Shō Hotel Penang

I was a bit hesitant after seeing the reviews, but I booked this hotel for convenience, and my stay was surprisingly great with no complaints. First off, check-in was seamless, the room was clean, and the facilities were quite new. Housekeeping was excellent every day; if I requested cleaning before leaving, the room was usually spotless when I returned. One afternoon, I overslept and missed housekeeping, but the next morning, a staff member from housekeeping came to ask if I wanted my room cleaned. 😄 Regarding transport and food, there aren't many dining options directly around the hotel, but getting around Malaysia relies heavily on ride-sharing, so I wasn't worried about transportation or food inconvenience at all. Plus, food delivery is quite convenient; if you don't want to go out or eat at the hotel, delivery usually arrives within half an hour. The gym and yoga room aren't huge, but they're perfectly adequate, and the equipment is new. I went every day and rarely encountered anyone else there.

The hotel isn't in a bustling area, but getting around by car is quite convenient. The cleanliness was just okay; the daily room cleaning needs improvement, as the floor wasn't properly cleaned and hair was left behind. Also, the bathroom sink didn't even have hand soap.

Anyone who stays here will regret it – an absolutely disgusting and disastrous experience. This stay was an absolute catastrophe from start to finish. Firstly, the transportation is incredibly inconvenient; there are absolutely no amenities nearby. Unless you have your own car or a hired vehicle, you'll be completely isolated and unable to get around. The service was even more unbelievable. Upon arriving at the hotel, there were no staff members to greet us in the basement or lobby, let alone anyone to help with luggage. We had to struggle with our bags ourselves. It wasn't until we got to the 9th floor that we saw the front desk staff, who slowly and inefficiently processed our check-in. Although the room was spacious, the facilities inside were incredibly basic. There was absolutely nothing in the room – no drinking water, no tea bags or coffee. Basic amenities basically amounted to just one toothbrush; it didn't even meet the most fundamental hotel standards. What was even more unacceptable was that, because there weren't enough bed linens, we asked the hotel for an extra blanket. The blankets they brought were absolutely revolting! Both times they delivered bedding, it either had bloodstains or large black stains. It was so dirty that it felt completely unwashed, without even the most basic cleaning or sanitization. They didn't even put a duvet cover on! This extremely poor hygiene was truly horrifying and utterly disappointing. The worst part was that when we returned to the hotel after dinner, we discovered that one of the rooms had no hot water. The front desk staff were completely unreasonable; none of them spoke Chinese, and they were extremely unfriendly and indifferent towards Chinese tourists. I strongly advise any non-English speaking travelers to absolutely NOT stay here! We were messed around for over an hour trying to resolve the hot water issue. During this time, the management and front desk showed no genuine willingness to solve the problem and completely lacked any service awareness. The only silver lining was the junior plumbing staff member who was sent to help us with the hot water. He had a good attitude, but he actually didn't know anything and couldn't resolve the issue; it was clear he was just pushed out by management to deal with guests. The junior staff were innocent, but the hotel management was completely irresponsible. From start to finish, there wasn't a single apology, nor any compensation. While we weren't looking for compensation, this kind of arrogant and unhygienic management was incredibly infuriating. This hotel completely ruined our good impression of Malaysia. Finally, I strongly advise all travelers without their own car to absolutely, absolutely avoid staying at this hotel!