Intimate Connections

Kamal Munasinghe, General Manager of Alila Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, explains how the hotel plans to create a homely experience for guests in the middle of one of the city’s most bustling districts.

- Christy Yoong

I think that one of the best things about the Alila brand is that it is small. Right now, we have 13 properties, with around 20 more in the pipeline over the next two to three years. Despite that, we’re still very selective about the locations we open in. We are very much destination driven. Take this property, for example. We really work with the neighbourhood and try to engage with the surrounding community in our day-to-day operations – whether it is the VIP gifts or the snacks we serve, we try to incorporate them into our system.

The whole landscape in this area has been changing – you have KL Sentral just down the road, for example, while high-rises are sprouting all around. This is an interesting location for us – very busy and exciting, but also changing quite rapidly.

I’ve been in this business for more than 25 years. I was born in Sri Lanka and went to Switzerland to study, where I majored in hospitality. My career has mainly been in hospitality – I’ve had short stints in other industries but I’ve always gravitated back to hospitality. It’s something that you need a passion for – it’s very people-oriented and that’s something you to love doing.