Palm Beach Resort & Spa — Hotel in Labuan Island

Pro(s): Check-in process was a breeze, we arrived at the resort around 4.00PM. The FDA verified my booking and I got my room in no time. The Signage outside the road is sufficient. The room design was amazing, very spacious (60sqm)! We love the furniture arrangements especially the ceiling fan as well as the mid-sized bathroom. The room is very clean too. We received complimentary fruits (apples & oranges) in the room, also a few can drinks in the mini bar that were complimentary too. The beach view is amazing! We enjoyed the view from our balcony! The resort offers wide range of activities at its beach. I saw kayaks, romantic dinner table, a few hammocks to relax, surf boards as picture background, beach volleyball court and many more. Our children loved the pool. Price of ala carte food at its main restaurant is affordable. Ample parking lot spaces in the resort. Price is good, maybe reflecting the status of the resort that will be pointed out in the con(s) section.

Con(s): Located quite far north from town, about 20 km (15-20 mins drive). However, there are shuttle buses available in specific times. Some of the staffs are not really friendly. No one greeted us at the entrance, we have to carry our luggage as nobody bothered to help us. I asked for a concierge and the staff at the counter reluctantly showed me to another staff that i thought was a security personnel as he dressed like one! Fortunately he brought over our luggages into our designated room. The staff at the pool only allocates 2 towels max for us to use, cannot ask extra towels should you have more pax. Unless you have own transportation or purchasing a tour package, it would be quite hard to get around places of interest on the island. Many furnitures in the resort should be replaced. Breakfast in the restaurant was average, selection between local and English food limited for a 4-star resort. Taste I give 6/10. Not fit for a 4-star hotel/resort. 7. 7. Finally, there were ants in our water drinks! I complained this to a female staff and she hurriedly replaced the water in the water dispenser tank. This incident shouldn't happen at any hotel at all!

Features (Not necessarily specified to be cons) Extra bed with breakfast for 1 is RM92 if not mistaken. No kids club although this is a resort (maybe not a mandatory requirement). There are mosquitoes should you leave the balcony glass door open, but the hotel provides one unit of electric mosquito repellant in the room. Haven't checked on the gym and spa. The children's pool is 0.5m deep while the adult's from 1.0m to 1.2m deep. Breakfast rate is RM 32 for adult and RM 16 for kids 3-6 year old. The staff was pretty strict on determining the kids age. Bikes are...

The overall experience had its highlights, but there were also quite a few disappointing aspects.

Dining Experience

Let’s start with the food. The grilled chicken I ordered for lunch was a delightful surprise—it was perfectly cooked and tasted fantastic. However, both the breakfast and dinner buffets were major letdowns. At breakfast, the fruit section was swarmed with fruit flies, which instantly killed my appetite. Other dishes were left uncovered, raising serious hygiene concerns. As for dinner, apart from the pizza, which tasted better when served hot, the rest of the food was simply terrible. The fruits and desserts were crawling with fruit flies and ants, making them inedible. The seafood, merely boiled, had a strong fishy odor, nothing like the freshness one would expect.

Massage Service

The hotel’s massage service was a mix of good and bad. On the positive side, the massage techniques were professional, with well-controlled pressure that effectively relieved fatigue. However, one of the therapists was overly talkative. I was hoping to relax and maybe take a nap, but I kept getting interrupted and had to respond frequently, which completely ruined the relaxing atmosphere. Worse still, a trainee was practicing nearby, and the two kept switching during my session. The trainee’s technique was unsteady, making the whole experience inconsistent. Paying for a massage should mean receiving quality service, not becoming a test subject for beginners—especially when the hotel offers no compensation for such an arrangement. This was truly disappointing.

Natural Scenery & Transportation

That said, the hotel’s natural scenery and transportation services deserve praise. The views here were stunning, and the seaside was especially relaxing, offering a perfect spot to enjoy both sunrise and sunset. The drivers providing shuttle services were fluent in multiple languages, making communication effortless and the service feel exceptionally thoughtful.

However, seeing the horses at the hotel was upsetting. They were extremely thin and looked pitiful, which made me reluctant to ride them. It seemed like they were not being properly cared for, which was disheartening.

Final Thoughts

The quality of the hotel’s services varied greatly. I hope the management will address these issues promptly, making improvements where needed while maximizing their strengths. This way, they can provide guests with a more seamless and...

As far as resorts go it has potential, unfortunately the work ethic here is dismal. The basics are ignored, especially general maintenance, cleaning and customer service.

The balcony door was jammed shut, there was a sign saying "remove piece of wood from right corner", this piece of wood does not exist. The door is broken.

The shower door doesn't close, you can see where the "maintenance department" has attempted to fix it and given up.

The entry door to the bathroom had a door handle, it is now just a loose screw.

There are signs everywhere telling guests what not to do, it's excessive and shows no respect for the customer.

The elevator is out of action, so steps only. There seems no rush to repair it. They have thrown more of their heavily used red and white tape around, and another 3 signs. Job done!

The towel pool man seems to treat the old stained and paper thin pool towels like gold heirlooms that must be protected at all cost. He just walks around the pool doing nothing then pestering guests about returning them. When he approached me I said how about reporting this to the maintenance department, it was a damaged pool light and its exposed wires in the water, he just looked puzzled and walked away.

There are around 30 very large coconut trees around the front garden/pool/beach front that have not been de-nutted for who knows how long. The fallen coconuts are excessively growing underneath some of them. These are growing over the paths so have a look up first as you might get knocked out.

I went for dinner at the restaurant and the choice of drinks in the menu was limited. I eventually said "I'll just have a coconut please" knowing it was obviously available. The waitress looked where I was pointing on the menu at fresh coconut, she then looked up at the trees, looked at me and said "we don't have any coconuts", I laughed thinking she was joking. She wasn't. They don't joke, work, think or care here.

It's weird and really off putting for what is supposed to be a beach resort... I'd shut it down before...