The Cathayana Hotel, Kuantan
Kuantan is definitely one of our favourite Malaysian cities, it’s got an incredible beach in Teluk Cepemdak and an actual beachfront with coffee shops, restaurants and even an exclusive beachfront hotel too. Let me dive straight into it – a brief review of our one night stay at The Cathayana Hotel.
The Cathayana is extremely new – It opened on the 18th of October 2014 and it still has the look of a new hotel – which is great. However, we were here on business and it is so new that, at the time of writing, they still don’t offer breakfast services. Which had us – who haven’t quite mastered Roti Canai and Nasi Lemak breakfasts – driving around to the malls for a bite (all the malls unfortunately only open at 10am.)
The room was wonderfully sized – huge in fact. Here are some pics so that you can see what I mean.
The Front Entrance
Reception Lobby and Future Dining Hall
Superior King Room
Room & Office
King Bed
Reverse View
Wardrobe, Fridge and Safe
Bathroom and Shower
Overall the decor was fantastic for the price. The bed was comfortable, the office area worked out fairly well with the exception that if we had stayed longer the single plug point would’ve been an issue and also the WiFi reception was very VERY poor. I had to resort to using my phone as a dongle to get any work done.
The bathroom was great – very roomy and and the shower was very good too – that is if you shower for less than five minutes. Anything over and your water gets a bit lukewarm (which isn’t a huge deal at all in the heat of Malaysia.)
Another thing i’ll add here is the excellent parking. The parking is on levels 1 and 2 and due to the newness of the hotel there was always plenty available and it’s not underground – which I really liked.
Things I did not like at all was that the room, despite being on a non-smoking floor, had a definite smokey odor to it. Smoking in rooms is actually a problem all Malaysian hotels have to deal with and I constantly find signs warning guests that if they do not adhere to the no-smoking policy they will be charged RM500 for a room cleaning service. The Cathayana didn’t have any warning signs up and perhaps that is the reason people thought they could smoke.
I can’t understand why the public feel it is absolutely imperative to smoke in their rooms. It creates a disgusting experience for future guests and that was my experience – especially in the wardrobe area, which is connected to the toilet.
Although there is an extractor fan in the loo, when we woke up in the morning our towels and clothes smelt of old smoke – which is a shame because I doubt now I could ever return. But If I ever do return to the Cathayana, I will insist on inspecting (smelling) my room first.
The coffee mugs in the were also clearly washed with soap used for showering and I got a bad taste in my mouth when using it thanks to this.
Other than those two point the hotel was great – it’s close to both the East Coast and Berjaya Mall’s, not far from anything else and the staff seem really friendly.
Cathayana Hotel Kuantan Price List
One LAST thing – the price was fantastically cheap.Here are the rates at the time of writing.
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