The Boutique Residence Hotel Penang — Hotel in George Town

Not sure if this place has come under new management recently, as the reviews I had read were all positive, which was not necessarily our experience. However, this is a great location for starters, if you are looking for a reasonably priced hotel in Georgetown that is close to attractions, food and Cafe culture, this place is great. Unfortunately, our experience at least, had some drawbacks. Service is non existent. We arrived and the doors were all locked, with nobody inside. There was a sign on the door asking to telephone/whatsapp in case of emergency. We had to ring the bell for 5 minutes and our taxi driver tried calling before anyone turned up to answer the door. Check in was simple but with no welcome pleasantries or information. After we were taken to our room, we wondered how we could get back into the hotel again as we only had a key to our door. I went downstairs to ask, and the place was abandoned, called out, knocked on all the doors and couldn't find anyone. In the end I had to log onto the wifi and whatsapp the number of the door to get a response - I was told just to ring the bell again - later on the same day after going in and out of the hotel I was given a fob for the front door as I was clearly a nuisance. We also discovered that we did not have towels, when I messaged about this, they told me they were having all the towels washed and they would not be back and ready until the evening - not the best system and hopes of cleanliness were dashed. The room itself was fine, simple but okay for a short stay. It was clean on the surface, however, just slightly below the surface it was particularly grim. Many uncleaned stains and spills. When I knocked something on the floor I had the misfortune of seeing under the bedside cabinet - this was deeply unpleasant and had not been dusted or moved for quite some time - under the bed is not worth mentioning - don't venture to look is my advice. Sleeping was unfortunately difficult. The one drawback to the location is that it is nestled between two beautiful and busy mosques, and so the call to prayer from both locations is very loud and lasts throughout the evening, starting up again around 5am. Unfortunately this is too loud to be background noise and made sleeping very challenging. If you are travelling around Penang and Malaysia as a single/couple and you're not fussed re service, mainly looking for somewhere to just throw your head down, then the location and price will probably win out for a stay. However, we stayed with our young children, and so it ended up not being the best choice for...

Where do I begin? Staying at this hotel was an experience — if you've ever wondered what it's like to live in a construction site that also doubles as a public restroom, look no further. The moment I walked in, I was hit with a smell so bad it could probably qualify as a biohazard. I genuinely questioned if something had died in the hallway - or if the building itself was just slowly rotting from the inside Either way, it was not the welcome I was hoping for. The room? Oh, you mean the unfinished cement box with furniture that looked like it had escaped from a garage sale? Walls half-painted, wires sticking out like it was still under renovation - or maybe always under renovation. Charming. As for the water, surprise! Only hot water. And not just "warm" hot. I mean "scald-your-skin-off" hot. Trying to wash my hands felt like participating in a fire-walking ceremony. Sleep? Forget about it. The windows might as well not exist — every car horn, shouting match, and suspicious 3AM street karaoke session came in loud and clear. I didn't even need a white noise machine. The street did the job. Now let's talk towels. You know when fabric gets so old it turns into see-through paper? Yeah. These towels looked like they'd been in a street fight... and lost. Torn, worn out, and I'm not even convinced they were clean. In short: 0/10. Would rather camp in a parking lot than ever stay here again. Unless you're into terrible smells, boiling water showers, construction chic decor, and towels that look like they've been rescued from a shipwreck — then sure, this...

Pro: 1. Good location room is nice Con: 1. Payment via cash: I was not informed that I had to pay cash, because they would not take card for some reason. (The girl at the reception did not tell me the reason why) Service: The people working the reception were either non existent (In room called VIP next to the indoor pool, where I had to knock for assistance) or were completely unhelpful and had no interest in providing assistance HOUSEKEEPING : My room was not made during the day, I popped in 3 times and by 5pm my room was not made, I enquired and was told, "We don't do housekeeping unless you tell us to. We don't want to go, in case you have something valuable" - I have never experienced this, where you HAVE TO TELL THEM for housekeeping, or ASK for clean towels. (I didn't care about room clearing, just clean bath towel). The entire hotel is just 12 ROOMS and they don't do housekeeping!!!

Breakfast: Not in the hotel, but next door in the Japanese restaurant with only 3 meal options. Pool: Very shallow, I wouldn't swim in it due to fear of injury. Also I didn't not see any guest using it, during my three day stay. Room: My room was facing an alley way with street art and was noisy with foot traffic.

Overall For a 3 star hotel, I cannot believe the very unique experience with housekeeping...