Paradise by the Sea in Penang by Veron at Rainbow Paradise

The apartment has some very good points. The bed and pillows were extremely comfortable, the hot water was excellent and the apartment itself is spacious enough to spend a lot of time in. I also appreciated that Michelle responded to my messages and took some of my feedback seriously.

Unfortunately, there were several maintenance and housekeeping issues. The fridge was extremely noisy, which was particularly annoying as I spent many hours in the apartment working. There was also water on the bathroom floor around the toilet area. My main concern, however, was the way a housekeeping issue involving blood stains was handled. I found the response from housekeeping excessive and uncomfortable, although I realise that housekeeping is working according to instructions from the owners, so ultimately I consider this a management issue rather than blaming the individual staff. I also had some discussion with Michelle beforehand about the relatively large security deposit that had to be paid in advance. I have now written almost 100 accommodation reviews and, apart from one other stay in Malaysia, I have rarely been asked for this. A substantial deposit creates an expectation that any issues at check-out will be handled reasonably and professionally. After this experience, I would be reluctant to book another property requiring this type of deposit in advance. Another difficulty is that much of the day-to-day management appears to be left to housekeeping, while the housekeeping staff I dealt with could not communicate in English. Booking, payment and the deposit are handled efficiently by management, but once you are actually staying there, resolving an issue can become a rather difficult process of trying to communicate with gestures and translation. The owner did apologise afterwards and said she would address the issues, which I appreciated, but overall the experience left me with mixed feelings.

The location was very good.

It was very tired and dated.

Location. Easy for food and right by the beach.

None

Location was fine, easy access to other parts of Penang, easy access to regular bus services. Room itself was big, clean and had good views. Communication with provider excellent.

Pool was closed for most of the time. Published re opening date of 16th August became 18th and even then did not look clean and saw no other guests in it. Corridors dirty, littered , bins unemptied outside the building. Breakfast limited availability and poor quality with food cold. Weird check in process, made it feel a bit dodgy. Lifts out of order for two hours in Monday 17th with little warning. Given room was in 22nd floor, this was a big problem.