Meet the most average hotel that we had ever stayed. Both its hit and missed marks are so balanced that sometimes we hated it yet sometimes we yearned to return to it.
Our first stay at Swiss Garden Beach Resort Kuantan was in 2007. We were two amateur traveler and haven’t build an expectation for hotels so the newly renovated hotel impressed us, beyond question. Then came the second visit in 2013. The cons outweighed the pros with bad breakfast, unclean cutleries and a petting mini zoo with injured rabbits.
We returned again last month with my family and upon asking my sister and mum for comments, they too, had a mixed feeling about the place.
Whilst not the best spot for photo shooting, the lobby was spacious with plenty of sofa to hang out while waiting for check in. After all, SGBRK is not known for fast check in. In fact my sister was rather pissed that our third room was only ready by 4 pm.
As before, we still like the rooms. They are spacious (again?! Don’t I have other word to use?) and considered clean, IF we don’t look too closely. (Hint: behind the TV cabinet and inside the wardrobe.) Beds were still comfortable with white sheets. WHITE SHEETS… I just can’t lie on floral patterned bed sheets.
I am an avid lover of bath tub and as long as they are clean. I always recommend “disinfecting” everything with hot water before use, not just this hotel but at every hotel. You won’t know what lurks in there.
We hated the breakfast back in 2013 – not much variety, missing the usual breakfast must-haves and whatever’s available were simply non-palatable. This time around, we all concluded that the breakfast was very enjoyable with selection of nasi lemak (which was missing last time) with good sambal ikan bilis, porridge, salads and nice croissants, just to name a few.
Malaysia is not known for having clean swimming pool so SGBRK’s swimming pool is one of the better ones. Pool is clean except for some leaves and sands caused by guests who dipped in beach, walked back and threw themselves into the pool. We were satisfied that everyone abide by the rule of ALWAYS WEARING SWIMMING ATTIRE.
So what was our verdict?
The love-hate relationship continues. We love Kuantan and a good hotel is hard to come by. SGBRK is the next best thing after Club Med (which is too expensive) in this area. Check for rates and availability.
