Sabah Hotel, Sandakan — Hotel in Borneo

We had pleasant stay at this hotel. This hotel maybe old, but it has everything to make our stay enjoyable with good facilities, such as gym, swimming pool, recreational place with table tennis, lobby lounge, restaurant, etc. Parking is available too for those who drive. Big and spacious room with king size bed with all the necessary toiletries provided - shower gel/ shampoo, toothbrush/ toothpaste, coffee/ tea, water, etc. Our room was facing the swimming pool with good view. Besides, it could be noticed that the hotel staff clean up the pool early in the morning between 6-7am in the morning. Breakfast is also included with nice spread of continental breakfast plus some local delights such as Nasi Lemak, Fried Bee Hoon, etc. Staff were extremely helpful and super friendly and attentive. Special thanks to front desk staff with smooth check-in/ check-out process and recommendation of good clinic since one of us were had infection due to insect bite. Restaurant staff were very attentive to clear our plates timely during breakfast too. Bell man was also very helpful to assist us with our luggage. Good location within 5-10 mins drive to Sandakan city centre with nearby attractions such as Agnes Keith’s House, St Michael Church and Sim Sim Floating Village, Dataran Sandakan, etc. 40-50 mins drive to Orangutan & Sunbear Conservatory and Proboscis Monkey Sanctuary. Would recommend this hotel for both business and...

Considering all the other hotel standards in Borneo we found this one to be Ok. It is just outside the city centre and you will need a taxi (Teksi) to get to the town centre for some activities or restaurant. Best way to get around is to download "Grab" which is the Malaysian equivalent of Uber. The rides are ridiculously cheap (10% of regular taxi fares) and there are heaps available everywhere. The reception of the hotel looks good and well kept. Staff was a bit stand off-ish and we had to pay a 550 RM (Ringit) deposit for the room (nowhere else we had to pay this). In the room there were 2 complimentary water bottles and the minibar had some fizzy drinks and snacks available at exuberant prices. There is a big swimming pool at ground level that had algae traces in the corners and the sides didn't look too clean either but the water clarity was good. also a children's shallow end and a water slide were present. The "Jungle Walk" at the back of the hotel was closed and didn't look maintained too well. The bar (if you could call it that) had ice cream cakes and two or three alcoholic beverages. The prices were again, quite expensive so its worth while to do your shopping in the centre if you like some drinks or snacks in je room. Air conditioning in the room can't be controlled to your own liking and was a bit on the warm side to our liking. The room itself was tidy and the...

This hotel had all the makings to be a wonderful, rare, 4 star experience for us. However the service and the room left us very dissatisfied. As soon as we arrived the front desk informed us that Sandakan had a new tourist tax and if we wished to stay we would have to pay the difference or refuse our reservation and book elsewhere, this not only sounded incredibly shady, but demanding a receipt from the front desk took several minutes of insisting before a miscellaneous receipt was presented. When we arrived in our room the main entry light flickered terribly and two lamps in the back corner did not work at all. The "please clean" information card from the previous guest was still on the table with all of their private information. We asked for a reclean, which ended up being a quick tidy up, and the issue lamps were moved to different, working sockets in the room and considered "fixed". Now we had no available outlets. Nothing was done about the flickering light other than suggesting to leave it off. Following morning we realized that the bathroom sink drain was stuck, once again the cleaning crew was sent to fix, their resolve? To remove the drain stop completely and also consider it "fixed". The pool that the hotel considered their spotlight had a whole section roped off for no access. The local cuisine was accurate and the chefs great and polite, but I would never...