Capri by Fraser, Johor Bahru

Capri by Fraser, Johor Bahru is a new hotel right in the heart of Johor Bahru.  It is only 5 mins by foot from immigration.  At the time of writing,  it is the closest hotel to immigration. 

Besides its walking proximity to immigration and customs, it is also just 5 mins from the main bus station,  JB Sentral (the main train station in Johor Bahru) where there is a KFC and a Starbucks.  Walk a further 3 minutes and you come to City Square, Johor Bahru and Komtar JBCC,  2 busy shopping malls with plenty of fashion boutiques, a cinema, a good gym, even an Angry Birds Theme Park.

As the vicinity consists of low-rise immigration buildings and old shophouses,  depending on your room, you may get a head-on, unblocked panoramic view of the Straits of Johor and Singapore.  That is quite a view to be seen.  I will miss that view.

If you are looking to continue your travel into Singapore or catch your flight home from Singapore Changi Airport,  you can simply look out of your window and see if there is a traffic jam on the causeway.

Upon entering the lobby, take a moment to take in just how imaginative they are. The centrepiece of the lobby is a feature wall covered by green vegetation.  They also cleverly transformed a pillar to mimic a tree.  In essence,  they have brought Nature into a very busy and functional part of Johor Bahru. 

The rooms are good value for money.  As Capri by Fraser is an extremely innovative brand,  all rooms come with a kitchenette,  complete with a microwave, cookware,  plates and bowls, cutlery including spatulas oven gloves etc.  In essence,  unlike regular hotel rooms, you are getting a mini apartment.  In higher category rooms,  they even come with a full size fridge.

Wait a minute.  A full size apartment? What about laundry?  They have a coin-operated laundry room.  At RM$7 for laundry and RM$5 for drying,  I found it extremely convenient.  It just means I don’t have to pack so many outfits and that means more room in my luggage for SHOPPING!  Btw,  they have a shuttle to take you to major shopping malls.

Overall, I was impressed with the size of the rooms-  they are larger than most competitors.    I was also impressed with the build quality. Being a 3-month old property,  everything was clean and look solidly built. I heard of new hotels where the fixtures were already falling apart on Day 1.  I also personally witnessed (many) new hotels which resembled construction sites and were absolutely filthy.   Thank you to the stringent management of Capri by Fraser, Johor Bahru.

They have quite a good gym.  The gym is 24-hr and even has a leg press machine,  sorely missing in a lot of gyms.  They have an infinity pool and get this, a huge steam room.

While all of the above is admittedly great, the star of my stay was the executive lounge in Level 40.  The executive lounge has a television,  panoramic view of Straits of Johor and Singapore.   What is even better is the evening cocktail from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.  While the spread is indeed not large,  the quality was stupendous. It was probably the best quality evening cocktail I have seen. When I was there,  they had deep fried prawns.  The crust was crispy but not at all greasy. They also had asparagus wrapped in bacon and sausage wrapped in bacon.  These things take time to make.  Also, while the asparagus is already tender and fresh, they even bother to shave off the bottom, tougher parts of the asparagus.  The staff CARES!  That was what impressed me most about the stay. The Argentinean wines are also delicious.

While Capri by Fraser, Johor Bahru advertises itself as a 4-star hotel, overall, it is an extremely competent hotel and in some respects, bests the top 5-star names in Hospitality.  Capri by Fraser, Johor Bahru is particularly strong in Food and Beverage (see above paragraph and review on Caprilicious, Capri by Fraser, Johor Bahru). 

The staff is also very well-trained and fluent in English.  Their friendliness definitely rivals the hospitality people of major cities eg, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore.  I was also impressed with the size of the rooms and the fully equipped kitchenette.

Overall, a solid hotel with solid value for money.

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