With the summarised itinerary cleared, it's usual for me to touch on the accommodation next and for the recent Penang trip, we stayed two nights at Bayview Hotel in the capital of Penang; Georgetown!
For such a nice looking hotel, it's shocking to find the main signage / logo to be so outdated; the design would likely be the norm more than twenty years ago.
Hotel lobby where Alex and his boss checked in for our group - did i mention that i was joining Alex and his colleagues for their company's get-together? Oh well, not that it's strange since i know the boss much longer than Alex and this was my third trip with them!
Drinks for hotel guests that were ready for self-dispensing right at the hotel lobby; a nice gesture as weather in Penang is renowned to be hot (some said worse than Singapore) and your throat will welcome the orange / cucumber infused iced water.
Room
1437 - the 37th room on the 14th floor. Included with our keycards were the breakfast vouchers and our WiFi password that's valid for two days and allowed login to two different devices.
The kind of hotel corridor that gives me the chills. Thankfully, our room was the first one once we exited from the elevator and that kind of assured me. In case you are wondering, i didn't encounter anything paranormal in the hotel.
Interior of 1437 - quite small (when compared to the Park Plaza Hotel Bangkok) but the essentials (to me, those refer to the bed and air conditioning) were present. I love the pillows as they were plush and comfortable to the neck.
Flat screen television, mini bar fridge, electric kettle and most importantly, the two complimentary bottles of mineral water.
Inside the closet - a safe, an ironing board and an iron in one of the drawers. I have a tendency to look into the wardrobe as there's one item i would grab. The laundry bag which shall be used to house my dirty laundry until i am back in Singapore.
Aside from the retro-looking telephone, i am glad i took the time to read the notice. Seems like many hotels are going the eco-friendly way; to change your towels, you have to leave them in the bathtub! Yes, i made it a point to replace for a clean towel every day when i am overseas. Sorry for being eco-unfriendly.
View from the hotel room.
It's amazing, isn't it?! From my room, i can see Komtar, the tallest building in Penang and also the old streets of Georgetown which were listed as collectively as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO!
Look further and there's the 13.5-kilometer Penang bridge; one of two vehicular carriageways connecting Peninsular Malaysia to Pulau Pinang.
Noted a park next to the hotel although i wouldn't be caught sitting there any time. I might as well chill in the hotel at night and in the daytime, i presume it would be hot and why would i want to waste my time sitting in a tiny, normal-looking park when i am overseas?!
Bathroom - the kind common in a dated hotel even though i read from the website that the rooms were newly renovated. Maybe the room they have in mind didn't include the bathroom.
Hair dryer - didn't use it as i prefer to towel dry my hair or let it run through its natural drying process. Mum would love it, as i have always said.
There's a bathtub! Again, we didn't use it at all as there wasn't sufficient time to soak in. Furthermore, i would very much like a rainfall shower!
Another sign of staying in a hotel that stopped its time a few decades ago - who uses this kind of slippers for bathroom!? Wait, i am not complaining since i don't use bathroom slippers.
Located at the lift landing on the 14th floor, this corner offered the same impressive panoramic view of Georgetown!
Noticing that the room across from ours was undergoing housekeeping; we asked if we could step in to check out the view and darn was it soothing! I can so imagine a beach nearby where i can frolic in the water!
Breakfast
For a person who dislikes having hotel breakfast, i must say the variety was wide and food generally tasted better than other similarly-starred hotels. I enjoyed their soft and fluffy banana cake and nasi lemak!
Amenities
Gymnasium - opened from 6am till 9pm daily, access would only be granted using the keycard you are holding for your hotel room.
Rather comprehensive equipment even though there were two reasons i didn't make use of it; one, i didn't have time and secondly, even if i can pull out some time, i am usually too full to exercise.
View of the swimming pool from the gym.
Swimming Pool - operational from 7.30am till 7.30pm, i only dropped by to take pictures for the purpose of this post. Nope, we didn't take a dip as again, no time. I might have done it if this trip were similar to the relaxing one i made to Bangkok in April!
Do keep in mind that the deep end of the pool was 3.5 meters; hence, please be mindful if you have young kids with you. In addition, there's also the Jacuzzi pool.
If you are looking for a tan, do drop by only in the afternoon as the swimming pool was surrounded on three sides and our dear mr sun can only peek in from the west.
Convenience store where you can buy travel sized shampoo, shower, toothpaste, non-prescriptive drugs (panadol) and even souvenirs. Right next to it was a Japanese restaurant.
Tailor shop - i am hesitant when it comes to tailor shops, especially in hotels since the clothes are not likely to come cheap and there are just too many horror stories of tailors who didn't do a good job.
I am unsure on the pricing but the reviews of the tailor shop seemed to be quite good. Don't trust my words and pictures on this; check with our knowledgeable mr google. I believe he has better answers for you.
Three Sixty° Revolving Restaurant and Sky Bar - yes, we did go up on the first night to meet up with a few colleagues of Alex and had a great time chit chatting!
We mainly stayed in the sky bar area and only went to the restaurant when the disco lights got too glaring for our eyes. According to the notice i saw at the lift landing, the restaurant would only revolve from 7pm till 10pm.
Travel Counter - situated in the lobby, you can either book the packages as listed above or book a van / car (as we did). Arrangements for airport transfer can also be made from the same counter.
Do refer to the above on the location (floor) of the amenities in the hotel.
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Verdict
Personally, i don't have a major grouch with the hotel even though some design / items are seriously outdated (i can live with those). Service wasn't particularly good or bad; just normal and i thought the key selling point was really on the view you can get from the hotel room.
Don't be too shy to ask for a map showing nearby attractions or famous food to try. Most hotels actually have such a map and some don't necessarily publicize it which is kind of strange to me.
Location
25-A Farquhar Street, 10200 Penang, Malaysia
Map
As above.
Website
https://www.bayviewhotels.com/hotel/bayview-hotel-georgetown/
Website
https://www.bayviewhotels.com/hotel/bayview-hotel-georgetown/
For the itinerary of my 3 days, 2 nights trip to Penang, please click here.
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