I stayed here for the first time ever as an overnight sojourn while on my way to the Perhentian Islands in Terengganu, Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines had cancelled my morning flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Bahru on the day that I was supposed to catch a speedboat out to Perhentian, therefore I decided to fly to Kota Bahru a day earlier and spend 1 night here. And I have absolutely NO REGRETS WHATSOEVER, with my decision.
Firstly, to inform all travelers who are not familiar with Kelantan, Malaysia, This state is a slightly more under-developed state in Malaysia, compared to Selangor, Johor, Penang, Perak, etc. And I was here during the Ramadan month in 2022, whereby most of the population are observing fasting from food and drinks during the daylight hours. Even though this review is for the Perdana Hotel, I must tell you a bit about the Kota Bahru airport. After I arrived at the airport at approximately 5.45pm, I was pleasantly surprised that they have a reliable taxi service to ferry visitors to their intended destinations at this hour during the Ramadan month. Important note: The taxi ride from the airport to the Perdana Hotel costs RM30 at the time of writing this review. The journey took approximately 20 minutes.
Upon arriving at the hotel, the bell boy came to my taxi and helped me to load my luggage onto the hotel's trolley. And my check-in process was very smooth, the front desk personnel was very courteous. In Malaysia, most hotels and resorts request for a RM100 deposit per room at the time of checking in. This is like a security deposit, and will be fully refunded to the guest upon check-out if everything in the room is in order. The bell boy then helped me to bring my luggage up to my room. I was impressed that all the hotel staff are still serving their guests wholeheartedly even though the time of breaking fast for the day was drawing really close.
I stayed in a standard room with a Queen sized bed. My room was clean and tidy, the bathroom was also adequate with a bathtub. The hotel provided 2 complimentary small bottles of mineral water, this is a standard provision by hotels above a certain category. My room also has a 36-inch flat screen TV with some local channels and a few cable TV channels. However, most of the cable TV channels had very poor connection, the only one which was fit for viewing was the Food Channel. The central air-conditioning was adequate for me. And the bed and pillows were really comfortable, I slept like a baby that night. The water pressure of the hot shower was very good.
This hotel has a big Ramadan buffet banquet which is open to the public every evening during the Ramadan month. I was informed that they had sold out all their slots for dinner on the evening that I arrived here, so I decided to walk over to 7-Eleven, which is located right next door to the hotel, and buy some bread for my dinner. This hotel is conveniently located in the heart of Kota Bahru, I counted 2 convenience stores within walking distance from this hotel.
The next morning, I had the buffet breakfast in the restaurant of this hotel. All rooms come with a complimentary breakfast here. The variety of food offered during the breakfast was very good, considering that the Ramadan month is usually a quiet period for tourism activities in Malaysia and especially in this state. There were only a handful of non-Muslim guests staying here during my visit. The breakfast food consisted of international selections like hashbrowns, chicken sausages, chicken ham, baked beans, scrambled eggs, and lots of Malaysian delicacies such as roti Canai(a flat tossed bread), mee soto ayam(a vermicilli noodle soup), nasi kerabu( a blue-dyed rice), ayam berempah(chicken cooked with spices), daging serunding(a spicy dry beef jerky), various curries, fried noodles, freshly-cut tropical fruits, western pastries like croissants, cinnamon rolls, buns and home-made bread. All-in-all, I was very impressed by the complimentary buffet breakfast!
And the checking out process was as smooth as the check-in process, I received my RM100 refund without any problems. I had arranged for my resort in Perhentian to send someone to pick me up from this hotel and bring me to the Kuala Besut jetty in the morning, and when the driver arrived at the hotel, the front desk called me up in my room to inform me that my requested vehicle had arrived. This is indeed impeccable service! Kudos to all the staff of the Perdana Hotel in Kota Bahru, they exceeded my expectations! The next time I return to Kota Bahru, I would certainly stay here again. I highly recommend this hotel to all visitors who visit this part of Malaysia.
