Hotel Rajawali

It’s a charming old hotel, and it’s been kept up nicely. The walls and doors show water damage, but everything still works. Staff take a while to deal with complaints, though they do get resolved within a day. The location is good for exploring the old town, but there aren’t any nice restaurants nearby.

In Kota Lama Surabaya, the nightlife is lively, and there’s a good breakfast if you get there early. The building and facilities are old, though everything worked. Our room was clean, including the pillows and bed cover, and the toilet amenities were okay. The AC wasn’t cool enough, while cable TV was sufficient. Staff were friendly, but nobody helped with our luggage at check-in or check-out.

The location is fantastic, on a main street in Old Town Surabaya, with historical buildings nearby and Chinatown close by. There’s a bus stop just a few meters across the road, and you can catch the Suroboyo Bus to go anywhere. I really hope this hotel makes it through the economic storm, because I love it 🥺. As someone who loves vintage things, I was taken with the historic front building and vintage-style room. It brought back the 90s and early 2000s, and memories of traveling with my grandparents when I was little. Hotels like this have a special place in my heart. I also enjoyed the lemongrass soap and shampoo in dispensers, which means less plastic waste. The hot water worked well despite the old shower head, the AC was cold, and the bed was comfortable enough. The pillows didn’t smell bad. But the towels were thin and no longer white, the sheets had tough spots, and there was no shower cap. The room was very cheap, no more than IDR 250K with breakfast, even on weekends, so I can understand they might be on a tight budget. The breakfast was disappointing this time. It was much better when I stayed a couple of years ago, but now there weren’t many choices and the spread looked empty. It felt like not much effort had gone into it. I noticed the new “Mini Zoo” sign. A staff member warned me there weren’t many animals yet, but I went to look anyway. It’s outdoors, along the side of the parking road. There were fish and a large bird-like animal, something like a chicken but different, and I don’t know what it was. There were also parakeets in two separate cages, but they were all dead 😭😭. I told a staff member, and they quickly removed the birds. The idea was good, but the execution was poor.

The stay was worthwhile thanks to the warm, responsive staff. I also liked being so close to cafes and food shops around Surabaya’s old town.