Yes, I stayed at Hilton Batang Ai earlier this year, and the journey from Kuching was a l o n g 4hr journey. The shuttle service was run by a local travel company but you pay through the hotel.

The view of the lake from the resort was pleasant though not spectacular. My first surprise when I checked-in was that the rooms did not face the lake but face inland due to certain local customs. Hence no lake-view no matter which room you stay. Secondly, only the blocks near the reception/pool area were in use, and apparently the other blocks have never been occupied !

As HHonors Gold, I was assigned a duplex suite which consisted of a huge sitting area and a bathroom on the lower level, and a sleeping area with another bathroom on the upper floor. The all-wood construction lent a pretty cosy interior expected of a 4 star resort ,but the bathrooms resembled a low-end asian hotel.

There was only one restaurant on the resort and the buffet dinner looked very uninspiring,so I went for the a-la-carte menu. If you are a seafood fan, the "udang-galah" (huge prawns) was very good (yummy ). Initially I was denied a complimentary breakfast because I have already been upgraded, but upon checking with Kuching Hilton I was given a breakfast voucher. Inspite of the very small number of guests staying there, the breakfast spread was pretty decent.

There was not much to do on the resort except for jungle-trekking etc which have already been discussed before. The "heart" of the resort was probably the pool area which was the only facility that was well utilised. The tennis courts were in a deplorable state. I dont remember seeing a gym .

There were internet facilities (dial-up) on the resort, which was a surprise considering its remote location. There was also a helicopter pad on the resort ground but I doubt any guest have ever arrived there in style !

If you are willing to go through the 4 hr journey from Kuching ,an ideal stay would be for 2 nights; long enough to justify the journey and short enough not to get bored ! If you are into jungle trekking, long-house, iban culture etc this may not be a bad place to stay considering the low rates.

Personally, I would rather spend my time at a beach resort. The Datai sounds nice .......