The Jesselton Hotel
69 Jalan Gaya, Kota Kinabalu 88000 Malaysia
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US$59
Fully refundable before Thu, 14 Dec
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About
#19 of 325 hotels in Kota Kinabalu
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Value
The Jesselton Hotel welcomes business and leisure travelers alike with a central location in the heart of the city and an array of selection for places to visit; encapsulating the full lifestyle of a city life within a tropical haven. Located on 69 Gaya Street, the hotel doors open to a Sunday Market which has become the place to go on for some retail therapy. Another great place to experience the culture and the livelihood of the Sabahan families on a Sunday outing. The hotel is just a few minutes’ walk from the Sabah Tourism Corporation office, KK Heritage Walk and Night Market, Shopping Malls and about a 20 minutes’ drive from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA). The prime location also provides an easy access to a whole range of dining options including Italian, French, Western, Asian and fusion cuisines, which are all available within walking distance to the hotel. Experience for yourself this wonderfully inspiring one of a kind colonial jewel in KK!
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Property amenities
Free High Speed Internet (WiFi)
Bar / lounge
Meeting rooms
Baggage storage
Concierge
24-hour front desk
Dry cleaning
Laundry service
Wifi
Restaurant
Breakfast available
Complimentary Instant Coffee
Newspaper
Non-smoking hotel
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Room features
Air conditioning
Housekeeping
Room service
Safe
Refrigerator
Flatscreen TV
Room types
Non-smoking rooms
Suites
Smoking rooms available
Good to know
HOTEL CLASS
HOTEL STYLE
Centrally Located
Charming
Languages Spoken
English, Malay
Location
98Great for walkers
Grade: 98 out of 100
131Restaurantswithin 0.5 km
19Attractionswithin 0.5 km
69 Jalan Gaya, Kota Kinabalu 88000 Malaysia
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Car HireSee car hire from US$22/day
649Reviews11Q+A87Room tips
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Stayed at this hotel at the start and end of an Intrepid tour. I had one of the new renovated rooms before tour and whilst the room was on the smaller side it was lovely. I had an old room on the return trip and the room was huge but it is dated and could do with some renovations. I thought the location was excellent and staff were very accommodating. WiFi was pretty good too. A decent budget option in KK!
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Date of stay: May 2023Trip 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.
Helpful
The hotel is old. It's old. I went on a short business trip and booked through a reliable travel platform. After booking, I read online reviews and realised that only some of the rooms were newly refurbished (new wing); my bad. I contacted the hotel via what seemed to be an official website and communicated with them through LINE. They were responsive and asked for my booking reference. Wow, not bad! Then someone actually called me via a fixed link, trunk call (not LINE), I repeat, trunk call. Wow again. The well-spoken person told me that since it was my first trip, they would upgrade me to a room in the new wing as my current booking was for the older room. Wow, I'm impressed. Finally, the day came. I checked in late at night and looked forward to a wow service as I read up about this 'legendary' iconic hotel. Alas, the front office told me 'No such instruction to upgrade me'. Wow. I thought being a stranger in a new place, I was not going to argue. It's just 2 nights, I shall endure it. It was also getting late. The town is quiet. I entered the room assigned to me; wow. Old. The door is old with no door latch, just a permanent scar on the door frame of what appeared to be a door latch attached to it once upon a time. The bathroom is old like from the 1970s. The safe box is a relic (must have stopped working for a long time). The room is dimly lit. I went down to the front office to tell them about the condition of my room and to show them the communication I had with someone supposedly from the hotel. They said 'no upgrade' and by the way, I need to pay for a tourist levy which they'd forgotten to ask me earlier. The first night, I slept fitfully as I was feeling insecure about the door. The next morning, I tried my luck once again explaining my predicament. They agreed to upgrade me but insisted again that no one from the hotel ever contacted me. I wondered why but they appeared puzzled about the existence of their own hotel website. Anyway, I'm not going to crack my head trying to solve this puzzle. During my stay, the person on LINE didn't reply to me when I contacted him/her. Strange. The new room is very new and clean. I was given a small room which was very squeezy. Honestly, I didn't mind since the door can be locked safely and it is bright and not spooky. The safe box albeit new, is messed up; it can lock but can't be unlocked. I compromised by having my travel docs and laptop locked in it until prior to my departure. So my verdict? If there's a next time, I will think very carefully. I rated this hotel very good on account of the 'service recovery' and new room. …
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Date of stay: July 2023Trip type: Travelled on business
Value
Location
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.
Helpful
+1
Very tired grubby hotel . Large hotel room, nice friendly staff but room not particularly clean and poor choice of breakfast which was served cold . Bathroom nice size but porcelain stained . Plug sockets mainly not working or unsafe .
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Date of stay: October 2023Trip type: Travelled with friends
Value
Location
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.
Helpful
An antique hotel in the city with clean rooms. Mattress was rock solid though, not to my taste, and the bathroom was clean and tidy. Good shower. Reception staff were lovely and helpful, we arrived at ~1pm and check in wasn't till 2pm. We hung about in the lobby, super tired after our travel and were delighted to be given a room by 1.30pm for a much needed nap! The only disappointment was breakfast! It was cold, cold eggs, cold noodles, cold hash browns. Not very nice. If we had had time I would have run to McDonald's for breakfast!
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Date of stay: September 2023Trip 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.
Helpful
I would call this place as antique hotel.This hotel operated for very long time.Nice and clean hotel.Friendly staff.Smooth check in and check out.Location of the hotel is very strategic.Overall I would recommend this hotel to everyone.
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Date of stay: June 2023Trip 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.
Helpful
We stayed in the Jesselton for two separate nights as part of a group tour with Intrepid travel. In summary, the hotel is looking a bit tired and some immediate improvements are needed to the first room we stayed in. We stayed in room 203 and the room smelt of stale cigarette smoke, and it is meant to be a non-smoking room. The bathroom in our room was tatty with old, fraying towels. There was water leaking under the sink; possibly from the toilet, and the tiles by the shower had sunken in and were broken and grotty. The safe in our room didn’t work and when we called housekeeping, someone came out and said there was nothing they could do to fix it. One of the small windows in our bedroom had no handle on it and so we weren’t able to close the window. The second room (115) was much better with no issues. The carpets and general decor in the hotel are looking a bit dated and the Wi-Fi was so slow and confusing with passcodes for different parts of the hotel. The staff here were so sweet and helpful and made us a lovely packed lunch for breakfast when we left early one morning and kindly allowed us to leave our luggage when we went diving. Sadly this hotel is a bit tired and dated and we wouldn’t come back as there are other options in KK at comparable rates. …
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Date of stay: July 2023Trip type: Travelled with friends
Value
Location
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.
Helpful
We stayed in the hotel for one night whilst we stopped over in Kota Kinabalu. The facilities were very good, clean room, very comfy bed, good shower and a fancy colonial feel to the hotel. The location is really good for Kota Kinabalu,neaf Gaya Street and we were there during Ramadan when night markets populate the streets around there with incredible food. No complaints at all for the hotel - fully recommend.
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Date of stay: March 2023Trip type: Travelled as a couple
Value
Location
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.
Helpful
+1
Jesselton 2.0. We were excited to return after Covid restrictions where for 3yrs of zero travel. 3yrs do things to places and people I guess... anyway here's a run down.. +ve - classic romantic - warmth and cosy - nice location -ve - nvr book on their website (got charged 2x the standard rate). @!!+#!! - no concierge - noisy staffs - our room sucks - jaded. We'll skip this place when we are in town next time. Will skip here next trip.
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Date of stay: January 2023Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip: Avoid booking online at their website. Price can be double. Also the rooms at the far corner (1st...
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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.
Helpful
The Jesselton Hotel is an old hotel that goes back to colonial times. It has been nicely renovated but as with most old hotels, the rooms are small. Other than the size, the rooms have all that you would expect including fridge and tea making. Nice furnishings and very clean. Breakfast is a little strange, you have to order the night before and it appears that the food is brought in from somewhere else. If not included, I would recommend that any guests have breakfast outside sampling traditional Malaysian cuisine. Location is excellent with Sunday markets outside the hotel and several shopping malls nearby. Surai Sabah Shopping Mall, one of the two biggest and newest in KK is just a 10 minute walk. An excellent place to stay when visiting Kota Kinabalu.
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Date of stay: December 2022
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.
1 Helpful vote
Helpful
Advertised as colonial, translates to old fashioned.. you have to order your breakfast in advance and specify at what time you want it, as the food is prepared elsewhere and brought covered in cling film. No on site restaurant anymore. Staff helpful but hotel needs modernisation. Good location
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Date of stay: October 2022Trip type: Travelled with friends
Value
Location
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.
Helpful
PRICE RANGE
US$45 - US$53 (Based on Average Rates for a Standard Room)
ALSO KNOWN AS
jesselton hotel kota kinabalu
LOCATION
MalaysiaSabahWest Coast DivisionKota Kinabalu DistrictKota Kinabalu
NUMBER OF ROOMS
44
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Claim Your ListingTHE JESSELTON HOTEL (R̶M̶ ̶2̶1̶5̶) RM 149: UPDATED 2023 Reviews, Price Comparison and 575 Photos (Kota Kinabalu) - Tripadvisor
Frequently Asked Questions about The Jesselton Hotel
What are some of the property amenities at The Jesselton Hotel?
Some of the more popular amenities offered include free wifi, an on-site restaurant, and a lounge.
Which room amenities are available at The Jesselton Hotel?
Top room amenities include air conditioning, a flat screen TV, and a refrigerator.
What food & drink options are available at The Jesselton Hotel?
Guests can enjoy an on-site restaurant, a lounge, and breakfast during their stay.
Are any cleaning services offered at The Jesselton Hotel?
Yes, dry cleaning and laundry service are offered to guests.
Which languages are spoken by the staff at The Jesselton Hotel?
The staff speaks multiple languages, including English and Malay.
Is The Jesselton Hotel accessible?
Yes, it offers wheelchair access. For specific enquiries, we recommend calling ahead to confirm.