Top 5 Cheap Kuala Lumpur Hotels with full of traditional guesthouses

Top 5 cheap Kuala Lumpur hotels is still a traditional guesthouse stronghold, but there has been an increase in gussied-up guesthouses.

This top 5 cheap Kuala Lumpur guesthouse is an extremely popular stay with limited number of rooms but has cheerfully designed rooms for those choosing to stay in a more personal, relax and romantic. Its also easy to access to nearest shopping streets.

This top 5 cheap Kuala Lumpur hotels was released by www.guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 January 2008 13.10 GMT. Booking hotels can be done via email and telephone through attached contact no.

1. Number Eight Guesthouse
Escape from the budget crypts to this boutique-worthy guesthouse carved out of a row of shop houses. Rooms have the novel addition of windows and contemporary Asian-eque décor. The budget wing offers dorms and the boutique wing has private, en-suite rooms. There's generous hangout space and lots of chummy TV watching. To scratch that environmental itch, the hot water is solar heated.

INFO : 8-10 Tingkat Tong Shin, Bukit Bintang; Tel no : 603 2144 2050;

2. Pujangga Homestay
If you were from the Kuala Lumpur (KL) middle-classes, you might have grown-up in something akin to Pujangga Homestay. It's a simple residence separated from the street by a garden courtyard and has space for 11 guests in various room configurations (singles, doubles, triples). There's no décor to write home about, but that is part of the charm - the linens are department-store variety, the walls are the colour of putty, and the floors are swept clean. Such an unassuming setting is often garrulous in communicating a sense of place.

INFO : 21 Jalan Berangan, off Jalan Nagasari, Bukit Bintang; +603 2141 4243


3. Pondok Lodge
Enjoy the laid-back simplicity of Malay living at this low-key guesthouse. The rooms are a bit of a mixed bag, which means you should use your backpacker savvy and ask to see a room before bedding down for the night. But once you're settled in, relax on the rooftop terrace where the cool breezes and buddy mood will erase all the unknowns of travelling in strange lands.

INFO : 20-2C Jalan Changkat, Bukit Bintang; + 603 2142 8449; doubles from £8.60

4. Red Palm
Distinguishing one bare-bones guesthouse from another requires a sensitivity for camaraderie over amenities. This small and basic hostel excels in the bonding department, partly because the amenities are so skeletal. Rooms are barely private with air-circulating gaps near the ceilings and showers, that sometimes involve a queue. Overall setting is a hybrid of college dorm and off-campus apartments: couches are for kicking back, a communal kitchen is for instant noodle prep and staff are often remembered like chums by former guests.

INFO : 5 Tengkat Tong Shing, Bukit Bintang; +603 2143 1279

5. Tune Hotel
The budget air carrier Air Asia has transplanted its no-frills philosophy into the accommodation arena. Granted the sweaty guesthouses already have budget cornered, but Tune Hotel tweaks the model with an emphasis on sleeping: you get a name-brand mattress instead of a stuffed palette and a splash of colour on the walls. Rates are determined by demand and a la carte services, meaning for more ringgit, you can buy soap, air-conditioning, and fresh towels - the land-based version of the rolling refreshment carts.

INFO : 316 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman; +603 2692 3300