Looking for a place to stay in George Town? Then look no further than The Sovereign, a quaint small hotel that brings the best of George Town to your doorstep.
The Sovereign offers guests an array of room amenities including air conditioning, and getting online is possible, as free wifi is available.
The small hotel offers 24 hour front desk, room service, and baggage storage, to make your visit even more pleasant. Guests arriving by vehicle have access to free parking.
While staying at The Sovereign, visitors can check out Komtar (0.2 mi) and Old Protestant Cemetery (0.6 mi), some of George Town's top attractions.
When you’re feeling hungry, be sure to check out DeHappy Seafood Restaurant, The Mermaid Cafe.Ikan Bakar, and Repotblic Hotpot Restaurant, which are some seafood restaurants that are popular with locals and out-of-towners alike.
There is no shortage of things to do in the area: explore popular parks such as Armenian Park and Penang Municipal Park.
We’re sure you’ll enjoy your stay at The Sovereign as you experience everything George Town has to offer.
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
Classic
Quaint
Languages Spoken
English, Chinese, Malay
Location
22 Lorong Kinta, George Town, Penang Island 10400 Malaysia
The Sovereign
96 reviews
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.
Photos illustrates as Boutique Hotel but it is in fact a Budget Hotel. Bed Sheet and Towels were grey in colour, the rooms require an upgrade in term of sound proof. Our 1 night stay was during the Recovery Movement Control Order, therefore the free breakfast being offered was not serve in the common pantry but the staff will actually distribute packed breakfast (Nasi Lemak bungkus & Mineral Water) room-by-room, portion of breakfast was quite generous. Location of the hotel is good provided if you traveled by car. Exterior of the hotel looks interesting and antique.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2020
Location
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.
Simple and basic room, there is free breakfast for all the customers. Although the outside view of this hotel is quite old and in coco colour, but the inner view of this budget hotel is beautiful. It is recommended to people who would like to have a short trip to Penang or stay at Penang for a night for a job purpose..
Read more
Date of stay: July 2019
Location
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.
To be honest I feel very disappointed about this hotel...it has the ability to become one of the best hotels in Penang for its heritage as well as style....the owners I guess just don't care about the hotel nor the occupants in it, if you are not willing to fork up a fortune on your room.
Many of the comments for this hotel are true, good value for money if you are not looking for something fancy...and also the hotel is very loud, especially if on the ground floor. I had to ask the "housekeeping" to actually change the towels and linen after already 3 nights of it not being changed....check in was uneventful, literally, as the receptionist looked as if he had better things to do.... the room when we got in was clean however the decor was nothing as advertised and the wall had mould on it...the floor worn and looked like it needed a renovation..... the bed was broken so if you moved the pillars that held the bed would move....no amenities provided in the room so if you are planning on coming with no amenities then head to the 7/11 that is next door and pick up your essentials. Gaps between the door frame and the floor which meant at any given point in time you would get a special visitor....
It's location is great as you are close to the bus station of Komtar so you can get around easily!
Really is such a shame that the hotel is not in a better shape....would have stayed here again on my best trip but I believe my husband and I will try something a bit more "polished" and better taken care of.
Read more
Date of stay: April 2017Trip 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.
WORST HOTEL IN PENANG. Its either you pay more and get good room, or if you pay the promotion price you get the worst room. And even if you bought your stay with a little higher price, I don't suggest you to stay here as the price they charge, you can get better room and service at nearby hotel (walk distance from this hotel). You'll regret staying this hotel, it feels like staying in brothel I swear. The staff super super rude, tried to picked a fight with me. Air cond not working, had to ask them to repair. Bathroom door, my lord, someone can peep you while you bath. Room smells bad. Wiring can be seen on the roof, not secured. Lamp, my lord, worst room ever. And I can hear babies crying from the most far room and from the room downstairs. Super thin wall. Forget about wifi. I can tell everything that I hate about this hotel but ill waste my time. Just don't stay here. Save yourself a bad trip and find other hotel.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2017
Value
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled on business
Room Tip:Pay more to get the good room. But by paying more, you might as well go other hotel with same...
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 arrived very early after traveling from KL the owner was very kind and allowed us to access our room by 10am. Our room was no where near close to what we expected and looks nothing like the pictures on the internet, it was very basic and small, the bathroom has many holes in the walls that were just stuffed with tissue paper, the TV did not work although this was not an issue for us as it may have been for some, there was no housecleaning (we stayed 3 nights and had to ask for our toilet paper roll to be replaced). It was located close to Komtar which was handy for catching busses, or about a 15-20min walk down towards the main part of Georgetown. Our main issue was the 3-5 ladyboys/prostitutes that spent almost 24 hours a day sitting in the courtyard downstairs smoking, cutting their toenails, leaving their mess around and watching very loud videos on their iPhones. It was clear that they were living there in at least 2 of the rooms downstairs. As a result there was a lot of noise at night from doors opening and closing and the doorbell ringing at all hours of the night. I would NOT recommend this hotel.
Read more
Date of stay: February 2015
Rooms
Cleanliness
Service
Trip 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.
Overall, it's a nice place to stay for both business & leisure as it's in good location near to the happening tourist spots & malls. Not far from Heritage Area for the Murals Street Arts, nice & cozy cafes and that's stone throw away street food @New Lane. I already stayed here 3 times for work & family holiday, and I intend to come back again. The Front Desk officers are nice, especially Jessie who is always helpful. We even saw him helping in house keeping during hectic day. I think Jessie deserved a raise, seriously! The house keeping has to be improved especially not to throw away any items (e.g. mini toiletries) in the room without permission from the owner.
Read more
Date of stay: October 2014
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Try to get the rooms at the back & not facing the road, especially if you are travelling with...
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.
I know about this property cause I have stay in east indies before. So, I decided to give this hotel a try since under the same group and it kind of turn to a disaster.
1) Comfort I booked this hotel for 5 nights. When I booked, the rooms shows with window but I was given a room with no window and I have to complain to change it. I checked in quite early and I don't understand why they have given me kind of the worst room though. The room was leaking here and there. The property is old and not maintained. You can literally see it's leaking quite many places. Towels are not provided on time and both room I went into , no towels provided. I have to ask many times to get towel. Everyday I have to remind them to change towel on daily basis. They have 2 housekeeping staffs, one Rose who was a better staff and the other one called Miriam/Mariam. When I asked for towel, she can reply me back " I gave you 2 towels yesterday, you are alone. Either i'm alone or with someone or if I happened to date someone, isn't that the hotel duty to change my towel on time everyday? Besides, they only change the towels at night due to their laundry system.
2) Service The front office staff called someone like Rain, helpless. She doesn't smile to you and doesn't care if you are a guest. She treats you like you owe her money. Not service orientated at all. When you asked about wifi, the WiFi is down. Thats it. When you complain to her, she doesn't even show her concern to help you to resolve the issues.
3) Cleanliness Its a old building and not maintain. Rooms are leaking here and there. The room I stayed, they have ants. And pillow case was not been changed. Whenever you look for a housekeeper, and you told them to touch up the room. By late evening I came back around 7/8 , its still not clean. Literally, the only good thing about this place is Location. Otherwise, big screwed up
The hotel team owns few property in Georgetown, and I guess you guys should learn and invest on training and service orientated courses to improve the service level. Besides, the staffs are pinoy, I have nothing against them and I have friends and colleagues who are pinoy. They are known to be super good in terms of service industry but this hotel staffs screwed up.
Read more
Date of stay: January 2018
Value
Rooms
Service
Trip type: Travelled solo
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.
A slight background is necessary for this review to make sense. I travel to Penang at least once a year. Places I have stayed before are PPIsland (budget, good location, clean and friendly), Seven Terraces (Boutique, exceptional service, beautifully renovated and had a marvelous time) and a couple of months ago, I stayed at Heliconia at Kinta Lane (which was budget, good location, decent but soooooo small and tight). So we wondered next door to Heliconia and was pleasantly surprised by the rooms on the ground floor, next to the reception. So we booked for the next visit. Upon checking in, our given room had no wardrobe, only a clothes stand was available in the corner. I walked around and came to a conclusion that this room was put together by someone who had purchase the items from a second hand furniture/decor shop. It was incomplete, mismatched. The room had a small refrigerator that was probably about 10 years old though we were told the hotel is only about a year old..... The 4 of us who had 3 rooms there were totally baffled and disappointed. Since we were there for only 2 nights, we decided to not kick up a fuss. I was willing to walk away from this experience and never come back. Then while sleeping, I was awakened by the warm suffocating air (at 4am) and realised the air-conditioning had gone off. In my groggy state, I went down to ask what had happened. Only to be informed that the external compressor had stopped working and there was nothing to be done as the repairman was arriving only at 9 am. I was so angry and upset by then I knew that if I said anything else that moment, I would regret it. So I turned around and went back to the room and slept in the stifling room. There was no offer of giving us another room or sending up a fan or anything to help the situation. When I left for breakfast, I looked at the entrance and saw to my horror the logo of TripAdvisor sticker that said "recommended". I knew that I had to write this.
Read more
Date of stay: August 2015
Value
Rooms
Service
Trip type: Travelled with friends
Room Tip:avoid this hotel. stay at your own peril
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.
During our stay, the water in the hotel stopped working altogether, meaning we were unable to drink, brush our teeth, shower or use the toilet. This is obviously not acceptable for a hotel. However, this did mean we were able to overlook the other horrible issues, like holes in the windows and the floor, meaning people in the corridors on the floor below could see into our room.
The supervisor repeatedly told us the water would be fixed in the next 45 minutes. These were lies as he did not even have an engineer booked at the time and the water was not fixed during the period we stayed there.
Eventually we lost patience and left the hotel. We asked for a full refund, which is warranted given we weren't even able to use the toilet. The hotel agreed and told us they would give us a full refund, but that our agent, Expedia would need to pay us. Given their previous lies I was suspicious and asked for written proof that they were authorising a refund. They again lied and said they did not need to as it had already been authorised and the payment would be in our account the next day.
No surprises, this did not happen. We eventually had to call Expedia and spend an entire, frustrating day on the phone to get any sort of refund. Expedia told us the hotel were refusing to authorise any refund at all, but we complained further and eventually the hotel agreed to give us a very small amount of money that wasn't even the cost of a single night.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
Read more
Date of stay: July 2015
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled with family
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 stayed in the Twin Single for 3 nights in late Oct 14. We had decided to book this hotel as we find out that it is very new and its price is indeed very attractive. Our room appears to be the only room that retains its original entrance door. In fact, the lock to our room is just a simple lock which could easily be pried open. We were not that concerned in that respect as the main entrance to the hotel is controlled by the staff manning the reception counter.
What we like 1) The price is definitely a steal bearing in mind that it is a newly-refurbished boutique hotel. From what we understand, it used to be a row of 2-storey pre-war shop-houses. The décor of the hotel is indeed very charming. The room and bathroom is clean. Our bed is King-size and comfortable enough. The hotel tries to retain as much as possible its original charm, including the original wooden side door (see pictures attached) and the beautiful Peranakan floor tiles.
2) It is situated within the Georgetown area. If you are coming from Penang Airport, take bus 401E outside the airport (it cost only RM2.70) and tell the driver you want to alight at Komtar. You can’t miss Komtar as the bus approaches Georgetown as it is the tallest building around that area. The bus journey from the airport will take about 45 min as it has many stops along the way. As it approaches Komtar, look out for another tall building “UMNO”. Once you alight from the bus, walk towards the direction of UMNO building. Ask for directions along the way. It takes about 8-10 min to walk from Komtar to the Sovereign Hotel. The hotel is next to the popular Heliconia Hotel (which is next to Hotel Sentral Georgetown).
3) Hotel is located about a short 5 min walk to Station 11 (blue line) of the free Penang hop-on bus along Transfer Road. You can take this free hop-on and hop-off bus to many attractions within the Georgetown area. Otherwise, you could also take the Penang hop-on bus at Komtar.
4) The famous Chengdol stall is only 5-7 min walk away. Near the hotel, there are a few lanes which come alive in the evening with many delicious hawker food which Penang is famous for.
5) As the hotel is located within walking distance to Komtar (which is kind of a transport hub), going to Penang Hill, Kek Lok Si, Ferringhi Beach, Gurney Drive, etc is not a problem as you could catch the buses there.
6) Although breakfast is not included originally in the hotel booking, the hotel was kind enough to provide a simple complimentary breakfast for the 3 days we stayed there. Although it is nothing to shout about, we appreciate the gesture and the delicious pancake prepared by the staff.
7) For people who are driving, there are 7 parking lots for hotel guests (right in front of the hotel).
8) Free Wi-Fi is available although we understand that not all spots within the hotel could receive the signal.
9) We were able to extend our check-out time to 1pm.
What could be improved/ What we dislike 1) Our room is located at the ground floor (Room G02) which is just next to the car-park in front of the hotel. During the night, we could hear Karaoke music coming from a pub nearby. Although the lane (Lorong Kinta) along the hotel is not a major road, light sleepers will find occasional traffic noise a nuisance.
2) Sound-proofing is not good. You could hear foot steps from upper room.
3) The room is pretty small, about 10sqm. There are no chairs or writing table. No tooth-bush, toothpaste, or hand towels.
4) During our 3 nights stay, our room and bathroom were not cleaned at all. We didn’t want to create a fuss though as most of the time, we were out. Only the 2 bath towels were changed everyday, that’s all. There were no replenishment of shampoo and soaps.
5) During our 1st night, only 1 TV channel is available. After our feedback, 2 channels (1 English, 1 Chinese) were available for the next 2 days.
6) The hotel is basically still “work-in-progress”. We understand that there will be 40 rooms all-in but as of the date that we stayed, only 14 rooms are ready. As we explored the lower and upper floors, we noticed that the hotel had somehow stopped work temporarily.
Tips 1) Book a Double Room (slightly more expensive) on the 2nd level and away from Lorong Kinta to avoid traffic noise.
Read more
Date of stay: October 2014
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Room Tip:Book a Double Room on the 2nd level and away from Lorong Kinta to avoid traffic 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.
There are more places to choose from in the George Town area.
LOCATION
MalaysiaPenangPenang IslandGeorge Town
NUMBER OF ROOMS
14
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.
Is This Your Tripadvisor Listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
