Bayview Beach Resort, Penang

Really enjoyed staying at the Bayview resort. Beautiful staff and very nice hotel. Only two things I could say as a downside. 1. Hard beds. They could be a little softer. We've stayed in hotels all over the world and that must be one of the hardest bed I've ever slept on. my wife, however slept soundly so maybe it's just what I'm used to. 2. Location. The hotel is at the end of Batu Ferrengi Beach and there is not a hell of a lot of bars at that end. (There is not a lot of bars in Batu Ferringi full stop though) However, I think it's a growing spot and perhaps in a few years it might get better. Definitely not a party place though. If you want that, go to Thailand I think. George Town is well worth a visit. It's about 3RM (1AU$) each way on a bus and can get there in about 45mins Breakfast was not a lot of choices for westerners in my opinion. No bacon at all. I had to have omelettes everyday to fill me up, they did alternative days of chicken and beef sausages and meat slices though. Lots of currys if your into that for breakfast? Yuck!! Overall I would recommend the hotel if you want to spend a quiet holiday by the really nice pool and are not that bothered about night entertainment. There is one particular bar though, called the Bora Bora. It's about 10-15min walk that has music and nice food. Also Hard Rock Cafe next door for Excellent Dinner (no pork ribs though, beef, (we are in a Muslim country after all so can't complain about that.) Overall very good.

We check in around 4 pm. Once we enter the room, the air cond not well function & so do the television. We make a complained. Then came 2 maintenance boy fix the air cond and tv. The tv ok. After 1 hour, the room still warm. We complained again n nobody come. We go out to find some comfort food for diner and we hope the aircond getting better, we left the card so the aircond still on. around 10 we come back to the room still warm. We make a complain again. Still nobody show up. After 1/2 hour we call again and the receptionist say that they are on the way.. around 11:30 somebody come & say that he already turn on the chiller n the aircond should be ok for another 15 minutes. We fell asleep together with our baby and twin toddler while waiting for the 15 minutes. I used book as a fan to comfort my kids.. around 2 am the room still warm! We open the sliding door so the air will cool down the room. We don't want to make any trouble as it's 2 am to call the reception. So just sleep with open sliding door! The next day when check out, we complain again n the receptionist say that we should ask to change room.. we didn't ask as the maintenance boy told us the aircond is ok.! They should suggest to us to change the room after 2nd time complained! Poor customer service. Would never come back again!

I stayed for 11 nights and had to put up with a rock hard bed like I did on my last visit but this time it was for longer. I thought I would take a chance maybe I would get lucky and get a soft bed. I sent the hotel a message before my stay requesting a soft bed and they did reply they would put a comforter on it. Arrived at the hotel and they did put a thin comforter on the top. I asked for another as it was still hard. The comforters made no difference. I ended up with a sore shoulder and had to get medicine to take the pain away. Every morning I woke up sore and so did my partner. We were also suppose to have in house movie channel but it was really bad reception that we could barely see the movies. Complained and they said they would fix it and they tried but still made no difference. We complained again but still never fixed the problem. The manager talked to us and said they were doing renovations so maybe that was it. I didn’t quite understand what he was saying. I really liked the facilities there but won’t be staying there again unless they get better beds and fix the reception. Also the carpets were very stained.

Bayview seems a little weathered and tired. Better lighting could have improved the facade of the place. It is a huge hotel with many rooms at every turn. When we were there, it was maxed out with plenty of locals. We had to miss lifts and take d next ones each time we needed to go down or up. The food could have been better but good effort though. We had a lovely ride up the long winding road each night coming back to the hotel. As it is located further down the strip of the night market it gets a little more quiet and calm as we go up the road. We had an interesting view of the locals at work set with the hill in the background from our balcony. There is a shuttle service at the hotel to Gurney and Georgetown provided at 12pm on a first come first serve basis. We also took the public transport that ply the winding streets outside the hotel. Bus 101 and 102 leads to right to Gurney and Georgetown as well for a fare of 2.70ringgit. Overall good stay, and most importantly the staff at Bayview were pleasant and did their best to assist when needed. Thank You!

Thought of having a short swim so went to the swimming pool not realizing it was near closing time as it was only about 7:20pm and there were quite a number of people by the pool. When I just got into the pool, I heard a lord whistle followed by a shout from the pool attendant telling me that the pool is closed. His tone was very rude. It was so humiliating to be shouted at like that. Couldn't he had whistled to catch my attention and then walk over to me to speak with me? Tried connecting to the hotel wifi but the connection kept dropping like every 10 seconds. Called front desk to ask if some special configurations were needed but was informed there is none and that I can just click on a button in the browser to connect. No password needed. I wasted another 45 minutes trying until I gave up. During check-out, I informed the front desk of the problem with the wifi connection. To my surprise, she told me that has been a known problem for a number of years. She even told me that the higher floor I stay, the connection gets even worst (I was on 2nd floor). Shouldn't the hotel remove 'free wifi' as one of their features?