Gaya Island Resort — Hotel in Gaya Island

Sometimes, five stars is just not enough to do justice to somewhere. Gaya Island Resort is so very close to perfection that it really needs an extra star. The staff are outstanding, nothing is too much trouble and you’re left with the absolute conviction that you are being looked after by a team who are dedicated to making your stay as enjoyable as possible. The food... Well above what I’ve come to expect at similarly rated hotels. While we stayed on a full-board package, we still expected to eat a couple of times in the resort’s two premium restaurants. We didn’t; the food in the ‘Feast Village’ was of such a high standard and there was so much choice that we were never tempted away. This is the gold standard that other 5-star holiday hotels should aspire to. Accommodation… Is well designed, well appointed and blends in with the rainforest-edge natural environment. Each villa is separated into 4 suites, each suite has a large bathroom, office/walk-in robe and bedroom. Your rooms are surrounded by a large veranda with either day beds or sun loungers. We stayed in a ‘Kinabalu’ villa, the main difference between the classes of accommodation appears to be location and view - the incredible view from our villa made the upgrade well worth it. All the usual 5-star features are present (with the odd exception of an iron, although these are available from reception on request). There’s a smart TV that you can use your own streaming accounts on (remember to delete the accounts at the end). Each room also has its own dedicated wifi. Location… Private and secluded. As part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, the resort takes conservation very seriously. Protection of the rainforest and marine environment underpins all activities. The resort is constrained by the rainforest on one side and the ocean on the other. There are forest walking paths but guests are strongly advised against venturing out on these without a guide. We did one short guided walk and it was clear how easy it would be to get lost or to fall on the many steep slopes. The fact that we saw two pit vipers and were harassed by a troop of monkeys that didn’t share the resort's welcome for visitors was more than enough to ensure that we followed the advice. The bay is a perfect location for swimming and snorkelling, so good in fact that we never found time to use the resort pool. The resort has a small private beach a little further around the island and there’s a free speedboat shuttle there and back roughly every hour. It’s here that you’ll find another small cafe and the marine conservation centre (well worth a visit!). The downsides… This wouldn’t be a fair review without finding something on the negative side (although it’s not easy), so these are the best I can come up with: Cost. Other reviewers have complained about the price for activities and meals. It’s not cheap but I wasn’t too shocked - pick and choose, a lot of things are quite reasonable, some things are exorbitant. Accessibility. This is not a recommended destination if you have limited mobility. I had no problem keeping up my daily 10,000 step-count just getting around the resort. It’s spread over a wide area and there are a lot of stairs to go up and down. Mosquitos. It’s a rainforest - there will be bugs after your blood. The rooms all have mozzie spray and anti-itch cream. Remember to use repellent and you’re unlikely to have a problem. Additional Charges. There are plenty of warnings, there's even a sign on the check in desk at the pier before you board the boat but it still comes as a surprise to some guests who then insist on giving the poor hotel staff a hard time. You will get hit with Malaysian tourist tax (10myr per day per room) and the National Park fee 35myr for the first night and 25 for each subsequent night, per person). The hotel, by law, has to collect this - Please don’t be that person who takes it out on the...

Good and bad points about Gaya Island Resort. The good - The restaurant and in particular the Suis Chef were great. There was a massive variety of food to choose from and the Chefs were so accommodating, even making you things off the menu and bringing them to your table. The restaurant manager was also great and always coming over to your tables to ask if everything was OK or if you wanted anything else. There were a couple of occasions however when we arrived mid way through a dinner service where some of the food, rice and noodles in particular were a mush. We also had 1 experience where the restaurant was too busy to be able to get a seat. The beach was OK, and kept pretty clean and the snorkeling was pretty good to the right of the jetty. The room was pretty big, and the bed was comfortable and cleaned properly each day. The not so good - upon arrival it was very processed. Didn't feel like a guest, more like a number and they wanted you to sign sign sign and get you to your room to move onto the next guest. The room, although according to certain pictures looked like it would have a sea view, had no view. It was a long steep walk and we played extra knowing there would be a walk, for the view. We also requested a view as it was our honeymoon. This was pretty disappointing. You can only have hot water in your room if you keep your aircon on. We dont really want 24/7 aircon as it's not healthy but this was the only option. The loungers, well there simply aren't enough. You have to get up very early to get one and people seemed to just leave for the day and 'reserve them'. If you don't, you dont have anywhere to sit. The outside service wasn't great and when ordering food and asking for sauce etc, it never actually came. The staff were always friendly outside and in the restaurant tho. If you are looking for a relaxing resort, this isn't for you. It was full of a lot of very loud group of Chinese Tourists with children which they simply let do what they wanted. Constant shouting and screaming every day by the pool and beach. Not what you want on a honeymoon or when trying to relax. The bar was the worst thing. Its extremely expensive and the quality is terrible. Some of the worst cocktails I've had. The bar staff were also not as friendly as the restaurant, in particular Xia and a guy who was small with a McDonalds style middle parting. Were were told cocktails were on happy hour then charged full price as 'the cocktails we ordered were not on happy hiur'. Xia silly got the McDonaldd guy over who said 'I never told you that'. They then charged full price. The scuba we booked through the hotel was really bad. They took us to a beach with hundreds of people and we could barely find a spot in the sea to start the trial dive. During the trial dive the instructor opened my mask 5meters underwater and I started choking. Ruined the whole experience but there wasn't really anything to see anyway. Also beware. They charge you 3 different types of additional tax on checkout. This is in the small print of your booking. They also tried to charge us for the dive which was purchased and paid for as a present. Overall, it was OK but our least favourite place we went to in Borneo and very overpriced for...

Great location, nice rooms, but wonky AC + really slow room service…

Good things first: views were nice from the resort reef when one goes snorkelling was not bad actually, better than the site that we dove at before coming to the resort I really enjoyed the free excursions one could do here — discovery trail: the guide Hafiz (?) was really good! Very educational and informative. We spotted many things on the short walk, way more than whatever we saw (nothing) during our jungle walk at Kinabatangan 😂 — marine conservation talk: bit troublesome that we have to get there on boat hence we nidda cater in timing for the fixed boat schedules too. But the marine biologist Scott was very patient in answering our 1001 questions and it was interesting to learn how the resort had really done so much to help turtle Covid recover! I hope Covid is still alive and well 🥲 staff were kind and friendly rooms were spacious and I like the high ceiling for ours

Areas to improve: our room was too warm despite switching on the air con and fan our parents room below us was way too cold, such that they had to wake up and switch off the AC in the middle of the night because the thermostats don’t actually work (the staff themselves told us that)

The technicians came to try and resolve both our room AC issue but it didn’t made any difference and that really disrupted all our sleep (which is really unfortunate for a five stars place?). They noted that our room had a lower level of refrigerant and said they would top it up but there was no difference. Staff compensated our parents by waiving off their meal in exchange for their AC situation but, we had no compensation for ours cos we didn’t go out for dinner that evening :/

the room service was super slow… we asked for bottled water refill (since we opted out of room service) but they took almost 1.5-2hrs to come !! So the first photo was my husband lying on the floor ‘dehydrated’ while waiting forever for the staff lol 😂 pillows outside the balcony of rooms really need more regular washing because they were filled with poop stains ?? Idk how long have they not washed them…

Pls note also that not all Kinabalu rooms have a view of Kinabalu, which is unfortunate since we paid more for the Kinabalu views :(

Also, maybe cos we usually stay in airbnbs and not such hotels/resorts but you will need to cater 14-18% extra for all additional meals and taxes for the hotel stay!! Our room bill costed something like RM1500 initially but eventually ended up closer to RM2000 because of all the extra conservation, room tax, tourist tax etc. We were quite shock but I guess cos we don’t usually stay in hotels...

Buffet dinner cost RM140 (excl 14%), Teppanyaki cost RM210 (excl 14%).

Buffet tasted okay though their fresh seafood didn’t taste very fresh and they ran out of crabs very early. Their beef dishes were not bad though.

Teppanyaki was apparently very so so (my family was expecting a special show considering how much it cost, but apparently it’s just a chef doing very regular...