Luxurious Magazine goes to The Club at Saujana Resort to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.
After a few extremely luxurious stays at the finest beach resorts, we decided to change our regular format and explore the best of the luxury city resorts. The criteria were quite straightforward, it had to be close enough to a major city for some retail therapy, far enough away from the noise and pollution, and somewhere we could be pampered, well fed and occupied.
As a publication dedicated to covering the whole of the luxury sector, we must take into serious consideration the opinions of dedicated luxury travel specialists, and none are more revered than the Conde Nast Traveller. So what does Conde Nast Traveller have to do with our decision to choose The Club at Saujana Resort?
Well, they put the Club at Saujana Resort on the Hot List 2009 and tagged it as one of the ‘best hotels’ and ‘hottest’ places in the world to stay, high praise indeed and somewhere that needed to be visited if only to verify if this high praise was warranted.
The Club at Saujana markets itself as the ‘Ultimate Urban Retreat’, as it is located on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur next to the world-renowned Saujana Golf and Country Club. ‘Ultimate Urban Retreat’ is probably the most accurate tagline that could be attributed to this resort, as will become apparent later in our feature.
The resort is nestled within total grounds that extend to over 150 hectares, bordered as mentioned by two 18-hole championship golf courses and just 30 minutes drive from Kuala Lumpur City Centre.
Accommodation is wide and varied, with options to suit most luxury travel budgets, having a total of 105 luxury rooms and suites. We opted for one of the 28 Superior Suites, which is 78 sqm in size, consisting of a large bedroom, a living and dining room and a spacious, well-appointed luxury bathroom.
Other accommodation options are the 27 entry-level club rooms, 52 sqm ground floor terrace suites, 28 deluxe suites and if you really want the ‘Crème de la Crème’, the 122 sqm executive suites or the sole Saujana suite that extends to a huge 176 sqm.
Our arrival at The Club at Saujana Resort
We pulled up to the entrance of the resort under the circular canopied roof to a warm greeting from the front office manager Gavin and some of his reception team, a nice touch after a long drive.
I handed over my keys for the car to be valet parked and was led through the modern reception area into the main Club Lounge. When it comes to luxury, first impressions count and our initial thoughts while reclining on the large comfortable sofas, signature fruit drink in hand was a resounding ‘yes’ – they’ve got this right.
The Club lounge is a large rectangular room, influenced by both European and Asian contemporary design/décor with an intangible feeling of the Colonial days. The club lounge has four distinct areas located in each of the corners consisting of sofas and armchairs etc.
One side of the lounge has the perfectly placed cocktail bar serving complimentary Cocktails and Canapés to the resort guests each afternoon, and directly opposite is the outside dining terrace bordering the large water feature.
It’s at these moments that the mind starts to wander, and you think to yourself how nice it would be to flop back into the sofa, Gin and Tonic in hand, listening to the sounds of the water and looking at the beautiful decor… it would happen, but this had to wait as we were still to explore our suite!