Merchant Hotel
55 Jalan Penang, George Town, Penang Island 10000 Malaysia
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Avg. RM 146 /night, 2/15 - 2/16
RM 160
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RM 136
per night
RM 111
per night
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About
#66 of 125 hotels in George Town
Location
Rooms
Value
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
We are the new Merchant Hotel, by taking over the old Merchant Hotel Management, we have fully optimized every nook and cranny to transform the extremely vintage hotel to what you see in the picture we provide. Though were not open yet, and we have no proof on our service being way better than the old Merchant, we urge you to give us a chance to prove to you. Our tagline is " Come as a guest, Leave as a friend". Come be our friend.
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Property amenities
Free parking
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Free breakfast
Bicycle rental
Shuttle bus service
Conference facilities
Meeting rooms
24-hour security
Parking
Wifi
Coffee shop
Restaurant
Breakfast available
Breakfast buffet
Car hire
Taxi service
Baggage storage
Convenience store
Gift shop
Newspaper
Non-smoking hotel
Shared lounge / TV area
Shops
Sun terrace
24-hour front desk
Laundry service
Room features
Blackout curtains
Air conditioning
Desk
Housekeeping
Safe
Coffee / tea maker
Flatscreen TV
Bath / shower
Telephone
Wake-up service / alarm clock
Refrigerator
Complimentary toiletries
Hair dryer
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Smoking rooms available
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Modern
Mid-range
Languages Spoken
English, Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian and 2 more
Location
55 Jalan Penang, George Town, Penang Island 10000 Malaysia
Getting there
Great for walkers
Places to stay are graded on a 0-100 scale. The higher the grade, the easier it is for travellers to find restaurants and things to do within walking distance.
Grade: 100 out of 100
100
Penang Intl Airport
16.1 km•
See all flights
Car Hire
246 Restaurants
within 0.5 kilometers
Reviews
Traveller rating
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Detailed Reviews
Chose Merchant due to stayed before, about 7 years back. Hotel provides carpark facilities. Location is also very ideal. Stayed from 28th to 30th May. Room 509. Room wise, the aircon is located wrong placment, therefore when u sleep can't get the aircon. The bathub and sink needs to be repaired. Not able to fill bathtub with water due to no facet closure. Ask from the Night Duty staff and reply received was "nothing can be done". Room was cleaned and good condition. Met two staff, Nisa and Raj, both were friendly!. This hotel is always full on weekends. Hope the management will take heed of comments to improve on the hotel environment! If you are in the room just for sleeping, then can stay here as there is a fantastic Food Court at the back.
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Date of stay: May 2022
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Very comfortable bed. Bedsheets are crisp and comfy. Towels are old but still clean. Room is old but spacious. Location is very good, easily accessible to attractions. There's a CAT Penang bus stop just outside the hotel.
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Date of stay: November 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Room interior is quite old fashion eventhough its newly renovated. Bathroom quite dirty, with dirty watermark on the ceiling. Breakfast is just nothing, i can get better breakfast at other hotel with the same room rate. Parking area is limited and too narrow. Staffs are responsive and helpful. Will not stay here again.
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Date of stay: October 2016Trip type: Travelled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Liked · the location is good as its near the main penang street. bathroom is clean with new tiles installed and i can see the bathroom is kept clean.
Disliked · first of all, i would like to complain about the room itself. the old furniture smeel from the wardrobe stinks the whole room. aircond is not cold. room 904 9th floor. it was literally at 16 degrees but it was not cold.
next, the pillow provided is like "sotong" (squid) where there is no cotton in. so lembik and i felt that the beggers out there has better pillows to sleep with. i mean, how can a 3 star hotel provide pillow that is worst than a 2 star shoplot hotel. very disappointed on this.
the comforter was also very thin its like a white cloth only with fully filling. better give a plain white cloth as a blanket.
basically, we been put off with the beautiful pictures from the hotel but what was given below expectation especially with the pillow, comforter and the matress. the main reason to have a stay in hotel to enjoy a good night rest and sleep but this is not achiveable in this hotel with the NON SOUND Prof windows and door, you can hear the sounds of vehicles from the road below. very disturbing for a sleep.
basically, i would rate this hotel as BAD and making in my WORST hotel that i have stayed. if can please avoid and choose many other hotels nearby.
Disliked · first of all, i would like to complain about the room itself. the old furniture smeel from the wardrobe stinks the whole room. aircond is not cold. room 904 9th floor. it was literally at 16 degrees but it was not cold.
next, the pillow provided is like "sotong" (squid) where there is no cotton in. so lembik and i felt that the beggers out there has better pillows to sleep with. i mean, how can a 3 star hotel provide pillow that is worst than a 2 star shoplot hotel. very disappointed on this.
the comforter was also very thin its like a white cloth only with fully filling. better give a plain white cloth as a blanket.
basically, we been put off with the beautiful pictures from the hotel but what was given below expectation especially with the pillow, comforter and the matress. the main reason to have a stay in hotel to enjoy a good night rest and sleep but this is not achiveable in this hotel with the NON SOUND Prof windows and door, you can hear the sounds of vehicles from the road below. very disturbing for a sleep.
basically, i would rate this hotel as BAD and making in my WORST hotel that i have stayed. if can please avoid and choose many other hotels nearby.
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Date of stay: May 2022
Value
Cleanliness
Service
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
These reviews are machine translated from their original language. Show machine translations?
Excellent comfort experience I loved the attentions and good quality of the place, without missing the quality food.
Super recommended to return again on my next vacation with family and friends.
If you've never been before I highly recommend them.
Very good experience to not want to return home removes the stress.......
Super recommended to return again on my next vacation with family and friends.
If you've never been before I highly recommend them.
Very good experience to not want to return home removes the stress.......
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Date of stay: July 2024Trip type: Travelled with friends
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

this hotel located at the busy penang road and next to many eateries that penang is famous for. the room is clean, comfortable bed with nice pillows but it's not noise proof as you can hear the engine of the passing motorcycles especially
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Date of stay: December 2020
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip: upper floor for nice city view
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
We've stayed at the Merchant a couple of times and thought it was pretty good value. But on our last visit, in 2007, $300 was stolen from our room. It was perfectly obvious that hotel staff did it. Several young men from the staff hang out by the elevator on the 3rd floor. Every time you take the elevator down, it stops at the third floor, even if no one is getting on or off. It's clear to me that these staffers are watching to see who leaves the hotel, so they can then rush to their room and pilfer their stuff.
The rceptionist was apologetic. She searched the locker of the woman who cleaned our room, but I'd never thought she was the guilty party in the first place.
If you do go to the Merchant, absolutely, positively leave all valuables in the safe. For my part, it's permanently crossed off my list.
The rceptionist was apologetic. She searched the locker of the woman who cleaned our room, but I'd never thought she was the guilty party in the first place.
If you do go to the Merchant, absolutely, positively leave all valuables in the safe. For my part, it's permanently crossed off my list.
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Date of stay: March 2012Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Poorly maintained hotel, although being refurbished, can see it's an old hotel. Pillows in room are a bit too soft. Bedsheets not very clean. Very slow check in process and worst part is they check your room before check out, not a normal practice anymore nowadays. They even list prices in your room for stained bedsheets, which they should be cleaning anyway, not charging their customers for washing their bedsheets. Do not stay here at all cost.
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Date of stay: October 2017Trip type: Travelled on business
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
This hotel probably topped the chart of the worst hotel that I have ever stayed.
Situated at the busy Penang Road, one would expect this hotel to be somewhat on par; if at least not the amenities, the service staffs. Check in was a tad bit slow, and even slower that the front desk girl requires me to hand over my partner's identity card. This would be my first time, on any property, that the front desk requires the identity card of my partner who is checking in together with me.
We were issued only one key card and that poses a problem to us because we both had different agenda throughout the day. Then realized that the room does not have a maid card, or a dnd card. We had no choice but to leave our key card to the front desk and get housekeeping to make up our room the next day. That too, was confusing for the front desk staffs as most probably they had never had any guests drop their keys before.
Welcome drinks were some overheated, burnt coffee probably survived the breakfast service. Their check-in time is at 3:00 pm, and at that time, it would be insane to have coffee/tea served. I felt unwelcomed already.
With the key card off the Mifare power controller, we came back to a warm room every evening. The air conditioning took at least one hour to cool down the room to a comfortable level.
We asked for an ironing board as I was in Penang for meetings, and at the same time, I saw in their brochure that they offered USB chargers. Staffs were confused about the requests. I guess, they probably don't know what are they selling, or the facilities that they offer. Perhaps they should visit the rooms more often.
The shower was a chore. Chore being the water not only ended up only on the long bath, it also wets the whole area. Nevermind that housekeeping leaves a doormat inside the shower room, it gets wet almost instantly. Shower mode is either hot, or super hot, and extremely hot. I almost scalded myself. Shower room itself suffers from the hot Malaysian heat, sweating myself taking a dump. Nevermind that, it does not have any air extraction system in place, which means the smell goes into the room, with ease.
Room window could not be shut, midnight entertainment includes the noise from below. Of course, this also includes the noise from the door banging as some doors just would not shut close without force.
I conveniently made some friends while working on the work desk; daddy roach and a baby roach came out for a stroll, I guess. They must be bored, and just wanted to make friends. Steve McQueen and baby Steve McQueen came out to make friends too, but both were too shy and went hiding under the bed after.
Parking is very limited and hidden behind the building, perhaps that is why the front desk staff never mentioned anything about parking, and one does wonder, if the parking beside this hotel is free for hotel guests.
It is advertised that the hotel offers room service, one of my criteria when choosing a hotel, 1. so that I know breakfast served can be on par, and 2. to fix my midnight hunger pangs. Although food in Penang could be abundant, sometimes laziness does set when you have a comfortable bed.
There was no room service, sadly.
Breakfast was nothing but a sad selection of greasy fried noodles, overcooked eggs and cheese slices that are stuck to the serving plates. They do offer french toasts, but breakfast was not enough to fill up even at 8:00 am in the morning. We ended up having some toasts nearby.
Internet was scarce, slow and unusable. Was trying to finish up some work emailing the details of my meeting back to the office, only to hop on to my data plan thereafter.
Initial travel itineraries were 3 days and 2 nights, but due to some hiccups, I had to stay another night. The hotel refuse to extend the key card to my partner without some form of payment (I already had my security deposit with the property) and I was 40km away. Though I was able to convince the front desk that I will be coming back by giving up my debit card number on the phone (with CVV, mind you).
Check out was another disaster. I was accused of burning the carpet with the iron, something which I had not used. Did not argue further.
The only good thing about this hotel is probably the complimentary 2 packet drinks. Though, remember to drink up if you want them to replenish.
The newspaper is supposed to be complimentary, though you are only allowed to read it in their lobby.
Situated at the busy Penang Road, one would expect this hotel to be somewhat on par; if at least not the amenities, the service staffs. Check in was a tad bit slow, and even slower that the front desk girl requires me to hand over my partner's identity card. This would be my first time, on any property, that the front desk requires the identity card of my partner who is checking in together with me.
We were issued only one key card and that poses a problem to us because we both had different agenda throughout the day. Then realized that the room does not have a maid card, or a dnd card. We had no choice but to leave our key card to the front desk and get housekeeping to make up our room the next day. That too, was confusing for the front desk staffs as most probably they had never had any guests drop their keys before.
Welcome drinks were some overheated, burnt coffee probably survived the breakfast service. Their check-in time is at 3:00 pm, and at that time, it would be insane to have coffee/tea served. I felt unwelcomed already.
With the key card off the Mifare power controller, we came back to a warm room every evening. The air conditioning took at least one hour to cool down the room to a comfortable level.
We asked for an ironing board as I was in Penang for meetings, and at the same time, I saw in their brochure that they offered USB chargers. Staffs were confused about the requests. I guess, they probably don't know what are they selling, or the facilities that they offer. Perhaps they should visit the rooms more often.
The shower was a chore. Chore being the water not only ended up only on the long bath, it also wets the whole area. Nevermind that housekeeping leaves a doormat inside the shower room, it gets wet almost instantly. Shower mode is either hot, or super hot, and extremely hot. I almost scalded myself. Shower room itself suffers from the hot Malaysian heat, sweating myself taking a dump. Nevermind that, it does not have any air extraction system in place, which means the smell goes into the room, with ease.
Room window could not be shut, midnight entertainment includes the noise from below. Of course, this also includes the noise from the door banging as some doors just would not shut close without force.
I conveniently made some friends while working on the work desk; daddy roach and a baby roach came out for a stroll, I guess. They must be bored, and just wanted to make friends. Steve McQueen and baby Steve McQueen came out to make friends too, but both were too shy and went hiding under the bed after.
Parking is very limited and hidden behind the building, perhaps that is why the front desk staff never mentioned anything about parking, and one does wonder, if the parking beside this hotel is free for hotel guests.
It is advertised that the hotel offers room service, one of my criteria when choosing a hotel, 1. so that I know breakfast served can be on par, and 2. to fix my midnight hunger pangs. Although food in Penang could be abundant, sometimes laziness does set when you have a comfortable bed.
There was no room service, sadly.
Breakfast was nothing but a sad selection of greasy fried noodles, overcooked eggs and cheese slices that are stuck to the serving plates. They do offer french toasts, but breakfast was not enough to fill up even at 8:00 am in the morning. We ended up having some toasts nearby.
Internet was scarce, slow and unusable. Was trying to finish up some work emailing the details of my meeting back to the office, only to hop on to my data plan thereafter.
Initial travel itineraries were 3 days and 2 nights, but due to some hiccups, I had to stay another night. The hotel refuse to extend the key card to my partner without some form of payment (I already had my security deposit with the property) and I was 40km away. Though I was able to convince the front desk that I will be coming back by giving up my debit card number on the phone (with CVV, mind you).
Check out was another disaster. I was accused of burning the carpet with the iron, something which I had not used. Did not argue further.
The only good thing about this hotel is probably the complimentary 2 packet drinks. Though, remember to drink up if you want them to replenish.
The newspaper is supposed to be complimentary, though you are only allowed to read it in their lobby.
Read more
Date of stay: March 2017Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
Room Tip: City view if you prefer to have noise
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The room was noisy from the traffic, the water was cold, room was still clean.
The boys at the reception are really nice, but the management is really not professional. Cards in Malaysia go under maintenance from midnight to 1 am, and I checked in at midnight sharp. I proposed the management to keep my passport credit card and take 80% of the fee of the total in cash that I had, but the night manager Edward rudely refused and made me wait at the reception until 1 am, now this is really bad business ethic, and whatever con of the street who would take his job would give a better service in the second.
Myself as a business owner, I would feel frustrated to leave the reputation of the business to such a small person with total lack of skills in terms of customer service.
The boys at the reception are really nice, but the management is really not professional. Cards in Malaysia go under maintenance from midnight to 1 am, and I checked in at midnight sharp. I proposed the management to keep my passport credit card and take 80% of the fee of the total in cash that I had, but the night manager Edward rudely refused and made me wait at the reception until 1 am, now this is really bad business ethic, and whatever con of the street who would take his job would give a better service in the second.
Myself as a business owner, I would feel frustrated to leave the reputation of the business to such a small person with total lack of skills in terms of customer service.
Read more
Date of stay: August 2016Trip type: Travelled on business
Rooms
Location
Service
Room Tip: Terrible management.
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi there...all the rooms comes with a bathtub ; )
Hi there yes we've got bathrooms in all our rooms :)
"If you really want to stay there insist to have a room without window in the interior to limit the unbearable noise"Read full review
PRICE RANGE
RM 120 - RM 222 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
LOCATION
MalaysiaPenangPenang IslandGeorge Town
NUMBER OF ROOMS
93
Prices are the average nightly price provided by our partners and may not include all taxes and fees. Taxes and fees that are shown are estimates only. Please see our partners for more details.
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Frequently Asked Questions about Merchant Hotel
Which popular attractions are close to Merchant Hotel?
Nearby attractions include Chulia Street (0.4 km), Cheong Fatt Tze - The Blue Mansion (0.1 km), and Kapitan Keling Mosque (0.3 km).
What are some of the property amenities at Merchant Hotel?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free wifi, free breakfast, and an on-site restaurant.
Which room amenities are available at Merchant Hotel?
Top room amenities include air conditioning, a flat screen TV, and a refrigerator.
What food & drink options are available at Merchant Hotel?
Guests can enjoy free breakfast and an on-site restaurant during their stay.
What are some restaurants close to Merchant Hotel?
Conveniently located restaurants include Laksalicious, Junk Cafe, and Indigo Restaurant at The Blue Mansion.
Does Merchant Hotel offer any business services?
Yes, guests have access to meeting rooms and conference facilities during their stay.
Which languages are spoken by the staff at Merchant Hotel?
The staff speaks multiple languages, including English, Chinese, Indonesian, Malay, Filipino, and Tamil.
Are there any historical sites close to Merchant Hotel?
Many travellers enjoy visiting Armenian Street (0.7 km), Chulia Street (0.4 km), and Sun Yat Sen Museum (0.7 km).
Is Merchant Hotel accessible?
Yes, it offers wheelchair access. For specific enquiries, we recommend calling ahead to confirm.