We stayed at the Rasa Ria in March/April for our honeymoon. After having spent three nights in the Shangri-La Kula Lumpur we had high expectations for this hotel. When we arrived we had a delay in getting out room as it wasnt ready for us (despite us arriving over 2 hours after the check in time). We were staying in a rainforest view room as we thought it would be nice to have a different view as we were in the rainforest - this turned out to be disappointing as most of the view was of a car park and the back of the kitchens! The room was tired and in need of modernisation. We had no warm welcome as honeymooners either.

We decided to upgrade our room into the ocean suite and as soon as we moved we knew we'd made the right choice and were spoilt from that point forward! It really is like being in two completely different hotels and i would really recommend the upgrade it is very much worth the extra. The room was fantastic and the outdoor bath was great - be careful tho, we found out sat round the pool that you can very much see what goes on in the bath and on the balcany!!

The food at the hotel was great and reasonably priced as was the alcohol. I would recommend a hair cut for £10! Evening entertainment was poor but if youre on a romantic holiday who needs it! The beach is nice to walk on but as other people have said you cant bathe on it but there is more than enough space round the pools.

You should definately visit the orangutan sanctuary, youre only meant to be there an hour but they let you stay as long as the orangutans are out - which they always are! We hired a gazeebo one night with the private butler - was the best evening we had and well worth it!

My husband & I stayed here for 5 nights in February this year. We'd spent a hectic few days in KL beforehand and wanted a nice relaxing break afterwards which is why we chose this resort. Neither of us realised quite how remote it was going to be though, there was nothing around for miles but rainforest which would have been great had it been for a shorter stay. Our main problem with the location was that we had terrible weather whilst we were staying which meant all we could do was sit in our room or the lobby. At one point it rained for almost 36 hours without stopping, it was very chilly and windy and there were some awesome thunderstorms. The staff were great though, and are obviously used to dealing with bored and soggy tourists as there were games galore in the lobby and staff were on hand all day. One staff member watched patiently as my husband & I played scrabble, and once we'd finished he asked us about all the words on the board he didn't understand and wrote them down in a notebook with an explanation so he could learn them.

The pool was lovely, the beach was fab and we walked for several kilometres in one direction. There were quite a few sandflies and mosquitos around which the hotel don't spray chemicals to kill in an effort to avout polluting the rainforest which I respect hugely.

Of course the Orangutans were a highlight: you make a booking at the wildlife centre and pay a small fee (I think it was about 5GBP each). It's a 5-10 minute walk up a trail into the forest and you eventually come to a couple of wooden platforms where you stand and watch the orangs. We saw 2 youngsters and only for a few minutes but it was worth it.

We stayed at the Rasa Ria for 2 nights in the middle of May after a 7 night stay at their sister hotel the Tanjung Aru. The main reason for the stay was to visit the Orang-utan Sanctury as we had read that you got more up close here rather than at the Sepilok Sanctury. This was definitely the right decision, as the hotel is quite remote and the 2 days gave us the chance to relax, visit the apes and top up the tan.

We visited the baby Orang-utans twice during our stay, there is a £10 entry fee for approx 1 hour on the feeding platform watching the apes. There are currently 6 small apes in the sanctury but we only managed to see 3 on each visit, but who cares, they were gorgous, you see them up close and its lovely to know that they have so much space to freely roam around in. Top Tip - take insect repellent and wear long trs/tops.

The only disappointment I felt was our room which overlooked the jungle, I felt was a bit tired looking(compared to the Tanjung Aru) but it was spotless and we had a huge comfy bed, as we didn't come to Borneo to stay in the room we didn't!

We'd read in earlier reports that sand flies and jellyfish were a problem at this time of year so we spent most of the day by the pool overlooking the beach which was just perfect, finishing the day watching the fabulous sunset from our sunbeds!

We ate at the Indian and Tapenyaki restaurants, both were not cheap but well worth it. The staff were lovely and the food was gorgeous. A fantastic end to our short stay was to watch one of our Tapenyaki chef's go straight to the lounge bar after serving us to perform with the Kitchen Band (mon night) - it was hilarious and brilliant, well done guys for doing something unique!

All in all a lovely hotel for a short stay.

Wow, so much to say but I'll keep it brief.
My husband and I went for 1 week and although we were undecided until the last minute, I'm so glad we picked the Rasa Ria (RR). It is simply stunning, as is its sister resort the Tanjung Aru (STAR). If ure not sure where to book ,there isn't much between them; the Rasa Ria has the better beach and restaurants, Tanjung Aru is closer to town and has slightly better interior design. BTW the watersports centre at RR offers 1 hour of complimentary unmotorized water sport (e.g. catamaran sailing) per day. Other stuff costs as much as u'd expect at a 5* resort, but the hour free every day is a nice touch. The coolest thing though was the Orangutan Santuary. For a small entry fee, you get to watch the cutest baby orangutans playing, swinging, climbing, eating- for a good 45mins, an absolute must if you come to Borneo. We overheard another guest saying, it was even better than the main public orangutan reserve, as they has older less playful orangutans.
Unlike a lot of reviews we'd read, most of the people who stayed at the Rasa Ria and loved it, stayed in the ocean wing. The other less fancy and original garden wing of the hotel was where we stayed and had no problems.
Yes, the rooms are older and not blinged out to the max and the massive bed was 2 double mattresses pushed together, but seriously, when ure in paradise, who cares?? As far as we could see the only real added benefits of paying twice, yes thats twice the nightly rate for an ocean wing room, is the jacuzzi on the balcony (neat i know) and a private pool only for the ocean wing residents (what a waste- no different to the main pool, just slightly smaller and missing the slides for kids).
The thing which most people reviewing this hotel seem to dwell on is how far it is from KK city centre(45mins on the shuttle which costs RM 20 rtn pp ~ £4) so really not a big deal. And to be honest there is so much stuff to do IN the hotel that a few day trips will be the most you'll probably want to squeeze in. Some of the activities we did were horse riding on the beach and ATV safari, which I cannot recommend enough. It was a little pricey, but so much fun esp if uve never quad biked, but be warned, u get pretty muddy!
Day excursions I would recommend are the Kilas wetland cruise- you see Probiscus monkeys (only found in Borneo) and fire flies at night! Just a little tip, if ure into snorkelling/diving, they recommend an island excursion, the hotel and travel companies try and chrage you RM200+ pp but you can do it ureself for around half that price by going to the jetty in town and buying a rtn trip to the islands (Sapi or Manukan)- speedboats usually leave every hour.
The thing we cant praise enough is the buffet dinner at the hotel restaurant Tepi Laut---was simly amazing, and you will not be let down, I would book the hotel again just for this :)!
All in all fun, relaxing, great beach, great food and fantastic people.