Beautiful new heritage hotel, nice room and garden, but terrible service.

Stayed at this so called 4 star hotel on 17 Dec 2011. It was during school holidays , so all other hotels were booked in Penang. I was due for a domestic flight the next early morning before flying back to Oz. Checked in in the evening and informed a chinese lady staff that i would be catching a flight at 645am, and that we would be glad if breakfast could be served by 6am. (we have mentioned this in our booking email too)she was nice enough to promise a simple breakfast and would be sent to the room by 6am. We felt thrilled checking in. The person also charged our credit card for one night deposit and explained that it would be cancelled upon our checking out next morning.

We stayed in the standard room. Room was not attached to the main building, but was nice enough. The disaster started the next morning. By 545am, we have packed our stuffs and waited patiently for the breakfast to be delivered as promised..No sign at 6am... 605am... 608am.... So we decided to check out or else we would be late for the flight.

To our horror, the entrance to the lobby was locked. As our room was not attached to the main building,there was no way for us to enter the building. The place was pitch dark. Rang the bell for almost 5-10 mins. No one. Waited outside for a while more. Finally someone came. We informed that person that we needed to cancel the deposit we paid the night before and enquired regarding the "missing breakfast". The person looked blank, and called another chinese guy for help. This itself took perhaps another 5 mins.

By the time the chinese guy came, i reexplained what has happened and was obviously frustrated... He was cool enough to say - we could still prepare breakfast for you if u want.... NO APOLOGY at all... by the time the credit card deposit was cancelled, it was probably 620am. STILL NO APOLOGY.

There was no breakfast as promised, what's more to be delivered to room. We wouldnt mind if the staff told us it is not possible to prepare breakfast that early in the morning. The least thing that we expect was to have someone at the lobby for our check out.the next morinng, instead of us ringing the door bell for so long ( it was already mentioned to the evening staff and in the booking email that we would check in late and out early next morning).
There was obviously no pass over between the morning and evening staffs.

It was the most unpleasant experience we have had in any Penang hotels. Most unprofesional staffs we have met.

The best part was that i wrote email to them the same morning (one to the hotel, one to the manager) regarding what had happened- there was no response until now. Hmmm, what should i say?

Deluxcious is a former colonial bungalow good for travellers who like historical ambience and charm of the old glories. Its interior is very beautifully designed, with lots of white and black (in Southeast Asia, this type of colonial bungalow is often called "Black & White" bungalow). It is a fantastic experience to stay here, and one can also enjoy a spa massage and eat at the restaurant all within the same premises. There are, however, some issues one needs to take note. Firstly, the hotel is located on a stretch of road that is very difficult to cross because there is no pedestrian traffic light and cars are streaming through a bend (so be careful because you may not see cars that suddenly appear out of nowhere). Secondly, the restaurant has a bar entrance, and many patrons are smoking, thus destroying the hotel image of "spa cuisine". In other words, instead of having a healthy and enjoyable stay at the hotel, eating and having a massage there, you may end up absorbing secondary smoke. Malaysia has not yet banned smoking in air-conditioned places or restaurants. There is a nice courtyard where one can dine, but when it rains, you need to be indoors, and why should dining guests give into smoking bar patrons ? Thirdly, when my family checked into the room at night, it reeked of body odor. As it turned out, three of the cleaners/staff were using (resting, sleeping) the room minutes before we entered the room. I wonder why the management allowed their staff to hang out in the rooms as I dont think guests want to sleep in beds already rested on by other people. Fourthly, this hotel is more a mansion than a hotel, and so imagine you are in the rooms of a big house. That means when noise is made along the corridors, you can hear them. So you should pray that your fellow guests are of the sophisticated type who do not make a lot of noise walking in and out, chatting along the corridors. Hopefully there are also no kids running around as this spa-mansion is more suitable for adults. That said, this place is a treat.