Vacation period : 9-11 September 2011
It's a typical weekend, not during Malaysia's school holiday, 2nd week of Hari Raya but the place a a comsiderable number of guest.
Not too bad, its neither too quiet nor noisy with screaming kids and families!
Nothing much to do in Port Dickson but the resort has come up with some adventure courses which is very affordable and great for family retreat. Movie screening on Saturday night at 9pm. Great for the little ones.
Buffet breakfast was just average in terms of choice. Standard malaysian fare of nasi lemak set, egg station, porridge set, toast, noodles, cereals and some fruits. No cheese, pastries :(
3 bedroom apt is big, bed accomodates 6 but bring sleeping bags for the extra guest

Before I came, I was thinking to recommend to other clients as they're too planning to have training/convention somewhere in Port Dickson. However, the service and hygeine level were quite disappointing. The following are a few key areas that I personally think the resort should resolve fast so that the customers would not pay "the first and the last" visit:
- A lot of flies and mosquitoes around the resort, especially in the coffee house.
- Coffee was not hot; whenever poured in the creamer, it turned lumpy.
- Staff were not friendly ( I met a rude lady staff named "Ros" in coffee house) .
- Despite knowing there were Hindu/Buddhist guests, soup was boiled with beef & was not labelled accordingly.
- If there's any function organized around the pool at night, it should end early as the pool is at the center and rooms are facing pool. I experienced hearing singing all night long and gotta closed the windows - noise pollution :-(

Stayed in this resort for one night on 22 July 2011. As we were a large group, we decided to take a 3-bedroom apartment. I will review based on location and amenities

3-bedroom apartment:
- has three bedrooms, each can accommodate 6 people
- each room has its own bathroom attached
- air-conditioned and has a fan
- large living room with sofa and dining table and chairs
- has fridge, kettle, hairdryer and iron

Amenities:
- Swimming pool
- Restaurant
- Function Rooms
- Tower (high point where you can see the straits of Malacca)

Location:
- Next to the forest reserve
- 20 mins drive from PD town
- 5 mins drive to the nearest shop / restaurant
- Next to the beach

Pros:
- Next to the forest reserve where you can take a hike up the hill to the lighthouse
- Large spacious apartments (can accommodate up to 10-15 people if they bring their own sleeping bags)

Cons:
- Rooms are not well maintained. One of the rooms the air-conditioned was leaking and had to ask the maintenance person to fix it.
- Watermarks on the bathroom floor
- Swimming pool was filthy
- Resort's restaurant is super expensive (i.e. RM 9 for a bowl of porridge)
- Location not easily accessible unless you drive

I would recommend you to check out the forest reserve which is located next to this resort. Entrance fee is RM 1.00. The hike up to the lighthouse takes approximately 15-20 mins and the view there is breathtaking. There are two paths which you can take to explore the forest. One is from the lighthouse and the trail takes around 45 mins. The other is the Hang Tuah trail which leads to the beach and the trail takes approximately 30 mins. One word of advice: bring mosquito repellent and don't wear black as it attracts mosquitoes.

The beach next to the resort is quite ok, lots of little crabs and seashell. However I would not really recommend going into the water as it is quite polluted. You can see rubbish floating in the water.

Overall, the stay in this resort was not too bad. The view from the resort tower was really beautiful and you can see the straits of Malacca from there. Just be careful of the bees in the tower and stay out of the pool. The place is quite pricey and the location of the rooms can be quite confusing. The restaurant is also quite expensive and I would recommend you to take a drive out instead of eating in the restaurant.

We stayed last night Monday 2nd May 2011. I would like to comment on several things. Firstly, we rang twice to find out if they had a vacancy for a room and we told that for Monday night 2nd May, that Ilham Resort was 'totally booked out for all rooms". We drove to the resort on Monday 2nd to find "All room types available" How strange we thought so we booked in for the night into Room 2033. Last year we stayed during Ramadam with a great promotion and the staffs and service and hotel was wonderful. This time it was totally different. -
1) Being told no rooms available and the arrive to find empty!! (It was like the receptionist on the phone couldnt have been bothered to look up the computer to see if they actually were full or how many rooms were vacant)
2) The swimming pool was DIRTY. Very dirty. On Tuesday morning we went for swim and the pool had rubbish in it and an oily substance on the surface. By 11am the pool filter still hadnt been turned on and the fountain was off. There were plently of staff sitting around or walking around.
3) We were told, like last year to see the towel man near the gym. We couldnt ever find him and everytime we asked an employee for a towel they never returned to us but disappeared and didnt give a care for a guests' simple request!
4) There were dirty plates and cups outside the room next to ours at 2033 for 2 days!! No one took them away.The food was dried up on these plates and it attracted ants and cockroaches.
5) Our room had coffee cups missing and when we asked for some, we never got them. As we paid RM240 for the night we were completely disappointed with the service and dirty pool. Last year during Ramadam we got a great deal at Ilham for Rm110 a night with breakfast for 2 and one Puasa buffet. The hotel one year ago was cleaner, the staffs more professional and the pool was lovely. What has happened in one year? We felt that we wasted our RM240 for the poor quality we got. I hope this hotel Manager can fix up this, especially the dirty pool, getting staff to bring missing cups and actually do it.
6) Breakfast. The room rate comes with breakfast and the waitress gave us the options. We chose the egg breakfast that comes with fruit and toast. We never got the toast even requesting it twice. We were the only ones in the cafe too (empty hotel) so it wasnt like the staff were run off their feet!
Back in KL I emailed a complaint to the Operations Manager, who was polite but for such appalling service I presumed we would have been compensated with a discount on next stay or free night but no, it was just going through the motions.