Hotel Sentral Seaview, Penang — Hotel in George Town

Never Again – Deeply Disappointing Experience at Hotel Sentral Seaview Penang (Visited: 21–22 June 2025)

We planned a special family gathering with 18 people in Penang — with a seaside picnic and a buffet dinner (with free-flow alcohol) at the nearby Hompton Hotel. To make things easier after dinner, we purposely booked four rooms at *Hotel Sentral Seaview Penang right next door, months in advance via Agoda. This included three Premium Family Suites with Bathtub & Seaview (RM495.65 each) and one double room — ideal for our gathering.

Sadly, this turned out to be one of the worst hotel experiences we’ve ever had.

If I could, I wouldn’t even give this hotel a single star.

Poor Check-in Experience We arrived at 1:00 PM on 21 June 2025. Though check-in starts at 3:00 PM, we simply asked to pre-register or leave our bags. The front desk refused to check our booking or assist in any way — coldly repeating Come back at 3PM. No smile, no service attitude. At 2:30 PM, they finally allowed us to proceed — and then dropped a bombshell.

Pre-booked Suites wi Were Unavailable— No Notification We were told the Premium Family Suites were “under maintenance” and not available. Staff claimed we were “notified earlier.” I immediately checked all email, SMS, Agoda inbox — no message, no calls, no updates. Worse, they casually asked if we wanted to cancel and get a refund — at 3PM, with our entire family already there and dinner plans prepaid. Totally irresponsible and inconsiderate.

Repeated Downgrades & False Promises We objected firmly. They then offered us downgraded suites without bathtubs and five small pizzas as compensation. We agreed reluctantly — just to ensure we had a space with a living area. Then, suddenly, they said even those rooms were not availabl They offered two connecting rooms on the 10th floor. We asked them to hold them while we discussed with family — and they agreed. But just 30 minutes later, the rooms were “given away.” Clearly, they never held the rooms. Eventually, they offered triple rooms with extra beds — far below what we paid for. We kept compromising, and they kept taking advantage. From a Premium Family Suites with two bedrooms, a living area, and a bathtub. downgrade to Triple room with extra bed.

Rude, Unprofessional Staff The front desk staff were visibly impatient and even raised their voices. One Indian female staff member (heavier build) in particular was extremely rude — saying we were “creating trouble” and trying to push us to cancel the booking. Completely unacceptable behavior from any hospitality provider.

Agoda Saved Us – Hompton Was a Dream Frustrated, we contacted Agoda customer service.who were fast and professional. They helped cancel our booking, issued a full refund, and even subsidized part of the cost for us to move to Hompton Hotel, which was amazing. Friendly staff, clean rooms, and a truly welcoming atmosphere. We finally checked in at 5PM, exhausted. The contrast between the two hotels was shocking.

Were They Lying About Maintenance? The next day (22 June), I checked Booking.com — and saw that the exact same Premium Suites with Bathtub were still available to book. This makes us strongly suspect that the "maintenance" excuse was false, and they gave our rooms to other guests for higher rates.

Other Problems: • Two bathroom doors were broken, drainage clogged • Extremely low indoor parking — our MPV got scratched • Cold, indifferent service at the café • Dishonest communication and zero accountability

Final Thoughts We wanted a joyful family getaway, but this hotel gave us stress, frustration, and disrespect. If this is how they treat local Malaysians, what happens to international visitors?

We will report this to Malaysia’s tourism board We will never return to Hotel Sentral Seaview Penang We strongly advise others to stay away. Choose hotels with integrity and professionalism — like Hompton Hotel

Other hotels give a free upgrade if rooms are unavailable. Hotel Sentral did the opposite — they downgraded us...

We have stayed at this hotel many times over the past 12 years, but returning this year was a big disappointment, and we have decided not to return in the future. Here are some of the problems we encountered:|Parking is a nightmare; it’s very limited at the hotel, and offered only on a first-come first-served basis; my host and driver is unable to walk the 200-300 metres required to find parking on nearby streets if you don’t check in early in the afternoon, and because we checked in later in the day, we had to make alternate arrangements for our first night in town. If you do get parked early in the hotel then go out for the evening, your space is gone, and nearby streets are chock-a-block with cars because of the nearby hawkers’ stalls.|The public areas on the ground floor have had some upgrading since our previous visits, but the room allocated to us was much the worse for wear and lacked some of the amenities shown in the photos. The two bath towels were rather thin and one had a hole, there were no hand towels, there was one chair for 2 guests, the floor was warped in front of the sliding door, there were tiny ants living in the bathroom sink which needed to be flushed every time we wanted to use that facility, the bottom sheet on the bed had what looked like pen marks on it, and the set of sheer curtains shown on photos of the rooms were missing. Also, in spite of the hints that the hotel would like everyone to think green and reduce water usage, the toilet in our room used a lot more water than most modern toilets, and required at least 2 flushes every time.|Then there were problems with breakfast. The first morning we arrived at 8:30 and found that all the hot food had been taken, and it was several minutes before replenishment. The second morning we were there and wanted to get an early start, but the restaurant opened 25 minutes late; luckily our flight back to KL wasn’t until later in the morning. Imagine our surprise to find food residue on one of our plates taken from the pile of supposedly clean ones. And then there was the issue of tiny ants all over the first mug I picked from the stack of clean ones when I wanted to make a coffee!|I’m sorry, but I couldn’t recommend this establishment to anyone looking for 3-star quality...

maybe this my 1st & last check in here because of service. 1st I got room with air cond not function well. I & my family check in around 10pm then go to our room on air cond 16degree after around 30-45 min (4 all our family members already done take bath) air cond still not cool, then mt husband call reception inform the problem & as for change room but reception reject & as for maintenance service to settle down that issue. maintenance person take around 10-15 min check the air cond but still same so my husband ask to change to other room but he say room full then my husband say this not peak seasons dont lie & i also already check website room still available but we still silence & let him do his work. Unfortunately last option he ask to wash the filter then after wash the filter he just leave without any word. i say to my husband ok we give 15-20 min if still not cool as we must ask to change others room because that air cond totally did not work only fan running. after waiting still same my husband call back reception to ask for others room & this time the reception say yes, luckly the reception already change their shift because 1st reception we ask for others room due to air cond not functon she reject our request even they have others available rooms & already late night supposely she can do that. * 2nd room we got ok but no mineral water provided at this room but ok la malas nk argue. 2nd, this is my 1st time experience we need to pay for waste food. Luckly we seat beside one foreigners group and they already done their breakfast but they have arguement with cafe staffs because they need to pay for waste food they did't finish the price is RM10＜100g & 100g＞ RM20 +++ as per 100g if not mistaken. So we take care of our food amount so we not waste out food. 3rd, swimming pool provided is ok, clean & easy access to beach but not convenient because gate to access to beach open at 11am. if u want go early morning to beach u need to walk cross beside hotel where u need to go back to entrance. 4rd, parking provided but not enough during peak seasons & no lift provided if u access with luggage form parking to check...