ContinentalVoyager7

Hi All,

Am very interested in staying in this property. Just created my World of Hyatt membership and am new to the brand. Am usually an Accor loyalist

Any tips would be great. Am planning to book the King Bed Ocean View room and driving up from Singapore.

Thanks,
Cocoleolol

italdesign

Hi jpdx, or anyone else who's been here, did you see any massage places nearby?

jpdx

No, sorry. I don't think there is any tourist infrastructure near the hotel (comparable to what you'd find in Bali/Thailand/etc). Per Google, there are a number of spas in town, and Grab is very cheap. We didn't even look at the hotel pricing for spa services; it's possible that (like food) it's rather reasonably priced.

gspurr

I'll be there in October with a car for 4 days. Can anyone recommend any good day trips? I'm driving from KUL and plan on stopping at the elephant sanctuary but other than that I don't have anything else planned.

italdesign

Sunrise at Bukit Panorama is on my list.

Gioventu

madguy2

When I went in May this year, the club lounge was open late at around 12pm to night. It's not open in the morning.

You can probably call the hotel directly to doublecheck? +60 (9) 518 1234

Gioventu

Any recommendations on how to get from Kuantan airport to the hotel? Any recent experiences?

EHAM1

euh, taxi? The ride is 25 minutes and Grab is dirt cheap in Malaysia.

bzbdewd

Any more recent stays/updates on this property? We are in KL and thinking it might be fun for a few days. Still have 2 club access awards to burn and think we might do 1 week out there.

Gioventu

We were there in September last year and value for money is great!

However, be prepared that there is not much going on and you mainly stay in the hotel. Lounge was still closed in September and food was ok but definitely not more. Hard product is fine and you can easily spend 3-4 good days at the pool/beach.

Enjoy your time and let us know if the club has opened in the meantime.

solewalker

I was there for two trips, once in November for a ~10 days and once in December for ~ a week. The club was open when I was there. There's a shiny new Starbucks beside the hotel, but mostly, prepare to chill at the hotel for your time there. Breakfast is served in the restaurant, but the club is open from ~ 11 am, but I'm unsure of the closing time. Evening service is 6 - 8 pm.

The hardware is nice, and the long stretch of beach is lovely.

projectmaximus

Good to know! We will be there for 3 nights in March. How would you rate the kid-friendliness?

gspurr

I was there in October for 4 nights (without kids). I do have kids and I think they would enjoy it as there are decent sized pools and a nice beach area. I can't remember what the kids club looked like. The club lounge for evening snacks/dinner was quite good with a nice rotation of hot food each night--more than enough for dinner.

As a previous post mentioned there is not much to do in the immediate area. There is a small night market next door, a few fast food places and lots of monkeys. You might consider stopping at the elephant sanctuary on the way to or from KL. They have times that you can reserve to bath the elephants in the mid-afternoon.

bzbdewd

We have been here for a few days and it is basically just ok.
The front desk staff is nice but not trained up to the level of a normal Regency property. We emailed to make sure we could use a club access award and were initially told that "those awards are only good for one night" and we'd have to book a club room for the rest of the stay (umm, no)... and then when I sent them the T&C on those they responded back that yes, we could use it for the whole time. We called Hyatt and had it added to the reservation and emailed the hotel again to confirm just to be sure we were good. Got a response back that yes, we were all set. Got here and they had no idea about the award being added to the reservation, no thanks for being a member, no clue really. After much typing and paper shuffling, we did end up with Club Access. But we are at the complete opposite end of the property from the lounge in a hotel that is basically empty. And yet all the guests are clumped together in chunks so you get all the noise of a much busier hotel.
The room is ugly and smells like mold/drains. Cheap fixtures too. A couple we spoke to that has one of the suites said the exact same comment... If this is after their big refurb I would have hated to see it before. The restaurants and some of the common areas are attractive - however, the rest of the buildings are really bland and unattractive.
The breakfast is pretty expansive but when compared quality-wise to a lot of the food we've had in Malaysia it is just ok. In the lounge - the same, quite a few options but not great quality. However, the restaurant/lounge staff are really nice so that is a plus.
The beach is ok - brown sand, and quite churned up at the moment but they do keep it picked up. Maybe it is clear at other times but there have been red flags out the whole time.
The pools are the best part - nice and clean, plenty of loungers and a good-sized kids pool so the larger pool is pretty quiet.
There is basically nothing else here. Some iffy fast food outside the gate and a 7-11.

For $70/night it is really cheap.. but considering the Grand Hyatt in KL (which is a fantastic hotel) is only $135/night this really isn't a good value. IF you are in the area and want a cheap place to spend a few days in the sun it isn't bad but I really wouldn't put any more effort into it than that.
We are probably going to leave early - I would just put the do not disturb on to see if we can get credit for the whole stay but they have the motion detectors so it knows if the room is occupied or not. So note - not really a property for a mattress run either.