Year 2021 Enhanced Marriott Bonvoy benefit (Fast Forward to Elite Rewards)

Recently Marriot Bonvoy has started to send e-mails to their members on promo on their membership programme. Under their current promo, members are able to speed up the process to earn "Elite Status" - that's what they call for the tiered membership rewards. 

Promo #1: Members will be awarded 50% of the Elite nights in Feb 2021, similar to 2020. Under this arrangement, you will get 5 nights if you're Elite Silver, 12 nights if you're Elite Gold or 25 nights if you're Elite Platinum in 2020. This is automatic and elite nights will be credited automatically in Feb 2021.

Promo #2: From 16th Feb till 27th April, all stays with a minimum of 2 nights will be awarded double elite nights and double points. Remember to register for the promo when it's out.

Promo #3: Up to 40% off if booking is made using points during off-peak or low season. 

For those who wants to take advantage of the promos above to achieve Platinum status, you may go plan ahead and book 2 nights stay after 16th Feb 2021. With this promo, you will only need 25 nights stay to earn yourself a Platinum status (refer to the perks that comes attached with it) With hotel prices at multi-year low right now, it's never been a better time to go and book yourself some stays and achieve the status that you're aiming for. However, just a word of caution, do take very good care of yourself as COVID19 cases has been in the rise for the past few months. 

Views and Projections for 2021 - Equities, Economies etc

As we enter into Year 2021 with lots of hope, various world-class analysts has came up with views and expectations for the Year 2021. What I remember clearly in Q3 and Q4 2020, we were often told that World's GDP will be the greatest at 3+%, which is never seen for the past 10 over years. Malaysian economy was 'expected to grow at 7%!'. Fueled with such optimism, we ended Year 2020 with pretty good returns in the stocks and indexes for almost all major stock markets.

However, as the days continue to pass in 2021, we realized that reality is fundamental will 'rationalize' the stock prices. Those who overshot their fundamental will have a pullback and those undervalued ones will play catch up. The recent political developments, rising COVID19 cases and resumption of Regulated Short Selling does a big impact on Malaysian stocks. 

In this article, I will share my thoughts and views on how 2021 will likely pan out. None of us have a crystal ball hence we are 'guesstimating' and 'forecasting' and after that place 'our bets' in the stocks or financial instruments that we believe will do well.

1. GDP Growth
My personal view is that the world's GDP will not bounce back >3% as per the optimistic economists think. The reason is due to point no. 2 on vaccine. Demand destruction sometimes is harder to recover and it will definitely take time. However, as Year 2020 caused the world's GDP to drop to a level where we were 2 years ago; from the lower base, it's definitely expected that the world's GDP will continue to rise but at a slightly more moderate ~2.8-3% instead of >3% that some economist forecasted. 

The caveat is however if Oil Prices (both Vegetable and Crude) keep increasing, it might cause a higher GDP (as a lot of countries like Saudi, Malaysia, Brunei's GDP as very tied to commodity prices). The more bullish economists of >3% might come true should Crude Oil stayed above USD55bbl and Soy and Palm Oil being the largest vegetable oil stays elevated for a longer period of time. 

2. Vaccine and COVID19
The vaccine roll out will be quicker in more developed countries (it's currently proven that mRNA technology is more effective and it needs colder storage temperature). However, the poorer countries will have difficulties accessing. This will continue to cause more lockdowns, more death and lower productivity as work places will need to shut down, movements of people being restricted to slow the spread of the virus.

I believed that COVID19 vaccines based on mRNA will be more successful than the traditional approach of muted virus and cause less side-effects. The downside is the logistical and storage temperature challenge. It will hence take a longer time and benefits the larger, more advance economies. Due to this, more advanced countries will get to move around earlier (will lead to faster economic recovery) vs poorer and less developed economies. 

3. Political Stability
US Presidential election just ended with Joe Biden set to be next President. There will be some changes to policies but it seems at the moment that US "fight against China" will continue. It is expected that any maneuvers be more predictable and not as chaotic as before (i.e. officials being sacked via Tweets). 

Malaysian Politics will continue to see a lot of changes, volatility and a big potential of GE15. Sarawak election might coincide with GE15 but all depends on the COVID19 cases and vaccination programme. Until a stable political alliances is found between PKR, DAP, PAS, UMNO, Bersatu, GPS etc and proven that the coalition can work, it'll continue to be chaotic and unstable. The results coming from GE15 will lay a foundation on whether the cooperation might continue or not.

Worldwide wise, it'll continue to see some volatility and changes in political arena. However, with the big brother US and China now seems to have a more stable political footing, it can be seen that policies making and agreements can be expedited or discussed extensively, which is good for world economy.  

4. Defaults/Shocks
There is an inherent risks of continued defaults especially in the SME arena. Also, in industries like Travel, Tourism, Restaurants and Hotels, Airlines which are hit the worst. The trend might continue and the increased in debt (due to debt payment deferment) will continue to 'haunt' the industry as they will have more debts to service going forward. 

Remember that any form of loan moratorium is just to defer your payments but the outstanding amount will increase. This although will bring hard hit companies through the 'winter' but they will spend a bigger amount of profit paying back debt later on.

5. Tourism
Tourism sectors including airlines and restaurants will continue to suffer at least for 1H 2021. Local tourism will resume first, estimated to be from May-June 2021 for more advance countries and year-end for poorer countries due to the slowness in the reach of the vaccines. 

International Travel is expected to restart in Q4 2021 but destination will be the more developed countries where the majority of the population has gone through vaccination. Countries who still have not vaccinate at least 80% of their population might face difficulties in attracting quality tourists and will have to rely on neighbouring countries or domestic tourists.

Melaka - Tong Sheng Restaurant and The Daily Fix Cafe Review

I have recently made a short trip to Melaka and instead of having the usual fun and "go everywhere and eat" trip, I have reduced it with my own "SOP" and "requirements" to reduce COVID19 risks. Spending more time in hotel room is certainly one of the strategy and another one is only to visit during off-peak hours and try to spend less time in restaurants. 

I have visited Tong Sheng Restaurant and The Daily Fix Cafe this trip and below are some photos and reviews.

Tong Sheng Restaurant
The restaurant is famous for its Crayfish Cheese Noodles. I was lucky that I came on a Sunday evening and not crowded. I did not pre-book and I managed to get a seat immediately.

I ordered 3 dishes including the famous Cheesy Prawn noodles - a must to try. The other 2 dishes are fried vegetable and salted egg "steam egg" were very good as well. The dent to my wallet is only RM82 which includes 1 bowl of rice and 2 hot chinese tea. 

Overall, I must say I enjoyed the food and would definitely come back. The price that they are charging is even cheaper than a standard KL Chinese restaurant and taste is very good. I was told that the crowd at the restaurant is normally huge and was advised to go early, which I did at 5.30pm. During this visit, I saw at least half of the customers are locals. 

Tong Sheng Restaurant 

Restaurant Interior

Story of the founder and the shop

"Cheesy Prawn Noodles"

I ordered 3 dishes and all of them are delicious

The Daily Fix Cafe
The cafe opens slightly later at 9am (but I was told they actually open for business before 9am). When I arrived, half of the tables were already. They have the standard cafe offerings like coffee, pancake, cakes, american breakfast etc. Since I had light breakfast prior to the visit, I only ordered a salted gula melaka coffee and a pandan pancake. The pandan pancake is delicious and it's unique (as it's not standard offerings in other cafes). However, I did not get so 'accustomed' to the taste of the Salted Gula Melaka coffee.  

The cafe's design and decorations is very picturesque as it has a blend of green old-school sun louvres, red-brown floorings and old solid wood tables and chairs. It gives a very relaxing feel but due to COVID19 risks, I did not feel much of relaxation and it quite defeat the purpose of visiting a cafe (to chill and relax). Anyway, let's have a look at the menu and photos.

Entrance of The Daily Fix

Menu

Menu

Menu

Salted Gula Melaka Coffee

Pandan Pancake with Gula Melaka

Majestic Hotel Melaka Review

I have been one of the many who booked Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur and got another night's voucher at Majestic Melaka Hotel. Due to the rising COVID19 cases, I was quite worried initially but was looking forward for a short trip to Melaka. In order to address the COVID19 concern, I have taken a few precautions including not visiting indoor tourist attractions, only visit open air areas and less crowded areas and going for meals extra early (i.e. 5.30pm and 11.30am). 

Upon arrival at Majestic Melaka Hotel, I was greeted by the hotel butler who checked my name against his guest list. I was told that I can park my car temporarily near the entrance for check-in. The check-in was immediate and brisk. We were shown to the lift to our room (as the hotel is uniquely designed due to the mix of an old building + modern tower wing). I must say both Majestic Hotels in Kuala Lumpur and Melaka shared the same English style feel and maintain the attraction of having a nice bathtub. They also included a capsule type coffee machine from Boncafe. Although as a coffee lover, I drink Lavazza or Illy regularly and would 'complain' that Boncafe doesn't taste as good, but I suppose the coffee is definitely better than the sachets of Nescafe that we normally see in hotel. 

I was given a room at the top floor (Level 10) and it's right in front of the lift. The room is adequately sized (~400sqft) and I must say the views at night is fantastic. The bathroom takes up about 30% of the room space already due to the nice bathtub (that's one of the main selling point of the hotel). However, the utilization of louvered doors (can be fully opened so that you can still look at the TV while soaking in the bathtub) helped in giving the feeling of spaciousness. Let's look at the photos below.

Exterior of Majestic Hotel

Lobby Sitting Area

Lobby Sitting Area

Lobby Sitting Area

Swimming Pool

The hotel is no doubt small in size but despite the size, the amenities are adequate for guests. Not many who come to Melaka would like to stay just in the hotel (unlike some beach resorts where the whole idea is to go to the beach and stay around the hotel and use the facilities). Most of us would like to venture out and just come back to the hotel for a good rest and chill.

Let's have a closer look at the room.

Bathroom

Minibar and Coffee and Tea 

Coffee and Tea making facilities

Bathroom with nice bathtub

View from the room - very scenic night view

Bedroom with King bed

The room is very comfortable and coupled with good night view, it's very relaxing. The icing on top of the cake is the bathtub where you can soak your feet and body in the warm water after a long day of walking and food hunting within Melaka town. Also, the nice thing is Kg Morten is just right opposite and you can just cross the bridge for a relaxing walk and sight seeing at both the village and Melaka River.

Review: Element Kuala Lumpur Hotel

As a lifetime Silver-Elite member of Marriott Bonvoy, I always love the experience at the nice ambience that those upper scale hotels offer. My view is that rather than having your own place done up to that standards (which is very costly), we can spend some money to stay at those places occasionally, especially when there is a good deal.

Throughout the months of August till October, I stayed at a few Marriot Bonvoy's properties and one of the happened to be Element Kuala Lumpur (by Westin). You will be wondering that what does by Westin means? Westin used to be a Starwood brand (before they were merged with Marriott) and they have their famous heavenly bed, which costs RM10,000 for just the mattress. Element is a scaled down version of Westin. When I mean 'scaled down' it means that services offered is lower than Westin but on the hardware, they went for the 'simplicity feel'. Instead of more furniture in the room, they offer more spaces but still premium hardware like the same Westin Heavenly bed, Westin toiletries. However, as Element KL is a designed as Green Building, they do not offer bottled water but instead offer 3M Filtered water and plenty of culinary like cups, plates etc.

Some photos:

Welcome gift - Lifetime Silver Elite

Views from the bedroom

Hotel Lobby (downstairs)

King Bed

Bedroom

View of the room

Pantry

Shower Area

Entrance

Art Deco at Lift Lobby

Lift

During my first stay, I was offered a Welcome gift as a Silver Elite Member. Normally it's reserved for Gold Elite Member and above but kudos to them for the membership recognition. The room was very spacious (400 sqft+), it has a sink, lots of plates, fork and spoons, cups and even dish washer. The room deco was actually simple and modern and it's marketed as "studio".

Oh, did I mention that this building is designed by Foster + Partners? It's one of the world's most renowned architecture firms. The hotel is part of Ilham Tower, which the lower floors are all office space and an art gallery (a personal collection of Tun Daim himself).

It has an indoor swimming pool (named Ombak) and it's definitely a plus for Malaysian weather, especially the pool is heated and water is comfortable to swim in. I did not managed to take photos of them unfortunately. In general, the few stays there were perfect (that's why I went back for more nights). Breakfast selection was limited but food quality is fantastic. And imagine sitting right next to the window, enjoy the KL skyline view, what else more can you ask for?

What I like about the hotel?
1. Big spacious room with big bed and 50" television
2. Pretty good soundproofing
3. Good views of KL, Ampang skyline (depending on which room you get)
4. Very good built quality and very comfortable room

What I feel that can be better?
1. Service is inconsistent but some staff are superb (especially if those who used to serve in Westin), enjoyed the check-in process and talking to them.
2. Car park is situated 'behind' and 'in a separate' building. You need to go down to ground floor to access the hotel lobby. Upon arriving at the hotel's lobby, you will still need to take the lift to level 40. During COVID19's season, one lift can accommodate just 1 family of 4 and the wait might be long (considering guests use the same lift from G to Level 40 and later on from Level 40 to their respective rooms).

Overall, it's a hotel that is worth paying for, even for a weekend getaway or staycation.

Review: Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur Room

Hotel rates has fallen dramatically this year and I like one of the many has taken advantage of it to try those nice (but expensive hotels out). Since I am a lifetime Silver Elite of Marriot Bonvoy membership programme, I had tried a few of the hotels out. It's also due to the familiarity with them (not on the promotions they offered). 

In September, I took up a promo where I paid RM320/night for 1 night stay at Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur and was being offered another night's stay at Majestic Hotel Melaka. It came just a room without breakfast but it's a pretty enjoyable stay. 

The hotel has a Tower Wing and the "old" Majestic Wing. Tower wing is a new building completed somewhere in 2013 where Majestic Wing is part of the original property and brings lot of heritage to the place. The ballrooms is situated at Tower Wing and between the Tower Wing and Majestic Wing, it houses Orchid Conservatory Cafe. Meanwhile, Colonial cafe is situated at the "old" Majestic Wing.

Now, let's have a look at the series of photos below.

Upon arrival at Majestic Hotel, we were 'welcomed' by a long queue.

Bathroom is equipped with a big bathtub and also a TV. It has separate bath area and WC.

The bedroom's design is inline with Majestic Classic look and feel.

The view of the very sizeable bathroom from the bedroom

You can lie down in the bathtub and enjoy your favorite TV programme

Coffe and tea making facilities in the room. It comes with a capsule coffee machine

Room

The room

What I like/enjoy:
1. The bathtub with TV is certainly the most exciting feature of the room. I have stayed at many hotels but first with such a sizeable bathtub (standalone) and you can close the area with a sliding door (so that it's not cold) and curtain for extra privacy. Light a candle and watch your favorite TV while soaking in the warm comfy bathtub is definitely heaven on earth.
2. The 'classic' design of the room - it's classic English design in-line with the hotel's theme. Even the security wears shorts like the good old days English policemen. 
3. It has a coffee machine with capsule vs almost all hotels will offer you sachet of Nescafe.
4. It has many unique offerings like Orchid Conservatory which serve English style afternoon tea.

I have not tried out food and beverages during the stay. I will be returning for another stay with Buffett dinner and Breakfast as part of the package. Stay tune.

The Gardens KL - A Magical Christmas

If you're a regular to malls, you will see that recently malls have been enjoying pretty good foot traffic compared to October. The Gardens mall in KL actually has ramped up their Christmas Decorations and it's pretty unique this year (last year was a White Christmas). 

Enjoy the photos.