5StarPanda Seaview at The Shore Kota Kinabalu

The first problem came at check-in. I had booked three double-bed rooms through Agoda on 4 June 2026, but when we arrived around 3:30pm, the rooms weren't ready because there weren't enough housekeeping staff. We were allowed in, but cleaning wasn't finished until about 5pm. That night, one of my friends found ticks and fleas on the bed and floor and couldn't sleep. We reported it at the front desk the next day. Staff apologized and said they'd move us, but later told us no similar rooms were available. Instead, they offered a place at Jesselton Quay, assuring us it had three double beds for six guests. We trusted them and checked in at around 9pm on 5 June 2026. There were only two double beds, one with a pull-out bed, so one person would have had to sleep on the floor on a thin mattress. That wasn't what we'd agreed to and was unacceptable. We also found two live cockroaches in the bedroom. Staff offered to move us again, but by then we'd lost confidence in the management and hygiene. We asked for a refund for the remaining two nights and wanted to check out immediately. Staff agreed to process it and told me to contact Agoda. Agoda said the property had to authorize the refund directly. I messaged the property several times, but have still had no reply. The dirty rooms, incorrect sleeping arrangements, poor communication and failure to follow up on the promised refund made this one of the worst stays I've had. I urge management to address these issues and honor the refund they promised.

We stayed four nights, and they never cleaned our room during the day. The place is centrally located in Kota Kinabalu, but I wouldn't recommend it, even with that convenience. It was an extremely bad experience for the high price, which didn't come close to the bare minimum. I would give it zero stars if I could. From outside, the hotel looks cozy, but inside, even a cheap motel would be better. The lifts were very slow, with waits averaging 8-10 minutes. Our first room wasn't properly prepared: footprints on the floor, no towels or soap, and a door that wouldn't close or lock. They gave us another room, which was worse. Its door was wide open, it hadn't been cleaned, there was a plastic cup on the table, dust everywhere, a doormat on the microwave and a bed that clearly hadn't been changed. We complained to customer service, but they brought us back to that same room because the "kids" who were apparently meant to clean it didn't believe us. They accused us of messing it up, even though the cleaning hadn't been done. When I pointed out the doormat on the microwave, they stopped talking, though I could still hear them mocking us behind our backs. We had a late check-in at 3pm, yet the room still wasn't ready. I do want to thank the receptionists who were speaking with us at the time. They stayed polite despite our complaints.

The bathroom was awkward to use, with a very narrow walkway because the toilet bowl sat too close to the wall. One bed had a bent middle and squeaked, and there wasn't much space to walk around. The room, level 18, B-18-08, looked totally different from the Agoda photos. At least it was fairly clean, had a Coway water filter, a decent set of kitchen utensils including a pan, a TV with YouTube and Netflix, two separate queen beds divided by a sliding door, good air conditioning and a water heater. We arrived late to check in, but the towels weren't ready. The cleaner said they were still wet, so we ended up going downstairs to Orange convenience store to buy disposable ones. We were disappointed and glad it was only one night. We wouldn't book here again. I did wonder why our room was plated under LW Suites when another room we saw was labelled with LW Suites. Who knows, perhaps Agoda showed the wrong photos, or maybe the counter assigned us a different room on purpose.

There were lots of drain flies in my room, adults and larvae both. The room was a decent size, and the pool with its sunset view was nice. I asked for a hairdryer around 8am, and they promised to bring it before noon. The day went by, and I was checking out before it ever arrived.