The resort had everything that you won't feel bad about not going out of it. Service at the Ocean Wing as also excellent. WiFi was also excellent, I was getting signal even if I was at the beach! Definitely try out the many activities that their own Nature Reserve has to offer.
I on short trip for vacation. I felt I pay for 5 star and get 3 star services
1. Day 1 : On arrival I greeted with a driver that support to transfer us to the airport, that doesn't know how to operate his car. I mean literatly don't know how to open the boot, and start the car. Fortunately, we arrived safe at hotel. His excuse. He is new in diving
2. Day 2 : Lunch served at the pool restaurant took extremely long waiting time. My wife order a grill fish with rice. When question, the waiter told us a lame excuse, that we have to catch the fish so that it fresh it would take a long time. While I thought that the kind of joke we used to make to coax the young kids. Kudos the the staff or maybe that how they are taught.
3. Day 3 : Order a Cappuccino at the internet Cafe and it came without the coffee shots just milk form. When told they change it for me. What a new way to served Italy coffee.
4. Resturant is infected with FLY everywhere in the breakfast cafe outdoor sector. The only thing the waiter did is to apologised. Haha Keep it up for 5 star hotel.
Last night went to a outdoor seafood restaurant 5 min drive from the resort. No a single fly so I hope they don't find excuse that it a FLY season. We have done our best.
I also have done my best in my trip review.
I leaving today. Hopeful it no more new event for me.
All the best.
Dear KKONTRIP,
Thank you for taking time to review your recent stay with us, I am deeply disappointed to learn that we have failed to provide you with the holiday experience that you deserve, I cannot offer any excuses except that we hope that you will return to Rasa Ria soon so that we can give you a better dining service and a 5 star guest experience.
Best Regards,
Alfons Olim
Resident Manager
My husband and I spent a few days relaxing at the Rasa Ria to recover from climbing Mount Kinabalu, and were really impressed with the atmosphere and the service here. We stayed in the Ocean wing in the part that opened just recently, which was quieter than the Garden wing. The room was great, especially the soaking tub on the patio looking out at the South China Sea.
In my 15 years of travelling, this was one of the best holidays I have ever taken. Borneo is a vast place to visit and we were disappointed that we wouldn't be able to see the whole region with little ones in tow, but the Shangri-La Rasa Ria was the perfect base to see the best of Sabah over two weeks.
In terms of rooms, I am a creature of comfort, and I found the rooms to be sufficiently luxurious, cleaned to a high standard regularly throughout the day, perfect temperature, well-equipped with modern cons, and spacious. The bed was very comfortable and with a firm mattress. My husband and I shared the queen size bed and the pull out sofa was more like a divan which was big enough for our two children (4 and 8 years) to share comfortably without being too cramped.
The facilities were fantastic - there were lots of activities to keep us busy throughout the day. The water sports were particularly good - we boogy boarded (free), water biked (free) and sailed the mini catamaran (free) and for a small extra fee went on a banana boat ride (about £8 per person for a 15 minute ride). The swimming pool was amazing - it had a massive waterslide and baby slide which was covered and so provided sun protection. There is loads of water provided throughout the day in rooms, pool side etc so one never risked being thirsty.
The beach was expansive - beautiful white sand but became very hot during the day! Most of the guests chose to hang pool-side, so it felt great to have the beach to ourselves most of the time!
I would also say that this was a very secure and safe resort. Children walked around freely.
The activities next to the resort were also amazing - the children loved the nocturnal jungle walk and got to play rangers to the orang-utans.
The food was also amazing - better burgers than I've had at nice gastro-pubs in London even! Catering to all tastes, palates and nationalities. A lot of western choices at the breakfast buffets and also the Malaysian fare at Tepi Laut restaurant was varied, delicious and fresh. We had dinner at Tepi Laut most nights over our 12 night stay and didn't get tired of it at all. If you like a little variety, then the Coffee Terrace restaurant has good international fare. The food is not expensive compared with how much it would cost a la carte at a comparable 5-star resort. The burger I mentioned came with a large side of chips and a salad and would have cost £20 elsewhere but was only about £10 room service price. Most dishes a la carte were about £10-12 for mains but I suggest you do half-board.
If you are staying I would suggest you take a few excursions outside the hotel. We did a visit to the base of Mount Kinabalu and went snorkelling to a few islands outside Kota Kinabalu centre. The snorkelling was amazing - up close to all sorts of fish, crystal clear waters, you could feed the fish even and it was very safe and shallow water that was well supervised. I felt completely safe with my 8 year old.
Finally, the staff were really friendly and Bethany) one of the managers was amazing at helping us relocate rooms when a large Asian wedding party that partied late into the night threatened our nights sleep.
All in all, a wonderful holiday and we can't wait to go back again!
From the minute we arrived to Borneo, we were amazed by the beauty of the place, our smile was not wiped after we arrived to Rasa Ria.
Swift checking in ensured we still managed to make it to dinner that night ( we arrived at the hotel at about 21.00 and hadn't booked dinner beforehand) .
As we got to the hotel late at night and it was dark( sun sets at about 6.15pm in April) , exploring the hotel the next day in the daylight was great.
Pros:
1. Choice of restaurants to eat in( 5 to choose from) ;
2. Location of the hotel( beach on one side, Tropical rainforest with orangutangs , Macaque monkeys and other various species of animals and insects living there on the other),
3. Things to do outside the hotel which are accessible by taxi, hotel's transfer bus and tour companies' busses if you book a tour);
4. Things to do in the hotel( we tried and enjoyed parasailing, kayaking, Night walk in the tropical rainforest , Orangutang viewing, table tennis, Pilates class , blowpipe competition,lazying by the pool and jacuzzi pool, swimming in the sea) . Of course, there is also golf, spa , gym and watersports available as well as activities in Nature Centre.
5. The atmosphere of the hotel. I would say that this place is for relaxing, exploring and enjoying the nature around you as well as enjoying delicious food, attentive staff and quiet evenings in the hotel lobby listening to great cover singers.
6. Resident birds ( Scarlet Macaw, Hornbill and a family of owls) , who live freely in different parts of the hotel.
Cons:
1. The sea water is not clear because of the nearby river. Still perfectly fine to swim in but just cannot snorkel there. We did know that before we got there so it was not a surprise , so we went to Sapi island twice during our 8 day stay in Rasa Ria to snorkel.
2. Mosquitos after it rains! I only got bitten on the last day as that day I didn't apply DEET 50 properly for the first time during our 8 night stay) . Don't make that mistake!
As you can see, I cannot fault the hotel on anything that they can change , so all in all the experience of this hotel and Sabah was just magical and we cannot wait to be back.
P.S. Do request a room on a higher floor as the view is beautiful . We stayed in Ocean wing and I can thoroughly recommend it.
P.P.S. We were originally hesitant about booking this hotel as thought that there would be too many children running about. It was not the case at all , we didn't see many children and the ones we did see behaved beautifully in the restaurants and pools. Might be different in high season but this was our experience.
The trips out that we took were :
1) Proboscis Monkeys and Fireflies;
2) Sapi island snorkelling( snorkelling, seeing monitor lizards and we saw a wild boar there as well ). We took hotel's transfer bus to Kota Kinabalu and then a boat from Jesselton point ( about 30MR return) to Sapi i.e. Didn't book a tour.
3) Mari Mari cultural village tour ( interesting introduction to life of the tribes on the island not so long ago). Set in the jungle , so can also see beautiful butterflies flying past and other interesting insects and plants) .
Recommend them all . Bookable through hotel's tour companies' agents or online through different tour companies like we did.
