Arrival at the hotel entrance went quite smooth, we were greeted by friendly doorman who efficiently took care of our car and luggages as we made our way to the reception desk. First impression of the lobby was good, the christmas decoration did help though. As we booked a suite we got escorted to the our residence.
On the way to our suite, we noticed cigarette burns on the carpet. Ouch!! We did not expect that. We started to get funny feeling that they mistakenly put us in smoking room instead of non-smoking one as we have requested. And when we entered our suite, we could smell the cigarette immediately. The staff who escorted us determined that our suite was indeed non-smoking, but presumably the previous guests smoked at the patio and left the cigarette odor. So at first she sent a house-keeping staff to spray the room. As we had quite a large room, few squirts of air freshener did not last very long. So we suggested them to bring aromatherapy kit so we can lit it for few hours. Although they were hesitated at the beginning as they concern about fire and hazard policy, they finally brought the kit. And it did work.
We stayed at the hotel for three days and for the first time we did not get out to try the restaurants. We took the opportunity simply to relax. We spent quite a bit of time at the patio to enjoy the sun. But not too long as on the right hand side of our suite there was a workshop, where people repairing stuff and made a lot of noises. We were not sure if it belonged to the hotel or private. Either way it was rather annoying. The patio itself was not cleaned regularly as we noticed the rusts on the door and algae growing on the floor.
Apparently, we found out that we should have booked a suite at the exclusive Rasa Wing instead of the Garden Wing. We naturally assumed as the place called 'Garden Wing' it has better view. And we got that wrong. Something that we learnt from this was the fact we have to be more careful in interpreting the description of the hotels website. A lot of them are very misleading.
Ah well.. let's not dwell on criticizing the hotel, it will never ends. The positive aspects of our stay were the suite was nice and spacious, despite the sofa was a bit worn out and switches were outdated, but still function well. We had a nice dining area where we had our breakfast overlooking the workshop. We did get a nice view of the sea from the patio, though. We had a spacious marbled bathroom with l'Occitane amenities. And room service made nice eggs benedict and portions were generous too.
If you fancy a lazy holiday this the place you should go..
Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa
Batu Feringgi Beach
11100 Penang - Malaysia
Phone: +60 4 888 8888
http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/penang/rasasayangresort
