Promenade Hotel Kota Kinabalu — Hotel in Borneo

We booked a superior room with breakfast and an additional bed. The price for the additional bed included a breakfast. We stayed for 3 nights (weekdays) in Dec22. We are happy with the stay. Booked through Agoda (been liking their good customer service).

Room (4.5/5): Room was clean, good size. Door lock has double lock and a chain lock. Disposable room sandals provided. Kettle, fridge, iron, iron board, small safebox (can fit a 15" laptop), hangers provided. A small bottle of drinking water provided for 3 of us. Room lighting was ok for us. All lights were warm lights, they have provided sufficient lightings. Room temperature was comfortably cold without aircon, aircon is adjustable, however very cold, so we turned it off throughout our stay. The windows can be opened (small opening) to get some fresh air when needed. Water pressure for shower was fine and hot water was fine although not consistent. Toilet was clean although the toilet roll holder was faulty and the phone in the toilet was unplugged. Good quality toothbrushes, shower caps, body wash, shampoo, hair conditioner, body lotion, bath, hand and face towels, and floor towel provided for 3 of us. Toilet door is frosted glass with no lock. Housekeeping replaced towels, replenished body wash/shampoo/conditioner/lotion and the small bottles of drinking water, everyday. The room is lacking in sound insulation. We were on 9th floor, we could still hear motor sound (when there were cars with broken exhaust) on the street. Could hear TV sound from next door (probably they have turned the volume too high). Could hear knocking sounds (probably dropping things or jumping kids). Our room is not facing the sea. Those rooms facing the sea would have a refreshing view.

Breakfast (4/5): The buffet has good variety and foods were topped up fine. Sufficient seating places. Friendly staff.

Location (4/5): Central location with walking distance to many places around the hotel. However, the walk isn't along walkway of shophouses (Promenade is on its own building). Pedestrians need to cross a small road to get on a pedestrian walkway or the side/pedestrain path along the road. Not all paths are covered. Nearest shop will still need some walk, i.e. not right in the same block or next.

Hotel in general (3.5/5; losing points in car park): There are sufficient lifts to the guest rooms. Guests can only access their floor with the key card. There is a tuck shop at the ground floor of the hotel and the prices are similar to outside, i.e. not expensive. The hotel has large safeboxes for guests to store larger items free of charge. We used the room service once; ordered a club sandwich. Sandwich was fine. We could pay with card; the staff that delivered the food brough a portable card terminal. The hotel security did not let us (in-house guests) park in front of the hotel as they reserve those parking spaces (10ish of them) for visiting customers (functions, etc). In-house guests can park after 10:30pm. We parked our car in the basement carpark. The basement parking was quite full in the evening as there were functions. Nevertheless, there are 4 storeys of basement carpark and we have been able to find a parking space each time we return to the hotel. The basement carpark can be challenging to some drivers as there are narrow turns. Nevertheless, there were Prado, Hilux parking in the basement; so, it is doable. The lift to the basement carpark is different from the lifts to the guest rooms. So, a transit from one lift to another is required at ground floor (lobby). The carpark lift is accessible at alternate floor, e.g. if you park at B2A floor, you need to use stairs to B2 floor to access the lift.

Services (4/5): All staff we have met were well-mannered. They were responsive and get their work done. Calls to the reception were picked up within 5 calls; and requests were acted on promptly. However, call to the room service (#7) was not picked up when we called. Fortunately, the reception could transfer us to their...

The hotel is a plus point, location-wise.

Room: I’ll include photos of what I found unacceptable. There were price tag stickers on the washroom sink which housekeeping didn’t find the need to clean that up. There were empty used shampoo bottles from previous guests (I didn’t take photo of that because I didn’t have my phone at that time). There were stains on the bedsheet, I just hope they actually changed the bed sheets. The room was just stuffy and it triggered my allergies, I don’t know whether the carpets weren’t vacuumed or the Aircond was just not well maintained. Maybe the room had not been used for sometime so the desk was a bit dusty. Oh, it was disgusting to find the chiller/minibar had food/drink stains from previous guests. And maybe the hotel should engage in better contractor for their next refurbishment because there were paint stains on their furniture, which I didn’t bother to take photo most of it. TV was horrible, we could barely watch. The bed was very noisy, it squeaks at the littlest movement and it’s a bothersome if you’re the type to wake up easily at night.

Swimming Pool : You have to register at the concierge to get the towels, then go to Level 1 and then walk all the way to the other side and then walk down the stairs to get to the pool. Which, I don’t think is safe. People might walk back from the pool soaking wet and cause the stairs to be slippery, so basically be careful, you might fall on your head. I don’t know, it’s the first time I would have to register at the concierge (obviously at the lobby) just to use to pool.

Parking : We opt for the basement parking. It’s RM5/day for guests. Just use your card as per usual to scan at the entry and don’t forget to verify your card at the concierge before exiting the parking.

Breakfast : The breakfast was fine. I would say reasonable. It just bothered me whether they employed the right people at the kitchen to prepare the condiments because they couldn’t even cut the calamansi properly which eventually becomes a waste because people can’t really squeeze the juice out. I mean, it’s basic kitchen skill.

Reception : The check-in was swift, so kudos to the reception staff. Though we requested for a higher floor while booking directly through the hotel, we only got 5th floor and the view was covered by the not-really-a-balcony.

My rating is mostly based on the room condition. It bothers me that cleanliness is not...

I booked this hotel because it appeared to tick all of my priorities. These are: The location Does it cater to Westerners? Does it have a pool? Are the rooms air-conditioned? These are my basic criteria & The Promenade seemed to fit the basics. In reality I do have some minor complaints after being here for 3 nights. The room is adequate if a little dated. The in room safe was faulty & I had to call reception to have it fixed. This was taken care of promptly & efficiently. The management of the lighting system within the room seems to have a mind of its own when each individual control is pressed. Access to the pool is either via the lobby OR via the first floor by negotiating a stairwell. The pool has virtually no shade & only 6 sun loungers. Towels must be obtained from reception & handed back in when finished with. Apparently the pool cannot be used on rainy days due, apparently, to safety concerns. Perhaps this decision should be left up to the individual & not to hotel management? Most days it rains at some stage here! The breakfast arrangements are what I would term, adequate, although the selection for westerners is quite limited in my humble opinion. There is a huge variety of Asian style dishes which is fine but personally I do not eat rice or curry for breakfast so I am left with a choice of cereal, eggs, chicken sausage & cold baked beans! I have also discovered that a solo traveller like myself has only 2 small tables to choose from in a vast dining area & if I leave the table to get another coffee I am in danger of forfeiting it to another diner even when I have not even finished eating! These are minor irritants but they do add up & I am afraid that my patience is beginning to wear thin. It is apparent that this hotel pays lip service to western tourists which is a shame. My previous visit to KK was 18 years ago when I stayed at the Pacific Sutera & the Magellan. Perhaps I should look at those again for...