SEKINCHAN PADI SENTRAL homestay — Hotel in Selangor

They call this a “homestay,” which almost deterred me from staying here. It’s actually a pleasant hotel that just lacks a 24 hour front desk — I think it’s staffed during daylight hours — and relies on an electronic kiosk for check in and check out. There’s no cafe or restaurant, but there are food vending machines in the lobby and restaurants nearby. You’ll want to come with your own transportation.||That said, we had a very pleasant stay there, and if you don’t require hotel services, you will too. ||The hotel is located in one of the many concrete, box-like structures that you’ll see in the padi fields around Sekinchan. These used to be commercial nesting houses for the swiftlets whose saliva nests are used to make birds’ nest soup. Normally the swiftlets nest in caves in remote areas, which makes harvesting the nests difficult. But if you have plenty of swiftlets and no caves, as in Sekinchan, you can build an artificial cave and have a business. I guess that business didn’t thrive, and many of these bird nest houses have been repurposed into alternative uses like this one. ||The hotel is constructed entirely of concrete (floors, walls, ceilings). The rooms are adequate in size with a huge window providing an excellent view over the rice fields. The rooms are immaculate; air conditioning is good; and a station providing filtered drinking water is available next to the elevator on each floor to refill your water bottles. ||The kiosk-based check in and check out works well, but is inflexible. If you want to extend your stay you still have to use the kiosk to check out on your original date of departure and check in again. Even though you’re paying for the next day, the kiosk still will charge you a significant penalty if you don’t complete the check out by 12 o’clock check out time. This is weird and inconvenient (and the front desk staff don’t tell you these details), but if you know the rule you can easily manage it. ||The limited front desk staff speak only Chinese, with the exception of one older lady who frequently isn’t there but is reachable by phone.||The hotel has a few set ups in the back (swing, heart-shaped seat and staircase to nowhere) to help you get Instagram-worthy photos on the spot. These seemed to be very popular with young couples staying there.||There are several casual restaurants nearby, including a good Vietnamese restaurant just a couple of blocks away, plus lots of Chinese restaurants. (The population of Sekinchan is 80% Chinese.) ||I came here to photograph the abundant kingfishers that nest in the banks of the irrigation canals running through the rice fields. Padi Sentral was perfect for my needs — comfortable room, perfect location,...

We love the fresh seafood in Sekinchan and decided on staying in Padi Sentral because of the quiet, beautiful surroundings, plus it’s a short drive to many places of interest here! Facilities here are basic and adequate; lounge area, rooftop, rooms are as advertised, clean and well maintained. The AC/fan combination is effective, making the stay very comfortable even during this hot humid period. There are props outside the building for your social media checkin/posts and the surrounding view is beautiful and snap worthy. Depending on the time of year, the adjacent padi fields can be green, brown or just watery, but view is always amazing during sunset/sunrise. The beds are comfy, bathroom equipped, and 2 large towels provided. Basic amenities are also available on request at front desk, but extra towel comes with additional charge. We liked the convenience of the hot/cool water dispenser near the rooms. The front desk is ‘manned’ during check-in time till evening. Check-in is fast and easy. The desk is not operated at night/morning. Your room key card is needed to enter the building too. You can self-checkout by placing card on the counter. There is a hotline you can call for anything else. As it turns out, we called the hotline early hours of the morning when the toilet flush was not working. Call was answered immediately, and help came in 10min, and problem fixed 5 mins on arrival – excellent response and service! The price per night is a bit high for a 1-room homestay, so it’s easy to expect hotel equivalent facilities and service. But ultimately, it’s a homestay, so should adjust expectations. This review is posted after staying here twice already, first time in June and then in August, thus the photos of the fields are different stages of padi growth. We are happy with our stay on both occasions and would...

Stayed overnight at this hotel on 15/3/2025. Booked a family deluxe room that comes with one king bed and one bunk bed. The route towards the homestay is narrow that passing thru the beautiful paddy field. There is plenty of free parking around the homestay. Once registered at the counter, the staff will ask for your booking ID and confirm your booking name. We were given a room at level 2 with two access cards, one card for the door and another one to generate the electricity power in the room. The room is clean and spacious. It has a hair dryer , water heater, a normal TV with many local channels, a fan, a strong aircon and a free strong wifi. There isn't any kettle for cooking in the room but glass cups are available to collect drinking water at the water filter machine beside the lift. The guests can collect their free toothbrushes at the reception counter upon check in. Our room is facing the greenish paddy field. It is very serene and beautiful especially waking up in the early morning seeing such a magnificent view. The sound proof is ok as we didn't encounter much noise from the next door. Surprisingly the homestay did provide a simple free simple breakfast and tea to guests. Nasi lemak, curry puff and tea. My family did enjoy the nasi lemak a lot. There are lots of good instagrammable spots for photography. The roof top offers a great panorama view to the paddy field. The hotel is very close to other tourist spots such as terminal sekinchan, cafe, paddy gallery and even not far from wishing sekinchan trees at pantai redang too. Many good and affordable seafood restaurants around. Overall, I will recommend this homestay. However the only downside of the room we stayed in is the bathroom has no ventilation or window. The sewage smell is a wee bit heavy after a few...