The Jesselton Hotel — Hotel in Borneo

The hotel is old. It's old. ||I went on a short business trip and booked through a reliable travel platform. After booking, I read online reviews and realised that only some of the rooms were newly refurbished (new wing); my bad. I contacted the hotel via what seemed to be an official website and communicated with them through LINE. They were responsive and asked for my booking reference. ||Wow, not bad!||Then someone actually called me via a fixed link, trunk call (not LINE), I repeat, trunk call. Wow again. The well-spoken person told me that since it was my first trip, they would upgrade me to a room in the new wing as my current booking was for the older room. Wow, I'm impressed. ||Finally, the day came. I checked in late at night and looked forward to a wow service as I read up about this 'legendary' iconic hotel. Alas, the front office told me 'No such instruction to upgrade me'. Wow. ||I thought being a stranger in a new place, I was not going to argue. It's just 2 nights, I shall endure it. It was also getting late. The town is quiet. ||I entered the room assigned to me; wow. Old. The door is old with no door latch, just a permanent scar on the door frame of what appeared to be a door latch attached to it once upon a time. The bathroom is old like from the 1970s. ||The safe box is a relic (must have stopped working for a long time). The room is dimly lit. I went down to the front office to tell them about the condition of my room and to show them the communication I had with someone supposedly from the hotel. They said 'no upgrade' and by the way, I need to pay for a tourist levy which they'd forgotten to ask me earlier. ||The first night, I slept fitfully as I was feeling insecure about the door. The next morning, I tried my luck once again explaining my predicament. They agreed to upgrade me but insisted again that no one from the hotel ever contacted me. I wondered why but they appeared puzzled about the existence of their own hotel website. Anyway, I'm not going to crack my head trying to solve this puzzle. ||During my stay, the person on LINE didn't reply to me when I contacted him/her. Strange.||The new room is very new and clean. I was given a small room which was very squeezy. Honestly, I didn't mind since the door can be locked safely and it is bright and not spooky. The safe box albeit new, is messed up; it can lock but can't be unlocked. I compromised by having my travel docs and laptop locked in it until prior to my departure. ||So my verdict? If there's a next time, I will think very carefully. I rated this hotel very good on account of the 'service recovery' and...

I loved the hotel with its colonial atmosphere, marble entrance floor and bathroom, beautiful, comfortable room. The location is amazing, on the street where the brilliant Saturday night Market is, and the Sunday morning Market as well. Fairly close to the harbour front for amazing sunsets and the fish Market at night- choose your fish and they'll cook it and you eat it there. For these reasons I would definately stay again. There is no cafe or restaurant which is a shame as it would be so fabulous to sit in that lovely entrance area by the paino and have afternoon tea! Also no breakfast there. However 'Old Town' cafe is opposite and very pleasant for breakfast or a snack, and the Japanese restaurant next door is also good if you don't want to go far.The staff are friendly but a bit 'switched off'. It says in the hotel information that tours are offered but the staff say they don't do this. I had to keep asking abut transport information as they felt it wasn't their role to give it! This hotel could easily offer more support to visitors regarding where to go and how to book it. I got more helpful information from the shop assistant I bought clothes from in the...

Jesselton Hotel offers several places of interest. For instance the Kota Kinabalu City Tour. It supposes to show the 7 wonders of Kota Kinabalu. Actually what the hotel does, it hires a taxi driver to drive you to the 7 wonders of the town. The taxi driver is not a tour guide, so information about the so-called wonders you dont get. One of the wonders was closed because it was under construction, another was impossible to visit because of rush hour, the other was nearly closed because it was already late in the afternoon, that was the Sabah Museum. Seeing the sunset, also included, I did that by myself. After an angry phone call the staff apologized and told me that the costs were theirs. Thats a nice suggestion, but my experience is, dont booked a day tour at the hotel desk unless a guarantee is possible to get an experienced tour guide and not only a person who is driving you around, you will be better off with a grab, and...