Best Gaya Island Hotels

First & foremost, biggest compliments to the housekeeping team! We arrived in our villa around 2pm, went out around 4, and only returned at night after dinner to find: a mosquito coiled lit outside our door, bed has been made, coffee cups washed, rubbish bin cleared, how thoughtful! The sight of the sea from the resort was superb, enhanced by the good weather. The welcome drink of calamansi juice with plum, aka Kitchai Ping as it’s known locally, was as good as my mom’s. We initially intended to have the weekend hi-tea, but apparently it had to be pre-booked at least a day before. Thanks to that we got to enjoy happy hour instead, before having the weekend BBQ dinner that we managed to book a slot upon arrival. Bartender gave us extra kicks in our cocktails, thank you for taking our relaxation up a notch! However we seemed to be unlucky with food serving. We booked for dinner at 6 but our happy hour session somehow made some miscommunications and delay. Food was good and a plenty, though we did notice satays were missing, but we were well fed. Breakfast order was also somewhat mixed up, kitchen must be overwhelmed with many guests, but we got what we wanted in the end. Overall we are happy with our stay. We didn’t manage to explore the trails, perhaps we may return for a day trip in the future, and have that weekend hi-tea we missed.

The resort is beautifully located. You get there only by the hotels boat service that charges around 30€ per person for every round trip (5-10min one way). That boat only departs/arrives every 2 hours. There is a beautiful reef in front of the hotel however the waters in front of the hotel as well as at the private beach are full of plastics and I’ve never seen anyone collecting some. This place could be much more beautiful without that. Food was very basic at a rather high price. If you compare it to KK restaurants the prices are ridiculous. But because of the boat service’s price you don’t really have the choice to go to the city to get good and reliable food. All staff were really nice eventhough not always well trained. Overall we had an average stay. Nothing extraordinarily positive but not too bad on the other hand. Therefore the prices for everything from accommodation to food to activities (almost everything charges extra) has been way too high in our opinion.

We stayed 2 nights and had a fantastic stay despite the bad weather on the first day. We received great services from the resort management team Mr Karl, Ms Siti, Mdm Lydia also from the restaurant and recreational team members. We look forward to be back again!  Booked the family suite that is beautifully furnished and got a fantastic view of Mt Kinabalu from the room as well as variety of fishes swimming below us.  Snorkelling and kayaking are complimentary for the entire day and was great way for us to explore the beautiful waters.  On the last day, we unfortunately left our tablet in the room and we were notified immediately upon arrival at the jetty and the resort arranged it to be delivered to their jetty office within the same afternoon.  Overall it was a great experience and the welcoming and departure greetings by the management team were certainly memorable and beyond our expectations!

The location was great and the staff super friendly. A part of the beach was reserved for hotel guests and was not overcrowded. The team was trying its best to pick up all plastic in the morning from the beach but unfortunately during the day more was coming. People should take more care themselves. You can go snorkeling at the beach but to arrive the corals you need to wait for the tide and have to be a good swimmer. Then it’s beautiful out there. The breakfast was great and a good combination between buffet and menu. Overall we can recommend it for 2 nights. Don’t forget your mosquito repellent and bites relief. We saw several Gerrys;) - beautiful creatures.

The rooms are definitely not comparable to those in the main city, but you can see that the hotel has tried its best to provide facilities. First of all, the celcom network is OK, but the hotlink is basically unusable. Secondly, the hotel's wifi, which only covers the lobby, is not very powerful. The hotel even provides mahjong, projection and chess for guests to kill time on the island. Breakfast and dinner are both buffets, which are enough to eat. There will be many guests on the island during the day, which is quite noisy, but the service staff are nice.

Lovely hotel, a little old (it opened in 1977) but you can feel it has got a lot of character. Kudos to EVIS from Bell Service, he’s a humble gentlemen who loves to engage with his guests. He assisted me with my luggage and escorted me to my room. He knows the hotel inside out and loves to share his insights. Also a shout out to MARY from front desk, she is amazing. She is multi functional with assisting me to check-in PLUS helping me with concierge matters regarding my flight ticket. Exceptional staff. Thank you for having me!

So far, for my one night stay, every aspect was excellent. The location of the hotel was strategic as I could go downstairs and roamed the mall, its also walking distance to Gaya Street. I was assigned to room 732. The furniture inside the room was functioning aside from the loud noise coming from the mini fridge, as I am a light sleeper, that bothers me a bit. The service is top notch, all the staff were friendly and accommodating to my needs. The breakfast was 5/5, they offer loads of variety 👍🏻. The only downside is that you need to wait awhile for the aircond to fully cool the room, around 15-20 minutes, I think they use central aircond from the lobby, but I'm not sure.

Nice place to stay in KK.. the room is clean & cozy but the floor a bit damp & felt sticky if you walk barefoot.. other than that everything was fine.. enjoyed the sea view from my room.. lots of dining places & the night market nearby was good.. service from Rose was smooth 👌👍

The view from the room is expectacular. We like the room minimalistic design, and the colour scheme. Location is great as it is in the middle of gaya street and filipino market, walking distance to most tourist attractions. However, they need to improve on their cleanliness. Dusty fan, noisy aircon and broken sofa bed are still tolerable but the leaking in the toilet bowl after flushing is disgusting.

Great value, good location, efficient staff. The place has been renovated recently, they do provide breakfast as an alternate option if required but it will be sort of like a bento set menu. Will definitely come back again.