Ponderosa Golf & Country Resort — Hotel in Johor

I booked 3 rooms at the hotel for myself and my family. I contacted the hotel directly, and had high expectations because of the quick responses from Jaime, the manager.||||Firstly, there was the signage for the building for accommodation was wrong - the reception was hard to find. It was a vendor delivering goods that finally pointed us in the right direction. ||||The rooms are on the 1st floor. Fairly big flight of stairs and no lift (at least none were offered to us!). ||||The rooms were large, fairly worn out but what was unacceptable was the filth. There were 2 cockroaches in my bathroom, hair in the shower of another bathroom, stains on the pillow cases and bedsheets, rusty shelves in fridge, sticky grime on the side tables (had to lay tissue paper down so that my phone would not stick to the table), loose hair balls and fibres on the carpet, and light fixtures and the remote for them did not work. Alarm clocks were also not working. The list goes on.||||When we complained to housekeeping, the housekeeper made such a big deal of us wanting clean white sheets - asking again and again if we wanted sheets that were white, like really white, without any yellow spots (Really? Is wanting clean sheets such a big deal?) I also saw the clean towels left on the corridor floor the next morning. I pray we didn't get the ones on the bottom. ||||What was most shocking was the response from the manager, Jaime. I had sent her 2 emails, complete with photos, complaining about the room. Firstly it took them 6 weeks to get back to me, and it was merely to say that it was wear and tear, and that they did not want to disrupt the availability of accommodation to their members. Not even an acknowledgement of the filth. This is the first hotel I've stayed at where cockroaches are part of wear and tear.||||There are many hotels in Johor Bahru, and even in the area, which offer much more value for money, and infinitely better staff who understand that...

I've played Ponderosa four times now. The course is fine with lots of mature trees and a couple of good challenges. The golf ops team is friendly and helpful and the bar/restaurant is quite OK for the 19th hole.||||However...||||The booking system and the front desk team are both absolutely terrible.||||My mates and I always make a booking and always ask to book caddies. On arrival the team can't find the booking (hoping maybe I will just go away and not bother them?) then magically find the booking! ||||But...||||The price they want to charge is rarely that which was quoted on booking (i.e. they want to hit me up for more). When I point this out a flurry of calculator-tapping ensues with all four people on the desk peering at the screen and randomly tapping at calculators. ||||When we eventually get this sorted I'm advised there are no caddies available. Now when I go out back there are a DOZEN caddies sitting around eating and chatting so I know that they actually exist. This has happened twice now. Frankly the person who took the booking just couldn't be bothered to either a) tell us that all the caddies were booked or b)actually enter the request for caddies into the system.||||ITS NOT THAT HARD GUYS! JUST DO YOUR JOB!||||And the icing on the cake is that, when we go to complain, we are asked 'Who took the booking?" No one takes down the name of the booking clerk, surely, when phoning in a golf booking? Seems that is MANDATORY at Ponderosa if you want to get anything done.||||So if you are going to play Ponderosa please go with VERY LOW EXPECTATIONS of the admin! Otherwise you will end up like me and cursing your way around...

Brought a friend from HK for a game of golf in JB and to enjoy some massage and local food. We were just 2 players and opted for a course nearer and Ponderosa is a good choice. I played many times before and the first for my HK friend. We had a buggy and elected to have a caddy to help guide and provide assistance more for my friend. I must say that they course is very well maintained. The fairway is great. Greens is fairly fast and tricky. Our caddy, Wulan [from Medan] was very good with line reading and assist. Sharp eyes watching some of our wayward shorts. Overall a very happy experience.||Why do so many people visit JB despite the poor management of our ICA to clear queue. It is just excuses after excuses after more than 50 years. If it is about manpower being the latest excuse, up the salary scale, pay by incentive, variable bonus, etc. I am sure we have enough scholars to sort it out.||The chinese says, "si ai mai".||I do not think that the authorities nor the Government can stop its citizen from visiting JB. Many Singaporean are dependent upon being able to make those trips for various reasons. Likewise, many of our friends from Malaysia need to visit Singapore too.||||Make it more pleasant to do the crossing. Yes, there are drugs mules etc. We have all the resources and network to apprehend them. When caught punish them heavily. Some will get through, it is inevitable, its life.||||||Sorry I digress, yes indeed Ponderosa is a good golf...