Zenith Hotel New Years Eve Buffet Dinner and Soft Launch Event

With some persuasion from Michelle Wong, Assistant Director of Sales, and my wife, I decided that we would spend a little over RM200 to attend the Zenith Hotel New Years Eve Buffet Dinner on 31st December, 2010. After all, it is a once-a-year thing. It was good to see a throng of guests filling the tables, enjoying the good food that was on offer. We had an enjoyable night and the time passed by rather quickly. This is going to be one lengthy post, so sit back and enjoy this journey around the Zenith Hotel! Here are the pictorial memories from New Years Eve:

The food was delicious

The kitchen area was constantly busy

My wife and I sampled some of the cheeses on offer

I was delighted to see the range of salad on offer

Here were some of the desserts on offer:

This peculiar blue little item was particularly delicious!

Thanks to the person who made these - although they bordered on cloying, they were heavenly!

Meanwhile, Lauren went back to her favourite place - the blue stairs!

The lobby lit up

The Lounge Bar, minus the changing lights. It was stuck on green and blue.

I wonder why the lights don't change colour any more?

Snapped this mystical picture of Lauren rubbing the condensation as the Lounge Bar lights glow behind

We stepped outside for a roti murtabak. This is a smoking section. However, it got pretty wet in the rain

The floor lighting

The view of Zenith Hotel looking up through the glass roof

Party hats were provided...

...as were face masks...

We stayed the long-haul all the way through to 12 midnight and the countdown, as people went crazy over the beginning of a new year - I've never really understood that! Anyhow, my wife and I had a toast, and a kiss, and soon after we departed for home as tiredness set in. The only thing I would say is to lose the whistles from the party bags. The sound of constant whistling was absolutely awful and a real turn-off, even if it was a once-in-a-year, New Years Eve party.

On Saturday 1st January, 2011, we attended the Zenith Hotel Soft Launch Event. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that it not only began on time, but ahead of time, a great accomplishment! We arrived right on 11am and had already missed the Malay segment of the Cultural Performance. Here's how the rest of the Event went:

We saw the lion dance in the lobby

The lion passed out some vegetables to the V.I.P's

They found it amusing, but the vegetables ended up on the floor!

Finally came the Indian dancers from the distinctive blue stairs

Gifts of congratulations surrounded the two main pillars of the lobby

The tailor's shop in Zenith Hotel

Wash basin in the men's toilet, Ground Floor

Beautifully decorated, the men's toilet provides a pleasant experience when nature calls

I tend to judge a hotel by its toilets. In this case, the Zenith Hotel gets a big thumbs-up!

Next, our very able tour guide, Muhamad Fazil, the Food & Beverage Manager, took us around the Zenith Hotel 5th, 4th and 3rd floors. An Arsenal fan showing me, a Man.Utd fan around! (We didn't fight! Not once!) We started with room 505:

Instead of hanging the notice on the door handle, one can simply push a switch in the room, and it lights up just outside the door, as can be seen here, where the 'Do Not Disturb' function is illuminated. One can also request room service in the same way

We were then escorted to the 4th floor gymnasium

Here is a typical view one can experience whilst running the treadmill

The Zenith Hotel gymnasium also comes with rules.

When completed, this will be the yoga room

A special room for children to play. Lauren sits on the chair in this 'striking' green environment

And here are the rules

Next we went to the swimming pool

Here is the ready-to-use pool!

Fazil informed us that there will be a BBQ facility at the swimming pool deck

My family and I stand by the pool

East Coast Mall hovers in the background, as do a few dark clouds. Thankfully, the weather remained sunny for the Soft Launch Event today.

Looking up the Zenith Hotel from the pool

Next we went down to the 3rd floor - Lauren was eager to keep on moving!

Okay, this isn't the best picture I've ever taken, but I want to alert you to the wall to the right. Here in a meeting room, we will not be using blackboards, not even whiteboards - it's glassboards all around!

A corridor around the many business meeting rooms on the 3rd floor of Zenith Hotel

A unique triangular shaped table sits in the middle of one room

Meeting room Zenith 8

Close-up of a chandelier in the Ballroom

The Ballroom can be divided into 3 segments by the aid of partitions

This will be the V.I.P area of the Sultan Ahmad Shah International Convention Centre (SASICC)

As the Zenith Hotel gears up for Chinese New Year, we pose by a balloon model of a Chinese man

A huge painting is draped against this wall outside the Dining Room

The reception desk in the lobby

Detail from the front door handle

The shuttle bus, which will take passengers to and from Teluk Chempedak beach

Looking up to the Zenith Hotel peak

When we arrived home we opened our gift bags we received after our tour with Mr. Fazil. Here's what we found:

A nice 20% discount on food from the Dining Room

Promotional pamphlets

Notebook, inside a sleek folder

Complimentary Zenith Hotel toiletry kit

The Zenith Hotel is now firmly on the map of Kuantan. There is still much work to be done, but by mid-2011 it should be completely finished. It's quality as a 5-star residence should give it an equal degree of attractiveness to the Hyatt, which is on Teluk Chempedak beach. The Hyatt may have the beach, but the Zenith has a shuttle bus there, plus a whole lot more of services and facilities, great staff who are very able to be of service, and the adjoining Convention Centre, offering wedding banquets, exhibitions and much more.

(All pictures were shot with my Panasonic Lumix DMC-F2.)