Golden Nasmir Hotel — Hotel in Penang

It’s very rare for me to give a such a scathing review but this place deserves it. Firstly, the check in experience was one of the worst I’ve experienced. Two guys who seemed unable to smile and could barely speak English (The next day there was a Malay lady at reception, very kind, courteous and very easy to communicate with). Secondly, this hotel is disgustingly dirty. I’m amazed that this hotel has got the positive reviews that it has. Three rooms we had before settling on a room (we were told that the 3rd room was the last available). Admittedly the first was rejected purely because it had a dividing door, so the cleanliness wasn’t checked. The second room had a dirty and rusty fridge, the cups were dirty, the floor was unclean, the toilet system was dirty and cracked (looked like they tried to make it good by putting Sellotape over the cracks) and the tea/coffee making tray was very grimy. But the room was rejected because the bathroom drain was exposed and looked absolutely disgusting. The third room was equally dirty but at least had a cover over the bathroom drain The guy from reception came up and wiped the areas that needed cleaning with a towel. A dry towel which made no difference at all. We ended up going to the local shop to get some bleach and cloths to do the cleaning ourselves. Thirdly, the breakfast area was just as clean as the rooms. Tables weren’t wiped, the inner rim of the tray that the cut melon was on had rust patches. Some of the cups were dirty, I saw cutlery with signs of food debris from the previous user and the 3 pots that had jam and whatever else the other two substances were looked completely disgusting. I’ve taken pictures two days apart and you can still see the same mess. The last issue is the noise levels. The back of the hotel is very noisy with the vents and the activity of the next door restaurant employees (Even way past midnight). I’m not expecting a 5 star experience here but It amazes me that the management and/or the guests could possibly think that the standard of cleanliness here is acceptable. My advice, stay...

Room type: Standard Room

A) Receptionist The check-in and out process were ok. They'll ask for additional fee of RM2.

B) Room Really small and smells so weird. I don't even know how to describe it. It smells like really wet thick cloth that has been kept in a drawer and you don't know it. In bahasa we called it as 'kepam' 😂 The hygiene and cleanliness of the bedsheet is really questionable, kinda have a feeling that they don't change it.. idk. Really small space for you to perform your prayers. The walls are mouldy but they try to hide it with a fancy wallpaper but failed miserably. Old air-con that gives off this really weird smell as you turned it on, but it works well to cool the room as the room is small 😅

C) Bathroom They do provide toothbrush. Hot shower functioning well. The bathroom has weird mouldy smell. Got watermarks and stain everywhere- floors, walls, mirror. Just close your eyes and take that shower 😂

D) Food Me and my husband got the breakfast package and it's delicious. Quite suprising actually as we didn't expect it to be that good.

E) Parking Ample of parking spaces....

I was going to leave one star but they did eventually take care of my service request.

I have been town hopping in Malaysia and this is the third (and most expensive) hotel I stayed at so far. However, it is also the worst one, and I received better quality at earlier hotels despite paying less.

I stayed for 3 nights and did not try out the hotel cafe.

I specifically upgraded to a room with a fridge but found the fridge to be old, rusty, smelling of mildew, and most importantly not working. I put in a request the very next morning for a replacement fridge but had to repeat it again when it still wasn't replaced, losing us our leftovers for the day.

Besides that, the room itself also had a mildew smell, and looked like it needed some renovations. This was also the first hotel room we found an albeit small a bug, and there did not seem to be any more than that but it is discomforting all the same.

The location is also quite inconvenient, at least for sightseeing, as it is not on Penang Island.

Conclusion: There are cheaper and better...