Hotel 138 @ Bestari

The room was clean and the staff were friendly, though the facilities could be better. The TV remote didn't work, and there are no buttons on the TV itself, so I couldn't change channels. Birds chirped noisily near the windows. It's a decent choice if you don't care much about the extras.

The worst part happened in the lobby on day five. While I waited with my children, my two older boys, aged 11 and 7, took their crying younger sibling outside to look at cats and came back a few times, certainly no more than three. The receptionist was playing a blockbuster movie loudly on the front desk computer and got irritated about pressing the door release button, which was hanging around her neck. She complained sarcastically, “Don't you think the electricity bill has to be paid?” and kept muttering, even when people who seemed to be her relatives came in. After I put up with it for several minutes, I asked angrily, “Don't I pay to sit here?” She raised her voice, came out from behind the counter aggressively, and seemed ready to confront me physically. We argued, and she shouted, “You're a real pig. You know how to make children, but not how to look after them.” She also brought up my children eating in the dining area and not cleaning up. I reminded her I'd apologized when she first mentioned it, and we'd stopped using the dining area since then. She said she was tired and frustrated with her workload and went on complaining. I stopped listening. I told her that keeping the hotel clean and helping guests were part of her job, and that watching movies at work was inappropriate. Management didn't take full responsibility and shifted the blame to us as paying guests. The room problems were bad too. One room had no TV remote. In another, the lights and air conditioning kept switching off at night while the TV turned on by itself, several times, so my children couldn't sleep. I asked to move, but the male receptionist laughed and mocked me instead of helping. Another staff member had earlier said, “If there's a cancellation, you can double-check at the counter, maybe you can change rooms.” The receptionist's sarcastic response was deeply frustrating. I didn't respond and just dismissed it. I stayed six nights, the first in one room and the rest in two rooms. Housekeeping changed the bedsheets only once, after I asked, never replaced the towels even when requested, and didn't vacuum the floor, just emptied the trash. There were no Do Not Disturb or Make Up Room tags. While I was away, staff entered my room and threw out the trash without telling me, which raised serious privacy and safety concerns. This was by far my worst hotel stay. My family and I felt disrespected, unsafe, and very disappointed. Between the poor cleaning, privacy issue, and staff's abusive behavior, I won't return, and I strongly advise others to avoid it if professionalism, safety, cleanliness, and basic respect matter to them.

There's plenty of food nearby, along with convenience stores, and the price is the best budget deal in the area. The hotel itself needs some improvement, though. The floor was dusty, there was fungus in the toilet corners, the pillow had marks, and there were mosquitoes in the room. Housekeeping is the main issue. At the very least, they should clean the floor. There aren't many plug points either.

I spent three weeks at Hotel 138 and had a great stay, with nothing to complain about. The staff were really friendly and helped me with whatever I needed. There are good food shops nearby too, where you can try local Malaysian dishes.