grab (just RM15) to Renaissance Hotel Johor Bahru, a short 15 mins ride away.
Check in was quick, smooth and I love it when the hotel staff pop up from nowhere with welcome drinks. I ought to plant people in my own home next time to pop up randomly with cocktails. We met up with Hezrin and Bryan, but they were extremely astute to detect that I just wanted to go lie down already, so they bid us farewell after inviting us for a dimsum buffet lunch the next day 🙂
Singaporeans are an extremely cliched bunch when it comes to party venues, and more often than not, we love to boo
k a hotel room for our celebrations. The first thing that popped to my mind when we entered Renaissance’s luxurious Junior Suite was that I totally should have brought my friends. IT’S HUGE!! With the sprawling living room attached to the bedroom, you can get some privacy (rather than have your friends climbing all over your clean sheets).
They were so sweet to lay out WELCOME in rose petals, always a surefire way to a girl’s heart. I was so excited to see the bathtub too, with complimentary bath salts cos’ I am always too lazy to draw a bubble bath at home #firstworldproblems. I just wanted to stay in our suite forever and never leave, but we stupidly went to book a movie at 8 pm so we headed back to City Square begrudgingly.
A few hours (and the lamest Spiderman movie ever), we were back in Renaissance heaven. I never ever watch TV at home but it’s just such a staycation staple to lounge around on the comfy bed and spam movies. They had way more channels than I cared to flip through, so we found Catch Me If You Can and tucked ourselves right into bed. Absolute bliss!
Oh oh and they sent up an assortment of goodies and chocolates from the bakery YAY even better than random cocktails 🙂
We woke up to the sunlight filtering in from our huge bay windows and a gorgeous view of the water, with Singapore rooftops just peeking over. Renaissance kindly extended our check out to 3 pm so we could take our own sweet time to explore the hotel! But first – BREAKFAST!!!
We had access to the Club Lounge’s continental breakfast on the 16th floor as well as Cafe BLD’s breakfast spread, so we started at the bottom and worked our way up. Just look at the spread!
I went back several rounds for the beef cuts and egg benny, so spoilt, eating red meat for breakfast hehe. The buffet was huge, with an indoor and outdoor portion, and freshly squeezed fruit juice (none of that carton juice). We left extremely full and satisfied, but gluttons we are, we still went up to level 16 to check out the offerings in the Club Lounge.
It was much more private and cozy at the Club Lounge, albeit with a smaller selection of food than Cafe BLD. We grabbed a latte each and headed out to the balcony, for more of the stunning view of Malaysia’s landscape from the top of Renaissance. Perfect place for us to chill and digest our huge breakfast, and enjoy the lovely morning breeze.
After dropping by our suite for a quick shower and change, our next stop was the swimming pool! It was pretty empty on Sunday noon, and we continue our digestion snoozing in the deck chairs, basking in the filtered sun in our snazzy little pavilion.
Check out the rooms on the same level as the swimming pool! Pretty cool concept to be able to walk out straight into the pool from your balcony 🙂 Very resort, laid-back vibes…
We checked out the gym as well but clearly were in no mood to work out HAHA with our full tummies from breakfast! It was one of the bigger hotel gyms I have seen, with tons of space and equipment 🙂
Once we had our fill of Vitamin D, we went for a quick dip in the pool to cool down and then straight to our bubble bath back in the room! We repurposed the rose petals for our bath and tossed in the very chic Tokyo Milk bath salts that came with our toiletries.
I must admit we soaked for so long we totally forgot we had to meet Hezrin and Bryan for lunch (oops). But the allure of a dimsum buffet can never be underestimated, so we eventually made it downstairs to Wan Li Chinese Restaurant, at the lobby of Renaissance.
Even though we were still stuffed from our sumptuous breakfast, we still had space for the dimsum because it was all so delicious! I thought I had seen just about everything until we were served HALAL xiao long baos – it was fantastic 🙂 no wonder Wan Li is usually fully booked around festive periods… what a unique concept for Muslims to be able to enjoy dimsum, a Chinese cuisine!
What a wonderful end to a utterly relaxing, luxurious stay with Renaissance! We headed back for Singapore feeling supremely satiated and well-rested 🙂
Here’s the perfect recipe for an affordable, 5* staycation for the family in JB:
- 2 x Return Train Tickets
- 1 x Renaissance Hotel Junior Suite
- 1 x Grab App
And you are good to go!
Hehe I must say, I’m a little less terrified of venturing over to Malaysia now. ADVENTURE TIME!!!
Love always,
Sally
Note: This post is sponsored by Renaissance Hotel Johor Bahru but all opinions are as usual my own 🙂