*The KUANTAN blog*: Vistana Family

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Ramadhan Preview Dinner at Vistana Kuantan City Centre, 3rd June, 2015

We were among those invited to Vistana Hotel Kuantan's Ramadhan Preview Dinner as part of the 'media' group. It's so cool that my efforts with this blog and photography lands me as a member of the media here. Duly, here is my report on the evening's events.

Vistana Kuantan City Centre Ballroom for Ramadhan Preview Dinner

We arrived at 6:30pm and were showed to our places on table 45 - the media table. Curiously, there were only two other people on the table, representing Chinese newspaper, Nanyang Siang Pau. Others joined later on, but I didn't notice anyone other than myself taking any photographs of the event. So I guess this post is the exclusive!

Vistana Kuantan City Centre Ballroom for Ramadhan Preview Dinner

Whilst tucking in to the delicious food on offer, I snapped these photos. There was pretty much everything you could imagine for Malaysian cuisine, apart from macaroons! Oh well, I gorged on a couple of chocolate mousses which were heavenly.

Welcome to the Ramadhan Preview Dinner at Vistana Kuantan City Centre

Food selection for Ramadhan Preview Dinner at Vistana Kuantan City Centre

Made some new friends

Some of the staff and our good friends at Vistana Kuantan City Centre after the Ramadhan Preview Dinner event

It was a great event and we truly ate till we were bursting! A great selection and quality of food all round. I'm sure you will enjoy the dinners during Ramadhan.

Vistana Kuantan City Centre is a beautiful sight at night

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Part of the Family - Our Relationship with the Hotel Industry - Part 2

In the previous post, Treated like a King, I discussed how we first met Wayne Lee, the then-Vistana Hotel Kuantan manager.

Soon after meeting him, we became quickly integrated into the Vistana family and treated with the utmost love and attention that a close-knit family naturally provides. I sometimes wonder about the whys and hows we were extended so many privileges, it was almost too good to be true.

The girls enjoying one of our many stays at Vistana Hotel Kuantan

We were grateful indeed for invitations to stay at Vistana Hotel free of charge; I posted a detailed and highly complimentary write-up on this blog each time we were afforded such generosity by the management.

Wayne even took us behind the scenes one time, showing us all the back alleys in the basement where all the real action that keeps the hotel running, takes place. This included a very interesting, if not humid and stuffy, tour and explanation of the laundry room, washing machines, and chemicals used in cleaning. That post can be found here: Vistana behind the scenes

Of course, I didn't expect free food and stays to last forever, even though I was giving the hotel more publicity on the internet through my blog and facebook pages. Wayne was transferred to another YTL property and a new manager, Sharon, came in for her second spell in charge at Vistana Hotel Kuantan. I really didn't feel comfortable with asking Sharon if we could stay for a night, or if we could sit down in the Coffee House and have a lunch on the house. She didn't know us. But over the years we have become good friends with Sharon as well, and we still receive all the emails and invitations to events at the hotel, including this year's Rebranding Launch Event.

Nowadays, I have no problem paying for a room like any other person would have to. However, we remain extremely thankful for the times when things came free. We still have options to enjoy free stays at hotels, on a services exchange kind of basis, as will be explained in Part 3!