Sunday, October 26, 2014

Mega Hotel, Miri

Note: Another overdue post about the second hotel we stayed at during our last trip to Miri, Sarawak. 

We were in Miri for two days and on the second day, we decided to stay in a hotel nearer to Miri's biggest shopping complex, Bintang Megamall. At first we wanted to book Meritz Hotel since it is just adjacent to the mall, but sadly it was fully booked.

So we scouted around and found Mega Hotel which is just a 10-mins walk from the shopping complex. 

We booked the Junior Suite through Agoda, at the price below RM300 per night. This room comes with complimentary breakfast for two persons. Check in was smooth and we were upstairs in our room in no time at all.

To be honest, the room is super spacious - if you stay here alone, you might get a little spooked because seriously, the room is too huge!

The living area and dining area which is as big as one room for four pax

If you are traveling with a group of friends or with family, this room is certainly for you. The suite includes a bedroom for four persons, and a separate lounge / living area, a dining area, a separate toilet, and a bathroom-cum-toilet.

The room comes with two king-sized bed

Flat screen LCD TV is available both in the bedroom and the lounge area, so family members do not have to fight over who gets to pick the channel :)

Did I tell you the room is huge?

I love the gold swirl design of the carpet, and the decor although not modern, does not feel too old either. The wooden panel adds a touch of classic elegance to the room. Except the sofa - those really need to be updated.

The walkway from the living area to the bedroom

My pet peeve when it comes to hotel toilet is one that does not come with a bidet. Thankfully, many new hotels nowadays are equipped with bidet. Mega Hotel is aware of this - but the most they offer is a water scoop or 'gayung' in Malay, which they place in the toilet.

Extra toilet but unfortunately no bidet installed :(

The bathroom is clean and moderately furnished.

The bathroom which is equipped with bathtub, toilet and sink area

For a four-pax room, the suite only provides complimentary two toothbrushes. Hmm. Maybe you are supposed to ask for additional toothbrush if you have four guests checking in together?

Complete toiletries but only for two pax

The bedroom is equipped with flat screen LCD TV and a work desk

Like any other hotels, they also provide coffee and tea making facilities. If you are staying in Malaysia hotels, expect to find Nescafe instant coffee and Lipton teabags in most hotels although a growing number of hotels are starting to add more selection of beverages to these two standard items.

Beverage station

This time we did not manage to check out the hotel swimming pool since our main reason was to go shopping. Maybe next time.

Lastly, our room package comes with breakfast. Unfortunately, breakfast was disappointing with limited selection on the menu. Strangely, the hotel management is trying to promote hotel staycation by promoting free breakfast. I think they should improve the breakfast menu first before having such promotion.

My verdict - the room is beyond my expectation, so it is a nice surprise. Unfortunately, it won't be sitting at the top of my preferred list as yet because there is no wow factor to woo travellers like us to stay there. To improve - breakfast and bidet installed in the toilet.

Verdict: 7/10