Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts has signed a management agreement with Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre Sendirian Berhad to operate the Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, which will open in mid-2005. The hotel will be the eighth in Malaysia for Shangri-La and will complement the group's other Malaysian hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu, Penang and Putrajaya, where an exclusive boutique hotel opened in February.

The Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur commands a superb location as a contiguous part of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, which is due to open late 2004, with stunning views of the Petronas Towers from all 33 floors. Designed by Melbourne-based Cox Architects and Planners, the hotel will represent a new innovative design concept for the Traders brand and will feature 580 spacious rooms and suites each measuring between 35 – 40 square metres.

Facilities include two restaurants and a lounge, an outdoor roof-top swimming pool, a fully equipped spa, meeting and business centre facilities, and 24-hour room service. There will also be five floors of Traders Club rooms and a Traders Club Lounge offering a range of exclusive privileges such as express check-in and check-out service, complimentary breakfast and purser service.

Commenting on the management agreement, S. Sen Gupta, chief operating officer of the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, said: 'We are delighted to bring to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre the Traders brand, which is synonymous with quality business accommodation, service efficiency and genuine value for money, as it will certainly add to what the new Convention Centre has to offer.'

Giovanni Angelini, Shangri-La's chief executive officer and managing director, said: 'We are honoured to have been given this opportunity to manage a second hotel in Kuala Lumpur and in such a prime central location. The Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur will reinforce our position as the leading hotel company both in Malaysia and Asia Pacific and the Traders brand as the sensible business decision'.