Spices Hotel

The rooms were really nice, clean and well maintained for the price, and the house was designed by an architect. Staff were very friendly and tried to help. But my room was in the second building, on the second floor above a restaurant, so it was noisy until midnight. There’s also the mosque to consider, and honestly I didn’t get the best rest. I stayed just one night. They gave me wrong information about the bus connection. If you’re heading to Penang Sentral, go there directly, not to the one in George Town. I lost two hours because the buses from GT all stop at Penang Sentral. Still, it was good value for money and free Wi-Fi :)

The reception and lobby were quite nice, but sleeping was difficult. Noise from the AC compressor came through because the windows didn’t seal properly, and I could hear footsteps upstairs all night. Mosquitos were a problem too.

The receptionist was helpful and our room was clean. We arrived two hours early and they let us check in. There’s a shared living room that feels calm and warm. Really recommend.

Update after the hotel’s response: this wasn’t a case of the room simply falling short of my expectations. The service I booked and paid for wasn’t provided, so I’m entitled to a refund. The hotel still hasn’t addressed why management said night two wouldn’t be refunded when the first receptionist told me it would be. I booked this hotel specifically to work remotely, checking that the room included air conditioning, a desk, and WiFi. The room didn’t meet those basic needs. The AC couldn’t cool the large, high-ceilinged space. After several hours it was still uncomfortably warm. Reception sent maintenance, who confirmed the unit was already set to its lowest temperature, but it wasn’t enough for the room. The desk chair was broken, with no base beneath a visibly grubby cushion, so I couldn’t use it. WiFi kept dropping out and was too patchy for video calls or even reliable browsing. I gave up and worked from a nearby café. Before leaving, I told reception about the heat and WiFi and asked to move rooms. They said the hotel was full, but said I could request a refund for the second night through Booking.com, which I agreed to. While looking for somewhere else to stay, I found other rooms available in the hotel for both nights. The room stayed hot that night, and street noise made it difficult to sleep. The next morning, another receptionist was polite, apologetic, and tried to help by offering a different room. I said I’d rather leave and get the refund discussed the day before, and asked her to confirm what would happen with night two. After calling management, she said they wouldn’t refund it because they knew about the WiFi issue and were working on it, with IT maintenance “coming later.” It was already 3:45 p.m. That doesn’t seem a valid reason to refuse a refund under consumer protection laws. The room was advertised with air-con, WiFi, and a functional desk, all key reasons I booked. The WiFi was unusable and the AC ineffective, so the room didn’t match the description. There were other problems too: steep, narrow stairs with uneven step heights that were hard to manage with heavy bags, grimy key cards, stained and dirty walls, and something in the bed that looked like either a dried-out insect or mouse dropping. There are much nicer, cleaner, more professional hotels nearby at similar prices. I wouldn’t recommend this one.