Sisipan Island Resort — Hotel in Sabah

Overall, Spoiled our private romantic time together and for those celebrating honeymoon or couple vacation, do consider again and again as there are disturbances every waking moment (see below). I highly think the resort doesn’t commensurate to the price paid. The charges are mad high thus we were expecting an equivalent 4/5 star hotel. There are several matters to highlight here and I sincerely hope management and resort owners are taking their customers words seriously:

1. Environment Sustainability We do appreciate use of timber/woods as the foundation here which adds to the ecosystem (fungal growth feeding the fishes). However, when we snorkeled surrounding the resort, several pipes and wooden or remains from the construction were left sunk to the sea floor and trashes snack plastics and bottles seen as well- I can understand that some idiotic guests would litter around but it is also Resort Owner’s responsibility to the environment to commit for a regular clean up, keeping it clean and eco friendly to the sea livings.

2. NO PRIVACY NOR TRANQUILITY NOR SENSE OF SERENITY AND QUIET TIME We were paying this ridiculously high rate for a private resort for a sense of privacy but constantly interrupted: a) boatmen crossing over behind the balcony area to sell icecream and snacks every 30min-1hour from 10AM to 5PM EVERY SINGLE DAY with their siren. I wish business owners take them as a supplier of some sort to kasi rezeki to locals there without causing nuisances to guests. We were dipping in bathtub and had to cover ourselves with ladder and towels for privacy. How pathetic! b) random smaller boats were also seen trespassing the same area c) loud banging on door by the service staff there as mentioned above. Install a doorbell for God’s sake.

3. Service staff Generally, they are great though knocking on doors could be a little gentler (it was almost like banging on doors everytime). Food catered was nice, though always generally 30minutes behind our request time. Wished for more proactive attention ie to ask for housekeeping service or change of towel when guests are away. We ran out of liquid soap while showering in our last day but couldnt bother to go out and ask… When we were out for island hopping activity, lunch was compromised as they didn’t ask us earlier for their cooking time. When we were back around 3-4pm, I had to ask for lunch menu but we were offered with limited choices and not the usual lunch menu offered. But, we’re grateful for the girls cooking for us hot cucur and nasi goreng. They were great.

4. Check in and check out process The boat arrived on time from jetty and we arrived at the resort about 1.30pm. What could be a half an hour wait, we were put on hold for 1 hour 15min instead as the room wasn’t ready. On last day during checkout, we were last min informed to get ready for check out at 10.30am at 10am… can you imagine that? This was my last straw for the resort, having me checked in extremely late and checked out earlier. The excuse being boatmen were already there. The pickup time schedule is at 11AM- you should not rush your guests. Very very poor experience, really annoyed me this one as we were planning to take the last hour for a quick nap but were disturbed with this. Absolutely ridiculous.

5. Resort quality Bathroom looking downright ugly. No separate hair shampoo given is a joke. Bathtub hot tap outsude is not working, had to fill in manually using pail from the main bathroom - it is honestly sad. TV isnt working well due to low wifi connectivity, it’s almost that it is there just for A show. Snorkeling sets arent that great, not maintained properly with dirts and mold found in them. Boat paddles provided were broken into half- another sad sad thing. During our 3D2N there, at least 5 blackouts happened.

To business owners, I think you are money ripper for RM1,500 Per night, at the expense of environment with your poor resort upkeeping, resort amenities are not maintained properly and mediocre ingredients given for your...

i stayed there for 2 nights end of Jan 2024. Its like a little piece of heaven, never have i been anywhere nicer than this place, staff are very friendly and welcoming to all of our requests. only 5 rooms available, so it is never congested place. morning view, sunset view, midnight view, you will never want to leave this place. definitely will go back there again.

my only comments that i really wish them to improve are: 1- Food: the dinner they served to us on the first day was a joke, not even enough for a baby, with a very low quality, you literally can get bigger and tastier food from the mamak restaurants. we raised a complain to the agent who arranged our booking, the staff immediately came to apologize to us and said they will fix that mistake, the next meal we noticed that food portion was doubled, but the quality and taste is still not there. Breakfast is basically over cooked eggs with the choice of burned French toast or deep fried hash browns ( Tip: go for the hash browns at least it is not burned). Surprisingly, the tea time and snack served with it was very nice though.

2- upon our check in, they ask us to wait for a while while they are cleaning our room, so we happily waited as we were enjoying the view, after around 40 minutes , we were told room is ready. once we enter the room, we found the floor is still very dusty, and we noticed that there is a chocolate cover at the corner of the room. again we asked them to clean again and they happily did.

3- the 2nd day we went for island hopping, nice people and nice islands, the lunch was planned at the 3rd island, the Mataking island, lunch was taken with us in a plastic lunch boxes, ice cold lunch, very tiny portion, and badly taste. i checked around other groups on that island, they all brought lunch along with them, but it was in a proper thermo boxes to preserve the heat, and good collection of food in term of quality and quantity. for us, we fed our lunch to the fish on that day, it was that bad.

4- my point is, the place is amazing, the staff are super super friendly, but they only need proper management and proper training. especially when you consider that this resort charges the highest comparing to the other resorts.

i still will be going there again, but this time i will have my pack up plan of...

We stayed at this beautiful island resort overlooking Mantabuan Island, surrounded by pristine waters teeming with marine life, truly a paradise for nature lovers. The views were absolutely breathtaking, and with only a limited number of rooms, privacy was never an issue. The resort was well equipped with snorkelling gear, which made exploring waters convenient and fun.

There was a storm in the middle of the night, and while we were initially concerned due to the wooden structure of the building, everything held up well and felt surprisingly sturdy.

On the downside, the toilet appeared mouldy and the water pressure was very poor. The food was also underwhelming, with small portions and little appeal.

However, the staff more than made up for it with their warmth and friendliness – we were always greeted with a smile. Special mention to Mr. Am, the person in charge, who was easy to communicate with and planned our trip wonderfully. Despite a last-minute request, he even arranged a cake for us, which was a thoughtful touch.

Though the stay seemed a bit pricey initially, it included airport transfers from Tawau to Semporna (both ways), a full day of snorkelling at Mabul and Kapalai with a guide, and all necessary island transfers – making it a convenient and well-organized...