Originally Posted by
Alawyer
The prices for this Marriott are outrageous. The weekend rate is easily twice the price you will pay at the Courtyard or other Bonvoy options in Georgetown. With the out of town location and the limited facilities, I'm still on the fence for this property.
What are the choice for boozy drinks at the evening happy hour? Unlikely as it seems, are the food options at the lounge good enough to skip dinner out in Georgetown?
Outrageous is of course a local vs international perspective, it is a full service hotel that isn't too bad for my expectations living in HK (my nights were about USD180/night including taxes), but yes the local prices for many things are way cheaper than getting this "included" by the hotel. For example right next door to the Marriott was a restaurant called the
Penang Steamboat and Grill (The Mualaf Kopitiam) (looked ok on the outside), which was offering a breakfast deal for 10MYR/2USD and google maps says the buffet is 42MYR/9USD, so why would you care about some "included lounge food" or "free breakfast" (that are better quality/with AirCon, but different).
In that context, for drinks - I didn't take a picture but there were a variety of wines on offer, along with beers and a cocktail menu. But with the price of alcohol in Penang you're going to struggle to get back that room rate even if you stayed drinking for the whole 5 hours. And no, I wouldn't be suggesting that you eat in the lounge as most of the Georgetown restaurants will be of a much higher quality for not much money (this is why you typically visit Penang often anyway, for the great food and the local town experience).
However, if you are comparing to the Ferringhi Beach resorts it is a less extreme price/experience ratio (with the beach replaced with a park)