It was our first visit to Malacca and friends who have been there told gross stories about old and dirty hotels. I did some research and decided on holiday inn based on good reviews from Trip Advisor (TA) and also since it’s a relatively new kid on the block. Being a priority club member, I made reservations through their website instead of a travel agent. It was a big mistake because I realized later that with the same price, our travel agent would have gotten us complimentary breakfast. Talk about being a priority member! Don’t make the same mistake we made, do check with your travel agents before you book. Reservation through email was a breeze though as they were rather responsive.
From Malacca central, we took a cab to holiday inn and was charged RM15. Unlike most hotels, their driveway to the lobby are away from the main traffic. On one hand, you’d feel its rather exclusive but on the other, it means you have to walk out a distance to the main shopping area or to flag for a cab.
Take a look at their HUGE lobby area!
When we arrived, my mum was pleasantly surprised that there was a cold water dispenser for guest consumption! She absolutely adored this great idea by the hotel. Except that the glass table holding it was rather small and can only accommodate 6-8 glasses at any one time. This certainly kept the concierge busy with putting used glasses away and replenishing with new ones. In any case, its a novel idea which we gave two thumbs up!
There’s great room for improvement in terms of their customer service though because check in staff was icy and process rather slow. The key card was also tricky as we could not activate the lights initially and had to call for help. We were glad that help came in a jiffy so that was a plus point for them. I must say the room was huge and clean and equipped with basic amenities. One thing to note, the hair dryer was inbuilt in one of the drawers in the room instead of the bathroom and this could pose a noise problem to your fellow room mates.
Not sure if other rooms had bath tub but not for our deluxe room. Also, I think it’s a common design for all holiday inns that the bath room comes with a panel of see thru glass. Though there are blinds for privacy but due to the corner design, you could actually still peep through if you want to. Hence its not advisable if you in a group of friends. In any case, we were most happy with the room and had no further complaints.
Triple sharing deluxe room with city view
The location of holiday inn is certainly not as good as hotel Equatorial as it is along a busy highway. Here's the view from our room.
Thats the busy highway everyone's been talking about -
Mahkota Parade Shopping Centre on the right -
Plaza Mahkota, which is basically rows of shop houses on the left -
Though traffic seems to give a lot of face to jay walkers, it is still quite dangerous to cross to the other side. There are a few ways to getting around this problem – take the hotel complimentary shuttle bus (two hourly interval starting from 10am only), walk further left to cross under the highway bridge or hail a cab. Many reviewers have shared that you can take a 10 min walk to all the tourist sites and shopping area but if you are with elderly and child, it is quite a feat. Hence, we took taxi most of the time. As we all know, Malaysian taxis are a notorious lot and it was really a chore to bargain with them. To make things simple, we offer a flat rate of RM 10 for our trips and most are willing to accept.
Overall, the hotel is up to scratch and is so much better that some of the Malaysia hotels we stayed. I would not rule out staying at this hotel again but given a choice, I would prefer choosing another hotel nearer to Jonker street to avoid the highway traffic.
location map
No comments:
Post a Comment