Foodaholic Tawau: Outward Vacay: Cathay Hotel

It’s not too late for me to wish you guys a HAPPY NATIONAL DAY & SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILADHA right? And let me just skip the part where I was again in Kota Kinabalu recently (twice in the same month no less) due to some urgent personal matter and go straight for my accommodation review okay? I’ve initially chosen this particular hotel due to some last minute planning and budget constraints. So I was a bit apprehensive going into the hotel as I’d initially had very low expectations, but was pleasantly surprise by them in the end. Another reason was probably because of their location, as it was within the Sedco Complex, right in the middle of the Asia City area and the Kg Air area; an area that was very familiar to me and also a good place to hunt for reasonably priced food. But as luck has it, there’s this bundle carnival (since I was there sometime before the National Day celebration) right in front of the hotel (originally a huge parking area) so finding an available parking was definitely a pain-in-my-rear-end even after midnight.

The room that I was given was unfortunately directly facing the said carnival so I was ‘entertained’ with live music until the wee hours. But the room itself was pretty good. I would say that it was above average overall, as everything seems quite new and clean. I just loved their thick and high bed setting and the open concept of their showers & bathroom, making the area more spacious. And I was a bit surprised to find quite a number of plug outlets available throughout the room, as well as the almost complete toiletries available. The downside for me might be the rather small and limited walking space within the room (but that wasn’t a big deal to me) and the non-existence of the bidet hose inside the bathroom. And I’d also noticed the receptionists (although pleasant enough) were not really that friendly (in fact, they pretty much ignores you unless you initiated a conversation) and were almost always on their ‘all important’ mobile phone.

All in all I’d say…

Type – Deluxe with Window

Room – 4/5 (comfy even though it might be a bit small)

Price – 4/5 (very reasonable considering the central location)

Service – 2/5 (again, it wouldn’t hurt for them to acknowledge you once in a while)

Décor – 3/5 (new, modern and sleek)

Facilities – 3/5 (they do have a lift for such a small, boutique hotel)

Location – 4/5 (they’re also facing the Centre Point shopping mall)