Penang Paradise, Sandy Bay Hotel

We chose the Paradise Sandy Bay hotel if i'm honest because of it's price. Upon arrival we were pleasantly surprised, rooms were large, clean and modern. We noticed some of the facilities advertised in the hotel weren't available i.e fun pub and pizzeria, but this didn't faze us as our room had satelite TV for the evenings and a fridge to put a few provisions in. We were staying on B&B basis, breakfast was average but again restaurant was clean, modern and air conditioned.

However things started to go down hill from ther, firstly the hotel pulled the plug on the satelite TV (many explanations given as an excuse for this, ranging from maintenance needed, to manager thought it was too expensive, to satelte company had shut down to name a few). While many people would think this not a major inconvenience, it had a serious impact on the rest of our holiday for the following reasons, my partner is quite happy to sit on the balcony with a glass of wine and a good book, however I unfortunately am sadder and prefer to watch a good film or some sport on the box with a cold beer. This meant we had to leave the hotel every night to find some entertainment for myself, the hotel is situated in a residential area with only 3 or 4 expensive restaurants and 1 bar in the area. As already mentioned there was no fun pub in the hotel just a lifeless corporate bar. So our only option was to get a taxi every night to the resort of battu ferenghi, which soon mounted up on the cost front.

Then the hotel had an influx of guests, mainly families from the capital, this spoiled the intimacy of the hotel (although I don't blame anybody for this) we just were unlucky enough to drop on their school holidays. However due to the increased numbers, the hotel in it's wisdom decided to shut the air-conditioned restaurant and move the breakfasts outside into 80c heat.

In summary the hotel was a good hotel run by managers more intent on pfrofits than the comfort of it's geusts. It had the potential to be better than it was.