Berjaya Penang Hotel — Hotel in George Town

Stayed here for 4 nights. With my family so we used two rooms.

First off I want to mention that I am giving a bad review. I booked this hotel because of the many good reviews on Google. But I feel they are not honest. I will give you the most honest review and not sugarcoat anything.

One positive thing is the location is the best thing for us because it is located directly across the hospital that we were visiting. Next door there are a few food stalls that we can purchase lots of different types of food from halal to non halal. There is also a convenience store to buy water and other necessities that you might need.

Second good thing about this hotel is the staff. Always willing to help and very kind. I feel they serve above and beyond. Greatly appreciate this.

However that's the only two positive things I found about this hotel.

The hotel itself looks very run down, rightfully so because it is an old structure. But they should really take some of their earnings along the years to upgrade their furniture. The tables, beds, are old ,dirty, and looks like at least two decades old. You can see alot of dirt and dust accumulated under the glass panel on the desktop. The toilet is very rundown and worst thing is the noise. Whenever someone showers, the toilet makes a big noise and it is really hard to talk to anyone in the room, yes it is that loud. And this is when a neighbor showers as well. The noise really did not allow us to sleep well during the stay.

The cost of the room is also not cheap at all. Considering the rundown building, furniture and toilet. I thought this should be priced as a 3 star hotel but we paid 4 star hotel price for this.

The room has a musky old smell, and you can just tell it is old. The swimming pool and area around it is dirty, I told my wife I wouldn't recommend bringing our kids here.

The breakfast is vegetarian style and always seem to be very crowded so we just skipped breakfast after a day because it's very uncomfortable to sit with someone else during breakfast.

The lift takes way too long to wait. Always seem to have one lift under maintenance so there are really only two lifts on duty. So much so that it took us 15 mins just to get to ground floor. The next few days when we wanted to go down we always pressed up button and went down after the last stop. And turns out that was what alot of people have been doing as well.

All in all I have to say the service of the staff and location really is great especially if you have to go to the hospital across. But I do not recommend staying here again until they have done a complete makeover of their facilities, room and furniture. I believe not a lot of people made complaints like this and I hope more people do so the management will spend some of their earnings to keep customers staying there again.

In summary, this room is really not giving us the value for what we have paid for. Unless you don't mind musky smelling old room with dusty furniture that looks at least two decades old, and proximity to the hospital is important to you then go for this hotel.

EDIT: appreciate that the hotel manager responded to my review and want to address it. We stayed in room 1110 and 1112.

although i think you dont have to know the room numbers because i am sure all your rooms are old and musky and dirty.

please...

I stayed at Berjaya Penang Hotel from 8th to 9th August 2025, and it was one of the worst hotel experiences I have ever had.|After driving 10 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Penang due to highway closures, I arrived exhausted with my wife and 1-year-old son. I had booked and paid for a Queen bed room in advance, clearly stated in my reservation. Upon arrival, the receptionist informed me that all Queen rooms were “fully booked” and only a twin bed was available. Despite explaining that we were a family with a young child, the hotel refused to provide a complimentary upgrade to a King bed (which would have been a reasonable solution given it was their overbooking error). Instead, I was forced to pay an additional RM50 for the King bed upgrade.||The building itself looks old, poorly maintained, and certainly not up to the standard of a supposed 4-star hotel. The room was small and unimpressive. Breakfast was included in my booking, but I was not informed beforehand that it would be entirely vegetarian/vegan, which would have influenced my choice.||The worst part was during check-out. The receptionist refused to process my check-out, insisting I had not paid for the upgrade — even though I had already paid it by card at check-in. The staff member even said, “If you don’t pay, I have to use my own money,” which is both unprofessional and inappropriate. Only after I strongly insisted and refused to pay twice did they finally process my departure.||This stay was a complete nightmare from start to finish. Overbooking, hidden conditions, unprofessional handling of payment disputes, and misleading 4-star claims all make this hotel a place I will never return to.|If you value your money, time, and peace of mind...

I stayed at Berjaya Penang Hotel from 8th to 9th August 2025, and it was one of the worst hotel experiences I have ever had. After driving 10 hours from Kuala Lumpur to Penang due to highway closures, I arrived exhausted with my wife and 1-year-old son. I had booked and paid for a Queen bed room in advance, clearly stated in my reservation. Upon arrival, the receptionist informed me that all Queen rooms were “fully booked” and only a twin bed was available. Despite explaining that we were a family with a young child, the hotel refused to provide a complimentary upgrade to a King bed (which would have been a reasonable solution given it was their overbooking error). Instead, I was forced to pay an additional RM50 for the King bed upgrade.

The building itself looks old, poorly maintained, and certainly not up to the standard of a supposed 4-star hotel. The room was small and unimpressive. Breakfast was included in my booking, but I was not informed beforehand that it would be entirely vegetarian/vegan, which would have influenced my choice.

The worst part was during check-out. The receptionist refused to process my check-out, insisting I had not paid for the upgrade — even though I had already paid it by card at check-in. The staff member even said, “If you don’t pay, I have to use my own money,” which is both unprofessional and inappropriate. Only after I strongly insisted and refused to pay twice did they finally process my departure.

This stay was a complete nightmare from start to finish. Overbooking, hidden conditions, unprofessional handling of payment disputes, and misleading 4-star claims all make this hotel a place I will never return to. If you value your money, time, and peace of mind...