Traders Hotel is of course the 4-star arm of the Shangri-la Group.\u00a0 <\/span>Being 4-star, expect modern, comfortable basics and nothing more than that.\u00a0 <\/span>As the main attractions nearby are theme parks (Legoland, Sanrio Hello Kitty Town), expect the guests staying here to be families with (possibly noisy) young children.<\/p>\n Cleanliness is suspect even though the hotel is brand new.\u00a0 <\/span>You can see dried up water marks on the bathroom sink.<\/p>\n Sound insulation is average.\u00a0 <\/span>Lying in bed, I can hear people talking and walking in the corridor and kids laughing.<\/p>\n Service is a little wonky.\u00a0 <\/span>For example, when I arrived at the hotel, no one helped with my luggage.\u00a0 <\/span>Usually, a bellhop would take care of it immediately and later send it to my room.\u00a0 <\/span>I lugged my luggage all the way to my room.<\/p>\n At the hotel restaurant Harbour Caf\u00e9, when I told the waitress I want to change my order to room service, she went and told another waiter.\u00a0 <\/span>The waiter went and told yet another waiter.\u00a0 <\/span>They all don\u2019t seem to know what to do.<\/p>\n There is a complimentary shuttle to Legoland which is around 10 mins away.\u00a0 <\/span>I heard there is also a bus from the hotel to Johor Premium Outlets.<\/p>\n Right now, there are only a handful of negligible shops around the hotel.\u00a0 <\/span>There isn\u2019t even a supermarket.\u00a0 <\/span>At night, the area is really dead.\u00a0 <\/span>As such, you are really dependent on the hotel for entertainment.\u00a0 <\/span>There isn\u2019t much to do in the hotel—-there is a gym and an infinity pool.\u00a0 <\/span>There aren\u2019t really that many channels on the TV, just around 20+ channels and a lot of them are free-to-air Malaysian and Singaporean channels.\u00a0 <\/span>The hotel offers free wifi though.<\/p>\n For night time entertainment, most hotel guests head to Harbour Caf\u00e9 in the hotel and enjoy the buffet (there are a couple of restaurants as well as Sushi King outside the hotel).\u00a0 <\/span>When I was there, it was approaching Hari Raya and for the dinner buffet, there were a lot, A LOT of Malay dishes.\u00a0 <\/span>Approximately 80% were Malay dishes.\u00a0 <\/span>There were also a couple of Chinese dishes, a noodle soup station and sushi.\u00a0 <\/span>The caf\u00e9 was packed, with hotel guests and families which drove here for the buffet.<\/p>\n As the hotel, the buffet and other F&B outlets in the hotel charge Singapore level of prices, I\u2019m not sure if staying at the hotel offers any cost-savings over staying in Singapore.\u00a0 <\/span>I guess the real factor is deciding whether to stay here is to plan the itinerary for Iskandar area very carefully.\u00a0 <\/span>Sanrio Hello Kitty Town is not worth visiting.\u00a0 <\/span>Legoland and Johor Premium Outlets can be easily reached from Johor Bahru town or a day trip from Singapore.\u00a0 <\/span>In other words, it is possible to stay in Johor Bahru town or Singapore and visit the attractions.\u00a0 <\/span>Depending on the location of your hotel (even in Singapore), you may find extremely cheap and good food, so you may be able to save a little.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n The options get even more interesting when Legoland hotel opens in Q4 2013.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\r\n \r\n Booking.com<\/a>\r\n<\/ins>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/travelrestauranthotel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Traders-New-folder_00001.jpg\")
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