Overall rating
Service: ★★★★
Room: ★★★★★
Location: ★★★★★
Food: ★★★★
Price: ★★★★
Hilton Honor Recognition: ★★★★★
Tips
DoubleTree by Hilton Damai Laut Resort is the latest Hilton hotels property in Malaysia. which was officially opened on 15th September 2022. Since this is a newly refurbished hotel (previously was Swiss Garden Hotel), my friends and I decided to pay them a visit and try to compare them with other Hilton Hotels in Malaysia. Lets start.......
Location
This hotel is located in Lumut district in Perak. We started our journey from Penang and it took us approximately 2.5 hours before reaching this stunning resort. For those of you who are planning to stay here, please be informed that this hotel is far from the main road and the town. How far is "far"? It is approximately 7 km from the main road so you can imagine how far it is if you need to go out and buy some food or other essentials.
On a positive note, this hotel is lcoated along the beach of Lumut which offers direct access to the beach. For those of you who love nature and beaches, this is the perfect spot for your holiday.
Check in
Check in was a breeze! Staffs were really friendly and they will do everything they could to make your stay memorable. The moment when you enter the lobby, you will be greeted with the breathtaking view of the ocean and forest around the resort. We instantly felt the holiday vibe the moment when we entered the lobby!
The lobby has an open concept so you could enjoy the ocean breeze while waiting for check in or reading a book.
Room
We booked a King Guest Room but we got upgraded to King One Bedroom Seaview Suite with Balcony due to my Diamond Hilton Honor status. Our suite was on the 5th floor with unobstructed view of the ocean. You plan to stay here, I would suggest you to book the seaview room. Why? Because you will get to enjoy the firework show at night during weekends! yes, you heard it right! They organise a regular firework show on weekend nights so if you book the seaview room, you can enjoy the firework show at the comfort of your room!
Our suite was huge and it can easily accommodate 5 people. In the living hall, you will find a smart tv with a L-shape sofa and a chair. The difference about this suite in comparison to other Hilton hotels in Malaysia is they offer full bathroom amenities in the living hall. Yes, a full bathroom amenities including the toilet cubicle, shower cubicle, a complete wardrobe and a huge sink. This is very useful if you have guests in your suite since they do not have to go into your bedroom if they want to use the toilet or even take a quick shower. The living hall also offers separate balcony for you and your guests to enjoy the breathtaking view of the ocean or maybe take selfies.
The main bedroom of this suite is massive! It comes with a huge king sized bed, a L-shape sofa, smart tv and a coffee machine. You can also find the second bathroom and separate balcony in the main bedroom which has exactly the same layout as the one in the living hall. Since this stay was mainly to celebrate my friends birthday, the hotel has prepared some basic birthday amenities prior to our arrival.
Food
As a Diamond Hilton Honor member, my friends and I were entitled for evening aperitif at Axis Lounge. It was supposed to be at Executive Lounge but it is closed for renovation until March 2023. The lounge offers amazing view of the pool and the ocean but the food selection was rather limited. We took quick bites before heading to Makan Kitchen for our dinner.
During our stay, we managed to try their BBQ dinner buffet at Makan Kitchen. Priced at RM120 per adult, you get to enjoy the fresh seafood BBQ such as tiger prawn, king crab, mussels and etc alongside with other local and western cuisine. If you are a Hilton Honor member, you are entitled for a discount (10% off for member and silver, 25% off for gold and diamond).
The variety and selection of food was good but not the best I've seen. Frankly speaking, DoubleTree by Hilton Putrajaya Lakeside offers better selection of food and they still remain the best DoubleTree By Hilton in Malaysia when it comes to food selection. The taste of food in DoubleTree Damai Laut was great. However, we had few problems during our dinner which I think everyone else would have agreed. The first one is the presence of flies! It was not a pleasant experience to dine in when you have uninvited guests (flies) accompanying you while you are having your dinner with sunset view! We called the staffs and asking for extra candles to be placed on our table to reduce the number of flies. However, after sun sets, there was no more flies in the restaurant which made our dining experience to be slightly better than the in dusk. The hotel seriously needs to think on how to minimise this occurrence as this is a 5 stars hotel so guests would expect to have memorable experience during their stay.
Secondly, the service was quite slow. We had to raise our hands few time before the waiter noticed us. There were few moments where we raised our hands but the staffs ignored our calls. If you don't raise your hands then they won't clean up your plates and glasses. This is quite contradictory with other Hilton hotels. We were not sure what could be the main reason for this. Either they are new and the staffs need more training or they were busy handling the flies issue.
Lets move on to breakfast. If you are a Hilton Honor member, you will know that Gold and diamond members are entitled for complimentary breakfast. Breakfast was generally good but do expect a large crowd during weekends and public holiday. We were so lucky to be able to get a table the moment when we entered the restaurant. The buffet spread was good enough as what you would expect for a breakfast. There was nothing fancy about the food selection but we were surprised to witness that they used instant and frozen roti canai for breakfast. At other Hilton hotels, they will make it fresh the moment when you order them.
Facilities
If you are looking for a hotel/resort that offers amazing facilities and amenities, then this hotel would be the perfect choice! Their pool was simply the best! We would say that this is probably the pool in any of the Hilton hotels in Malaysia. They have two splash pools, a jacuzzi pool and an adult pool overlooking the ocean. For families with small children, we can guarantee you that your children would enjoy their stay at this hotel very much.
Besides these amazing pools, they also have a kids club where kids could play games and while making new friends! It is located in front of the gym. For all gym freaks, you might want to pay a visit to their gym. You can enjoy the seaview while working out. It couldn't get any better than this!
Overall, we enjoyed our stay here and we would definitely come back in in future! We did not manage to explore everything they have to offer since our stay was a short one.
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