Perhentian Marriott Resort & Spa — Hotel in Lesser Perhentian Island

We booked this resort to celebrate our anniversary, hoping for a special and memorable experience—but overall, it’s been mixed.

Arrival started smoothly at the ferry terminal, though the waiting area was bland. For a Marriott property, some drinks and snacks—like an airport lounge—would’ve been a nice touch.

Boarding the ferry was smooth, and the crew gave us a cheerful wave-off White Lotus style. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a couple of drums and whisked away quickly in buggies to the front desk. The rush seemed unnecessary as the front desk was understaffed, and despite being only the third group to arrive, we waited 15 minutes for a third desk to open. Felt sorry for those after us.

Check-in at the resort was underwhelming compared to other Marriott properties. We got our keys but no welcome briefing—just a QR code for activities. No mention of included breakfast or buggy service, which we learned only through trial and error (order buggy 10-15 minutes in advance).

Our bags hadn’t arrived nor were we told when they would. The room was nice: huge bed, seating area, good bathroom, and a balcony with a view partly blocked by vegetation (a gardener’s touch would help). The beds were excellent and very comfortable. The TV only had YouTube; to use apps like Netflix, you need to screen mirror from a Samsung phone. The staff member who helped with this was excellent. Coffee pods were missing but delivered quickly. No spoons, but luckily we didn’t need them. Thin walls meant we could hear neighbors’ music, which wasn’t great.

We ended up leaving the resort for food, hoping to return refreshed and with our luggage delivered so we could shower and change.

The spa was a highlight—the free hand massage was amazing. The lap pool and poolside beds were excellent, perfect for relaxation. The gym was decent with a wonderful view, making workouts more enjoyable.

Breakfast had a nice spread, though the experience varied. On May 29, the scrambled eggs with mushrooms were good. However, service was inconsistent—at one point, a waiter asked, “Can I get you tea or coffee?” and when my partner requested tea, she was told she could get it herself. What was the bloody point in offering then? We were stunned. Some stations, like dim sum, were also unattended due to staff shortages, and guests had to awkwardly help themselves. On May 30, the omelette was bland and lacked seasoning. I ordered a flat white with oat milk and was mistakenly served a cappuccino. The correct drink finally arrived 30 minutes later!

On May 29 evening, live music in The Great Room turned into karaoke. It was surprisingly fun, with audience members (including me) singing. Unfortunately, the cocktails were terrible—a Piña Colada and Old Fashioned (not on the menu, but promised) were both poorly made.

That same evening, I asked about the fire show on Long Beach. Staff were unsure if it was daily and told me to contact venues myself. I insisted they find out so I wouldn’t waste time and money. Eventually, they said they’d contact a restaurant and WhatsApp me—which they did, and the WhatsApp service has been great since, including letting me request room cleaning.

Overall: Marriott Perhentian offers some excellent facilities—the comfortable beds, relaxing lap pool, well-equipped gym with stunning views, and a fantastic spa experience—the resort falls short in several crucial areas. The arrival and check-in process felt rushed and disorganized, with understaffing causing unnecessary waits and a lack of clear communication about amenities like breakfast and buggy service. The room was comfortable, but thin walls compromised privacy. Dining was inconsistent, with good food overshadowed by staffing shortages and poor cocktail quality. Guest services showed inconsistency, from unhelpful information about local events to improvements only after persistent follow-up. For a luxury Marriott, the overall experience felt impersonal and lacking attention to detail. Hopeful for improvements (departing...

TLDR: We didn’t feel safe. So close to filing a police report. Skip to Safety to learn why.

Forget those nice little touches you’d expect from the premium price tag, we weren’t even getting the bare minimum. And I think they have intruders problem that they aren’t willing to disclose.

Check-in The check-in process was chaotic, no thoughts went behind it. The excuse was they had a glitch 2 days prior, so they let probably 5 groups of new arrivals to sit and wait at the lobby aimlessly. And when we went and check, there were 5 of them at the counter standing around doing nothing.

They also scheduled us for 2:30pm snorkelling session, at the same time letting us know that our room wasn’t ready until 3:00pm. You do the math. And then instead of coming up with sensible solution, we had to do the thinking for them. It’s almost like they never worked in hospitality before let alone in a 5-star resort.

The room We chose Marriott because it is convenient, never expected to be blown away by the design or anything. Which was what we got. The vibe that you got was very basic and average. They used cheap materials and even had faulty wirings. Sitting at the balcony all you can hear were the loud AC, and you can barely see the ocean. It does not feel like you were in Perhentian, it was just all very disconnected. If I had to put a price on it, it was probably max nothing more than 1k.

Housekeeping I couldve tidy up the room better myself. Our friends who were staying in a separate room ran out of their bath gel on the very first day, and never got theirs refilled. Ours ran out on the second day, can’t be bothered to request a refill at this point given how long we know we’d have to wait (heard experience from other guests). No turndown service, but after everything, we stopped having any expectations.

Safety Note that we are a group of 4 girls, staying in 2 different rooms in 2 different blocks. Both nights during our stay, someone rang the bell and knocked aggressively around 1:15-1:30am. When we complained on the first day, they said it was their staffs who rang it by mistake. There were just gaps in their story, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Unfortunately, it happened again on the second night. There is no way as 5-star hotel staffs can make the same mistake TWICE, with 2 separate rooms in 2 different blocks. We met our next door neighbour on the snorkeling trip, who had stay there for longer - they never had the same problem. So we cant help to think we were targeted or getting profiled.

Also the first night when it happened, we tried calling the front-desk, emergency line, housekeeping, basically anyone from the hotel to understand what’s going on (no we didn’t open the door). NO ONE picked up. No one from the hotel were reachable. Which made us even more paranoid. Nothing actually happened to us except for 2 nights in a row of interupted sleep, but what if it did? What if we really needed help? We were just so glad to leave after the second night, because we really didn’t feel safe being there any longer.

Food Have to give credits where it’s due, despite our terrible experience with everything else - they serve really good food. Hats off to the chefs, from local cuisines to western, they nailed it. The restaurant workers were very attentive too, proactive and made the trip bearable.

Snorkelling Again, amazing experience with their YBD crew. Nice luxury boat, attentive and friendly crew. Was the highlight of our trip.

Management We spoke to Anne, despite her effort of clarifying the whole situation - it was a little too late, and there are still a lot of questions went unanswered. She did follow up with more information 2 days after we left, but there are just a lot of massive gaps in the story that we don’t think we’ve been told the whole truth. And the fact some of main concerns been swept under the rug eg. emergency calls at 2-3am went unanswered, I do not recommend this place.

I feel robbed, and genuinely felt...

It was seriously a nightmare to make a booking with perhentian Marriott.

I am a Marriott elite members for more than 15 years and it was great to know Marriott is extending their brand and hotel hospitality to one of our favourite places in Perhentian island in Malaysia.

I decided to make a booking to this brand new island hotel for my kid birthday and I was in touch with their FB team for arrangement. They were very helpful to get necessary information before the booking and I asked for birthday arrangement and room upgrade and they were happy to assist further.

Today was our first day check in and it was totally a nightmare. First of all we arrived Fairfield Marriott at Kuala Besut and there were no one at all (which supposed to me a meet up point heading to perhentian Marriott) and it was so called a lounge but no one working there, no water served as well as toilet was not really clean.

We went to the 12:30 pm ferry schedule and everything was smooth and we were actually the first guest arriving lobby and their staff asked us to be seated and someone will assist us for check in. Along waiting time there’s welcome drink served. However we saw many other guests already left the lobby but still we were still asked to be seated for checking in.

After one hour long wait, one lady came and assist my friend for checking in but it was so funny as the lady kept asking another staff came to me ask for credit card. A while later the lady came back with a credit card machine to my friend and asked for a pin but there were no card slotted! We were all speechless and we asked back if it shall scan or slot with the card? And the lady told yes and you need to come with us to reception counter area.

Another lady came to approach with and told me my check in will be on hold as the staff is attending VIP client (later on I found out it’s the hotel owner) and hence my check in will be on hold. I requested my credit card back as I felt their handling quite messy and staff were new and untrained.

We waited for another 20 mins (total near to 1.5 hours) and two male staff came to give one room card and said another room still on hold ( and they never realised I haven’t done any check in nor they get any details from me). Then they offered us to the Lunch while waiting for the room.

Once we reached to the Lunch area, one lady (the restaurant manager later we found out) came to introduce and offered us the price for lunch. In fact we had our lunch before head to Fairfield jetty and all my companions get outraged because of their services and handling. We then requested to meet the manager to solve the issues.

After 30 mins the manager Kuva came and explained that it was miscommunication as he already told the staff all the mishandling and arrangement. He kept explaining he told the staff blah blah blah…and yet at the end there were no resolution.

When we about want to leave the restaurant and wanna ask for my room, two guys came and passed me a room card and said it was ready. We were so exhausted and want to have a rest. Once we reached the room, I just quickly checked through their in hotel telephone if the room get upgraded due to Marriott elite status but what a disappointment they said no room upgrade available and I was not in good mood and told them what they have ruin Marriott loyalty and brand name.

In a while they called back and told they can give us an upgrade but have to wait for clean up. Plus their room TV remote had no battery (small issue but what had combined all above had really given us a very bad experience.

So far it’s still 2.5 hours after we arrived the hotel.

*their FB customer service mentioned they will arrange to spoil our bday babies when we arrive and what the manager Kuva came to speak to us seems like they had no ideas there were such arrangement…

Good and brand new hardware but very very...