We stayed on Friday 3rd Feb, as part of a large group, the night before our trip up Mount Kinabalu. Having stayed in this hotel before, I was expecting basic but clean accommodation - not a suprise night-time visitor.

We were staying in room 910 when I woke at about 3am to a rustling sound which I tried to ignore blaming it on the air-con moving some papers around. The noise continued & I tried to convince myself that it couldn't be what I feared most! However, after switching on the light we saw a very large rat (about 10 inches long with a tail as big) scurrying into the gap by the fridge and then watched with horror as it scuttled up the curtains and disappeared into the roof or out of a gap by the window somewhere. I discovered that it had been eating one of my energy bars that I had bought for the following day!!

We phoned reception & they immediately agreed to move us. We were taken to a room on the 2nd floor which the night porter then spent 10 minutes trying to open the door with a key card. We then convinced him to move us to the 3rd room of the night on the first floor. When we arrived there the air-con was not on and it was stiflingly hot. We had to wait about 15 mins for the room to cool down enough to sleep.

Our trip leader spoke to reception in the morning and they didn't appear particularly bothered about anything! Throughout the whole experience no-one apologised to us!

Unfortunately, we had to return on Sunday after our descent from the mountain. They had forgotten all about the incident until our trip leader insisted that they upgraded us. We then had a very nice suite for the Sunday night with no nocturnal visitors, but unfortunately the damage had been done & I shan't be staying there again!

The best thing about this hotel is that is centrally located, a few minutes from the seafront, and walking distance to several shopping malls, banks, etc.

Free buffet breakfast is included in the price, and I thought was excellent, with a mix of Asian and Western foods.

I paid for an executive deluxe room (a sort of mini-apartment). The room was big and had big windows so during the day was very luminous and also very quiet, so good for a good night sleep.. However the room is poorly lightened, and there are no side or table lamps to help during the night (that would be so easy to fix!), the wall and ceiling had evident cracks; part of the furniture was also chipped. The wardrobe had an ironing set, but no sleepers or bathrobe. The set of the amenities in the bathroom is the worse I have found in Malaysia despite visiting much cheaper hotels. That would not be important if the price was according to what you get, but Best Western is offering a cheap hotel service and rooms and asking you a 4-star hotel price in Malaysia.

I paid for a deluxe suite, with separate bedroom, kitchenette and living room, in a non-smoker floor. However, on arrival I was given another room in a smoking floor. I noticed that there was not kitchenette and went down to tell reception, and they tried to convince me that my fridge and coffee/tea facility was a kitchenette. However, they immediately offered me another room and asked me if I liked better, and I told them that I was just asking for what I have paid for. Still, the kitchenette is pathetic, with a sink with a bad tap, a microwave, kettle, fridge and a few items of crockery and cutlery No cooking tools, no washing tools,

The people at the tour desk and reception were OK. Some of the them very nice, but generally speaking a bit sour.

A hotel for backpackers and budget travellers if they had backpackers price.

Location-easy to acces to any place
Design-old school
Staff-helpful+friendly
Room-quite small
Food-just okay

after staying in a hostel on the way to KK on a rock hard bed, i decided to stay in a hotel. The hotel is close to everything city wise, including Suriah Sabah and Centrepoint. The room size for one person is good, might be a bit cramped for more then one in the room i was in. The staff are very friendly and helpful to, plus they have wireless internet. I didn't try the restaurant but would stay here again when im in town next