Georgetown City Hotel (formerly known as Berjaya Penang)

Although I booked a standard non-smoking room, I was given a newly renovated suite. It was a bit oversized for me, but everything is clean, and there is no smoke contamination. However, because I booked on the internet, there were no complimentary breakfast and internet service provided. It was in a convenient location, with a hospital across the street, and nearby shopping malls within 10-15 minutes of walking.

From check in it was slow as we have to wait for the room to be cleaned. The previous occupier vacated late and not on scheduled time as stipulated according to the Reception staff. I have voiced my concerns to the Manager on duty about my valuation of the Hotel and have also submitted the Hotel evaluation card. The bathroom was a bit mouldy and the airconditioner isn't cold at all. The carpet needs vacuuming and looks very dirty when we first entered the room. Not enough creamer when there are 2 sachets each of coffee and tea bags! Lots of sugar!! We have stayed at the Berjaya Hotel in Pulau Langkawi and find the experience there so much better. Staff at the Cafe should be more aware of customer service and not left waiting for 30mins for the freid eggs and not following first come first being served manner. Good customer service is paramount.

We arrived at the hotel around 1330hrs. The FO satff told us that check in was at 1500, and that he could register us first. At that point, we requested that we would like to be on the same floor but it need not be rooms adjcacent or opposite to each other. We left our bags at the concierge and went off for a late lunch. At 1500hrs we returned and expected to handed our room keys, but only one of us had a room! We were told that the hotel was running full and the rooms were not ready. We had to wait till nearly 1600hrs for all of us to be finally checked in. And we were all on separate floors. I told the staff that I had made a request earlier on, but apparently that staff had already gone off shift. However, the staff was kind enough and had at least two of us on the same level. All the time, while doing this, he kept shaking his head and saying:" we are very full today, no rooms..." For the record, I made and PAID for for the reservation online at least 1 month ago. Why is it that they can't see that we are travelling in a group but staying in separate rooms? Next, when we all finally go to our rooms, two of us experienced brown, rusty water from the taps. We called the operator who in turned informed the techician on duty. I was told that they had just changed a pipe, hence the water was rusty, he asked me to leave the water running until it was clear. (Arond 45 mins). Next, the air-conditioning was bad. Although it did produce cool air, it wasn't cool enough for us. My friends and I all had similar problems and we stayed on different floors: 23, 26, 28. I sweated while I slept! The technician came on the second night and fixed one (or at least tried to)of the blowers, but in the end, it still broke down. On the last night, before I checked out the next day, I wanted to try the hotel's cafe. I went to a staff at the cashier and asked if the menu has changed. (It was a Saturday and it was declared a public holiday due to some Agong's birthday). I also wanted to clarify if the price had changed because of the public holiday. The staff mere poited out to me saying, "the menus is pasted on the board next to the entrance right? Can you see it? The price is also there." Finally, the hotel had 3 lifts, that was squeaky, shaky and slow. What can I say? I think the staff needs to be retrained in customer service, the hotle needs a facelift, the interior needs a renovation badly to keep it up to date. The carpark is dark and dodgy, together with some dodgy looking pubs which share the same building. Although, generally the rooms were clean and well maintained, howevere, it looked tired and worn. The dresser lights were too dim, and the inconsistency of having dispensed shower gels in some rooms and some in mini bottles should be ironed out.

服务差，等待时间太久。

DO NOT! I REPEAT! DO NOT VISIT THIS HOTEL! We went there for 1 night stay in Berjaya Hotel Penang, booked online a couple of weeks early due to public holiday (peak period) so that we won't have headaches of finding a nice hotel, it seems like Berjaya is a good choice from what we saw in their website. The truth is, EVERYTHING is a BIG FAT LIE! They gave us a room that has a damaged electronic lock. We would have noticed it before we enter the room but because it was already opened (supposedly by housekeeping) when we checked in, we didn't find out until we went out for clubbing and returned at 4am. We were forced to go back and forth between the reception so that the staff can re-encode the electronic key card for us, for 4 times! it took us about half an hour for this, but still the lock won't open, because I suspect the electronic locking mechanism was already jammed. Usually this can be fixed within minutes because all electronic locks can be opened by a physical (real) master key, but NO....the reception didn't even call maintenance to help, and after the 4th visit to the counter to ask for help, at last they decided to call maintenance. When the maintenance guy arrived (after an hour), he DID NOT bring the key! We were forced to change room. They helped us change to a room that is worst than one of the cheapest budget motel that I have visited. The air-cond won't work, the walls are all dirty and black (it's NOT the painting or wallpaper's color), the toilet was.........unimaginable, the sink was cracked, the cover to the bowl was not there, the TV.......well, it's junk from my grandfather's era, we paid RM208 for a room, but this room I wouldn't even sleep in it if it were free, hell I wouldn't even think of visiting even if they PAY ME to do it. It's like I paid for a Benz, but Mercedes gave me a Proton Saga and tell me it doesn't have any petrol in it! They eventually change ANOTHER 2 rooms for us, but it's the SAME story FOR BOTH, except this one has air-cond. That night all of us couldn't change our clothes because all our luggage was locked inside our original room, imagine how you'd feel if you are one of us! The other morning when I woke up, I called the reception and asked for an update of our original room's status, they replied it HASN'T BEEN OPENED yet, it was already 11.30am! At around noon, at last they successfully unlocked the door and we have access to our luggage, but we found out they did not provide us with any towels, even toothpaste was not provided! The other day when we checked out we asked for a refund, but NO! they told us the room has already been charged via credit card online, they already provided us with "2 rooms instead of 1 that we original booked" and we MUST PAY! The "Manager" apologized and said he'll compensate us with a "free lunch"........for 3 of us. FYI, our group has 7 people, 4 of us slept in some shxtty rooms, he gives us "free lunch" for only 3 of us and what about the other 4? Are they suppose to WATCH us eat? He also gave us an alternative to have "some sandwiches and coffee" at the lounge for all of us. We went to Penang because the local food is famous, and the "Manager" offered us SANDWICH? in a hotel? When we left, we didn't get any kind of compensation, because that "5 star hotel" Berjaya Hotel, Penang, did not make ANY effort to compensate us. We left with a broken wallet, a pxssed off head, a broken heart and a waste of time. Below are some of the photos I've taken, this will prove that I am NOT lying. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150184602146118&set=a.10150101002281118.290550.648351117&type=1 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150184601871118&set=a.10150101002281118.290550.648351117&type=1 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150184395001118&set=a.10150101002281118.290550.648351117&type=1 http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150184394551118&set=a.10150101002281118.290550.648351117&type=1

５泊しましたが、私は満足でした。部屋も広く空調も良かったです。ただ必ず毎日、例えばタオルとかウオーターとか何かが有りません。細かいことを気にしな国民性かもしれません。言えば持ってきてくれます。フロントの対応は良いです。日本人には１人も会いませんでした。日本人のツアー旅行では利用されていないようです。価格から考えた時非常に良いと思いました。

I didn't really know what to expect when I booked the hotel room online, but I was really impressed with the quality and friendliness of the hotel staff and the room I booked into. This hotel a little bit far from the town centre; however, it is well connected by bus (right out the front door). A second nice thing is that it is located really close to to the Guerney Drive Hawker's market, which is a great culinary experience!

The cost of breakfast quoted is applicable only if you are a member of their Berjaya group. If not you pay twice the amount. This should have been stated upfront. Poor variety of breakfast. Also the location of the hotel isn't exactly close to the major shops or streets. We always had to take a cab/bus out.

The hotel was old and in need of remodeling. The staff was excellent, friendly and very helpful.

We arrived early before 7 a.m. and were accommodated for! A great hotel with spacious rooms and superb breakfast.