Not a place I wish to go back to. Dirty carpet, bathroom is so old and stained. The curtain dirty and dusty, bet never been washed for a while. I do not think they actually vaccumm the room for I could see the grass from my daughter's slippers on the floor.

The housekeeping never smile, the receptionist too never smile. One or two restaurant staffs were very nice.

When I booked on ------- the description of the hotel was that of a four star hotel in the centre of Kuah Town with a gym and spa... it sounded good. The holiday I wanted was a lazy one - not the traveller type to which I am normally accustomed.

To the surprise of my travelling companion and myself - there was no porter in sight, we were given a double room not a twin, and the sea view room overlooked the mudflats.. We managed to change our room to the non-sea view which had spectacular views of the harbour, islands beyond and the mountains. Both rooms were incredibly spartan with only two small bath towels (no hand towels) and no shower curtain.

However, on the first evening we had an amazing feast - a steam boat for RM15 each (GBP2 or AUD6) which took us 1.5 hours to eat - it was fantastic!!

The clientele are 99% Malaysians, Chinese or Muslim so if you want to wear a bikini by the pool be aware that you might just have an audience. Breakfast is Malaysian style also.

So... it is definitely NOT a 4 star hotel, possibly bordering on a 2.5/3 star. There is no Gym or spa and the pool is quite small. If you want a truly "local" experience and holiday like a native... this is the place for the upmarket budget traveller - however, I would suggest that you will be extremely disappointed if you are looking for a relaxing holiday in the tropics and book at this hotel.