This is one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in.

The location was fantastic in that it was central to Kota Kinnabalu.

However, I was turned off from the moment of entering the lobby. The staff seamed disorganized, and the lobby was not tidy and clean smelling. The Hotel Elevator was small. I don't think any of the rooms had windows, I know our's did not. We got a room with two king beds. The one I slept on, the frame was broken. There was a stench in the room. While the floor's may have been clean, there was ground in dirt. The plumbing did not work well. I did not take a shower there. There was no climate control other than low, med, high; and that control did not seem to work. The room was very cold at night and there was nothing we could do about it w/in the room.

I spent quite a bit of the night wondering when the rodents (I didn 't notice any. It just seemed to be the prime environment for them) would start crawling into bed with me.

I'm not sure what we paid. I did not make the arrangements. I certainly hope it was not more than $25 US a night. I've had better service stateside with that price.

We picked this hotel at random from the lonely planet guide and
it was pretty ordinary. The matresses and other furniture
gracing the hallways (and blocking the stairways) were
disconcerting and air conditioning was so cold (and couldn't
be turned down) that we had to leave the window open to
avoid freezing to death. There was a big group staying there
so it was pretty noisy late at night. Walking around the area
we saw a lot of hotels in the same price range that were
probably better but we were only in KK for two days so we
didn't bother moving. We'd been looking forward to staying somewhere nicer after travelling in Sarawak for a while
and staying in pretty basic places but this wasn't it.

Recently, I have stayed in the Mandarin Hotel for 3 days. The hotel is budget enough, but yet, i think that the conditions of the rooms can be better. I'm surprised to see the corridors near the stairs are full of unwanted furnitures, pillows and mattresses. And the stench is just unbearable. The rooms are spacious enough but (in my room) the plugs are loosen and quite dangerous. You can even see sparks flying out from the plug and in numerous occasion, the TV was switched off on its own due to the faulty plug heads. Overall, the service was quite friendly but the room's conditions are well below average. With a MYR79 per night for a single room, you can get a better and cleaner room in other budget hotels. The only positivity bout it is its location on the infamous Gaya Street which provided easy access of public transportation. But then again, there are lots of budget hotels on the street.

We have been at the Mandarin Hotel in August 2006.

At first the lobby seems not bad even if bunches of sheets and towels are constantly stored in a corner.

Corridors are quite awful: low, dirty, ceilings do not help, exactly as the various mattress and furnitures along the steps.

Our 601 (6th floor) is a corner room looking on the square (and with a sea sight) where on the Sunday night a song contest took place and lasted until 4.30 am! So, avoid this hotel if any contest or festival (August 31st is Merdeka, the independence day in Malaysia) is next to come...

The room was quite large, with fridge, tv (with a "fantastic" remote control set in the bed headboard but not working... never seen something like this!), telephone even in the bathroom (but in 601 only the wire was available...).

The room is really loved by ants (but even at Kinabalu Daya hotel, which is better, were present so we can consider them as guests).

In the bath each tap was leaking after having opened it (laterally, I mean, where the tap connects with the sink) so on the floor you'll always find some water while in the bathtub the shower hose was so short that the shower has to be taken hunch-backed. Nevertheless, the hot water is always available.

Average cleaned, you will have at your disposal a "fantastic" pair of flip-flop for your comfort (I guess who has weared them before... brrrr!).

A boiled water bottle per day is included.
Air conditioning was working properly.

But the less nice thing is the door communicating with the room next to the 601: you will have the sensation of living with your neighbours (in our case a family with crying baby).

For this reason, after the first night we asked to change the room: they give us the same positioned room on the 5th floor (501) without communicating door.

So almost same space but here the aircon has probably been modified by some guest so that it will continue working even after having removed the key from the electricity hole, so the room has the same temperature of the fridge and we need to open the window and sleep with our clothes to prevent any illness.

The bath has the second telephone...

At the end, if you do not find any other hotel (and it may happen), the plus are the large room (at least the king bed rooms) and the fridge (at an acceptable price, 105RM). Position is good (song contest apart). Minus: staff not very helpful and kind, average cleanliness. Incence stick are recommended for "a better atmosphere" as long as pillowcases.