Holiday Inn Johor Bahru City Centre by IHG — Hotel in Johor

TL;DR Easily a 5-star review, if not for the check-in incident. Reception counter staff could have been more empathetic. Hotel lobby is presentable and comes served with refreshments. Rooms are well equipped with necessities. Location is perfect, being linked to both komtar and city square without even needing to cross any roads.

First impressions were great, as we were served peach tea and popcorn while waiting for our 2 rooms. Eventually, only 1 out of the 2 rooms we booked were ready at 1pm, which we happily accepted as we were early, and the other room would likely be ready by the time we finished our shopping. The reception reiterated their follow-up action, that they would call or WhatsApp us once the other room was ready.

After walking around and returning to the hotel at 3pm, we were surprised that there was no WhatsApp message, and took it that the reception was too busy, especially since it was the September school break for Singaporean families. To our surprise, we were informed that the second room was not ready yet. Again, we were told that we would be contacted via WhatsApp message.

We decided to wait at the lobby, but we never thought that there would be radio silence even after 45mins. I decided to approach the counter to ask, and the gentleman at the reception started to look flustered after realising that the room was still not ready at 3:45pm. Starting to get really annoyed, I asked him for a solution, to which he then honestly informed that there was an issue with the room since earlier, and that there was a strange smell in the room. An ioniser was placed there to remove the smell. Hearing his explanation, I was surprised by his honesty, but at the same time, wondering why he couldn’t have told us this information right from the beginning. I decided to take the room keys first, and he also promised a room change should we not be satisfied. This resolution came at 3:50pm, and would have been even later if we did not check with the reception.

When we eventually entered the room, we understood why the room couldn’t be handed over. The pungent smell of sewage could not be removed despite the ioniser. We called the reception and they decided to transfer us to another room on another level. This was done within 15mins and the room key was handed over to us at our door without us having to head down to the lobby again. We appreciated the arrangement. Again, all this would have been much more pleasant if it were not 4:30pm by then.

Thereafter, the stay was pleasant and there weren’t any other incidents. We were thankful that the rooms were well cleaned throughout the 3 days that we stayed.

Connectivity-wise, the direct connection to komtar via the level 7 carpark was a nice touch, but the lift took forever to come, and we learnt to take to level G and walk over to city square instead for the rest of the trip.

Due to the great location, there wasn’t any difficulty getting a Grab ride. However, every single trip back to the hotel was met with incessant complaining from the drivers who were displeased with the jam when entering the holiday inn drop-off point. Something to note if you are not looking for conversation and would rather drop-off at city square instead.

Overall, this is really one of the cleaner and newer hotels around in JB. Though it is “only” a 4-star hotel, at least this is the same standard of holiday inn across the world. This is definitely better than the other 5-star hotel nearby, where the hotel lobby smelled like nasi padang.

Will definitely return, and hope that the next check-in can...

This was the worst Chinese New Year set meal I’ve ever had, and it was from the restaurant of a four-star hotel, one with branches worldwide. I chose this restaurant because my friend's relatives had tried it and thought it was good, and the price was reasonable. They even took photos of the dishes at the time. So we decided have dinner there. However, when we arrived at the restaurant, the manager or whoever was at the counter was busy talking on the phone, completely ignoring us, not even a glance. We stood there for about five minutes, waiting. Eventually, a chef walked by after some food and took us to our table. I thought that was the end of the issue, but the real nightmare began.

From the second dish onwards, seven of the eight dishes were completely different from what was listed on the reservation menu. We didn’t realize it until the third dish, so we called the manager over. He initially said they had notified us in advance about some changes to the dishes. He claimed that he had confirmed the changes with the reservation customer service via WhatsApp. When we showed him our chat history and there was no such message, he quickly changed his story, saying that the chef who seated us had already informed us about the changes. However, we had no idea that the dishes had been replaced. We had made the reservation three days in advance, so why were the dishes changed without prior notice, and why were we only told about it when we arrived at the restaurant? Were the restaurant staff sleeping during those three days? What's the point of making a reservation then? The manager offered us a 20% discount after realizing we were unhappy, but it wasn’t about the discount!

Even though the dishes were changed, but it served in cold. The only dish that was warm was a bland soup. The menu mentioned a corn, fish maw, and crab meat soup, but what we got was just a a pieces of corn, a tiny segment of imitation crab stick, and a few strands of egg. The chicken was supposed to be in tom yum sauce, but it came with Thousand Island dressing, and it wasn’t even warm — it seemed like leftover. The menu listed red snapper, but what we got was fish with a black skin and muddy taste, which even the Nyonya curry couldn’t mask. Then came the baked slipper lobster, which others got baked with cheese, but ours was meat being scooped out, shell covered in mayo, put it back to the shell and topped with cheap cheese sauce. The next dishes state in menu was braised 'tau kan' and 'chai pak' with broccoli and shiitake, but it replaced with cabbage and few tiny pieces mushrooms. The Nyonya fried rice turned out to be the kind of bland fried rice you get at a hotel buffet breakfast, full of black peppercorns with no flavor. Finally, the dessert changed from water chestnuts and jackfruit with coconut cream to honeydew sago.

By the end, I was getting angrier with every dish, and we barely touched the last few dishes. The service from the restaurant staff was slow. It wasn’t just us; other hotel guests waiting for dinner were also standing around for a long time. Whenever there was a problem, they just shifted the blame. The food was like something you’d expect from a basic buffet, just add yee sang. I don’t even know how the other two tables dealt with this terrible service and dishes. It was absolutely awful. Still a four-star hotel?...

Holiday Inn JBCC have been one of my top hotels to stay in JB whenever I visit the country. But with my recent stay with the hotel, I won't be staying here any time soon.

As my stay doesn't include breakfast, I've made a purchased for breakfast for 2 on 9th June morning which I look very forward to as I had a decent experience on my previous stay. After payment, I was asked to go over to a table to seat by your staff Marde, compare to previous experience where I was brought to the table. Soon, I realized that the table was being occupied by another guest as the table was placed with orange juice. I went back to Marde to double check but she confirm and assumed that the table was unoccupied. Not to my surprise, the guest who occupied the table return and mentioned the table was hers. Can you imagine the awkwardness right in the morning where 3 parties are standing at the table looking at each other? To make matters worst, Marde haphazardly pointed to us to sit at an uncleaned table without proper cutleries. Nevermind about the ordeal as I wanted a wholesome breakfast. But guess what, at 9am about 80% of food are either not topped up or removed away. No nasi lemak rice, hams are missing, orange & apple juices are left empty, pastries are not topped up. If your breakfast food are not able to last till 10am, I suggest to end your breakfast at 9am instead. I paid RM$124 for 2 pax to enjoy a decent breakfast, not to scavenge through the buffet line for food to eat.

And as I thought the hotel standard have dropped this much, your housekeeping team went ahead and prove me right. At about 5pm on the same day, I was resting in my room while my wife was out running her errands. Your housekeeping staff actually went ahead to open the room door while the DO NOT DISTURB sign is up. I was appalled at the actions of the housekeeper, when I questioned her why did she entered, her reply was that she wanted to check if there is anyone inside and wanted to clear the rubbish. For a renowned hotel, I am very surprised that your housekeeper do not understand the meaning of DO NOT DISTURB sign. This concerned me a lot as your security protocol is not in place and the safety of guest belongings are jeopardized!

Sorry that this horrifying event have to be posted here as I do not want other guests staying in this hotel to experienced what I've experienced. Even though your hotel locations is superb, the lack of service and the safety in your hotel SOP is not something that I want to go through again.

Good luck and all the best...