Staying at this hotel was a nightmare from start to finish. To begin with, I did not receive the room I booked. I was not told at time of booking, I was not told during the weeks leading up to my stay, and I was not told at check in that the room I booked was not going to be given to me. I am not sure what management was thinking, that I would just walk into the room and unpack and not notice? I was to have a king room and got a room with two beds, and their solution was to push the two beds together to make a king bed. Not acceptable. I made my reservation months in advance and the excuse given to me by management was “sorry we’re overbooked, we had a lot of last-minute bookings.” Ok fine, but why am I being punished for that? Why out of every guest staying at the hotel, was I single-handedly selected to be the one to be punished for their negligence? Couldn’t get an answer on that. Nor could I get an apology, management is aloof and not solutions-oriented.
The main problem with pushing two beds together into one is that the antique switches on the wall are in the middle of the wall, so where you are supposed to rest your head are all of these metal switches protruding from the wall, which means it’s impossible to sit up in bed if you may like to read or watch TV, and you will smack your head against these switches while you try to sleep (which consequently also turn on the lights in the room). I have so many black and blue marks on my head from this insanity, I even had the manager come up to look at this problem, he just shrugged, no apology and no solution offered.
Further to this, I will note the condition of the room is deplorable: scratched floors, beat up stained furniture, and the worse of it, crumbling plaster and peeling paint in the bathroom where mold is flourishing… not acceptable for a five star hotel. The balcony doors did not close properly so bugs come into the room constantly, especially at night as they are drawn to the light. This also further exacerbates the moisture problem and makes cooling the room difficult.
There was a raucous party that night at the hotel which occurred in the ballroom directly underneath my room. Again, I was never informed of this prior, and when I complained, no solution offered… the party went on past midnight and the loud music shook my room to the core, making even the crystals on the chandelier rattle as it swung from the ceiling. Needless to say I was unable to rest or relax.
The icing on the cake was my morning of departure. I called down to confirm the time of my airport transfer pick up, which after calling 4 times before someone answered the phone, I was told would be 11am. I called for a bellman at 10:30, 10:45, and 11, but no one ever came, so at 11:15 I was forced to haul all of my luggage myself. There were several other guests doing the same thing, we all remarked in the elevator what a disaster the service at this hotel was.
Come down and no car. I am already 20 minutes late at this point, had to find a taxi on my own, load my own luggage again, management totally aloof, two staffers just standing there watching me struggle without offering assistance. I had had it at this point and went to the front desk to give the manager on duty a piece of my mind, he just rolled his eyes.
Do yourself a favor and avoid this hotel at all costs. The best thing that could happen to this place would be to fire everyone or just tear the place down and start over. There are several other fine hotels in Penang with a similar historic atmosphere without the lackadaisical attitude and moldy smell. It is my hope that this hotel goes out of business, and I will do everything I can to hasten its demise, it’s that bad!
