Parkroyal Resort Penang is an upscale 5-star hotel located in the tropical gardens on Batu Ferringhi beach. Below are the lists of pros and cons this hotel has to offer.
Pros
- It is relaxing and very serene
- This is the ideal hotel for you if you like beautiful, tropical and naturally landscape hotel
- The hotel gives you an atmosphere of being in a local historical place
- The hotel is located only 9 kilometres away from Penang Butterfly Farm, one of the places of interest in Penang and 12 kilometres away from Gurney Drive, Penang’s seafront promenade
- There is a night market nearby the hotel for you to visit after your dinner where you can buy clothes, lamps, gifts and many more things but be warned that most of them are pirated ones
- Parkroyal Resort is conveniently situated along a convenient bus route so it is easy for you to get to famous attractions like Georgetown, National Park, Spice Garden
- The bus stop is just outside the entrance and the 101 bus leaves every 20 minutes
- There are a lot of food outlets along the main road nearby to the hotel so you won’t go hungry
- Breakfast is complimentary and has some variety of choices of Asian and Western
- You can watch birds chirp as you have your breakfast overlooking the garden and the sea
- The hotel’s facilities include a free-form pool, a spa, a gym, tennis club and a kids club
- The service staffs are warm, friendly, always attentive and willing to go an extra mile to the guests’ needs
- The hotel is being refurbished with a new green paintwork on the exterior
- The public areas and the gardens are attractive, clean and well-maintained
- The lobby lounge has some good entertainment during the night
- Checking in and out is a breeze and you will be given a refreshing welcome nutmeg and citrus juice along with wet and cold towels during check-in
- The beach has a lot of activities to keep you occupied
- The rooms are spacious, clean and come with free Wi-Fi internet access, flat-screen TV, DVD player, mini-bar, coffee and tea makers
- Certain upgraded rooms have balconies with sea views or garden patios
- Room service is available 24 hours a day
- The shower in the bathroom is hot and has good pressure
Cons
- The ocean can be dirty and rough sometimes so it is not ideal for swimming or wading
- It is a non-smoking hotel and smokers are only allowed in a designated area
- Some guests experienced poor service on their second visit
- Breakfast choices are still the same from 2 years ago
- Unless you are a morning bird, it can be difficult for you to join the morning breakfast because the queues can be long and the restaurant can be chaotic
- The deep end of the pool is not accessible after 8 PM due to safety reasons because there are too many accidents
- Some guests didn’t like that they were asked to deposit USD 100 upon check-in
- Some guests find that the breakfast choices are lacking for international guests
- If you are driving there and parking your car at the hotel, prepared to see your car covered with tree leaves and flowers the next morning because there is no sheltered car park
- While the rooms are clean and well-maintained, they are rather old and dated
- You can smell the musty smell coming out of the air-conditioner
- The bed mattress is old and not comfortable to sleep on
- Toilet flushing systems did not work well in certain guests and electricity can be cut off sometimes when it rains
- Certain bathrooms have black mould on its tiles due to condensation because there is no bathroom fan
- The shower can be hard for some people to get up to because it is an old bathtub and high off the ground
- The shower head is rather old and stationary
- Sluggish Wi-Fi internet access
