Shamrock Beach Villa Penang CORNER No31 Sleeps 31

It's a beautiful spot near the floating mosque, but I don't think the 9.1 rating is deserved. The water pressure was weak, the TV didn't work, and the WiFi was completely out. Maybe a 7.8 rating would fit better. It's a four story house, so expect lots of steps inside.

We ended up cancelling through Booking.com and losing RM800 because the room description was misleading. It listed six rooms, but looking closely at the photos, two of them actually connect and share an entrance and bathroom. To reach Bedroom 1, you have to go through Bedroom 2, and you also have to pass through Bedroom 2 to get to the bathroom, so Bedroom 2 has no privacy. We were travelling as six couples, so having two couples share a room wasn't an option. Trying to sort it out with the owner was frustrating. They didn't admit to the misleading description, and we couldn't report the information.

The TV picture was blurry, and the person in charge told us to adjust the cable behind it ourselves. The second floor air conditioner only blew hot air. We were told to leave it on and wait for it to cool, but it stayed hot all day. There was no toilet paper in any of the villa's five bathrooms across the upper and lower floors. When we messaged late at night, we got the excuse that the cleaner had forgotten it, so we had to buy our own. The gate couldn't be locked, only held shut with a wire, and we worried our cars might be stolen overnight. Agoda's booking details said WiFi was available, but a few hours before check-in we were told there wasn't any. That was a lie. An hour before arrival, we were sent a long list of rules that weren't on the Agoda page, with a warning that our deposit could be deducted if we didn't follow them. One rule said to leave towels in the living room after use. We're tenants, not your kakak. The rules also said we'd have to pay if door handles were broken, but we found a broken doorknob on arrival. Luckily we took photos, or we could have been blamed and lost our deposit. The person in charge wouldn't answer calls, only messages. If something urgent happened, we'd have to wait for a late-night reply. We've rented plenty of homestays while travelling and never had such an unpleasant stay. If you're running an Airbnb, you need responsibility and empathy. We regretted choosing this villa without reading the reviews carefully, and hope others don't make the same mistake. We left a bad review on Agoda, but it was amended to make it sound acceptable. The whole villa stay was a serious failure, and what happened was unbelievable and unacceptable.

The rooms were great, and it's a very quiet place to stay. There wasn't enough parking, and you have to climb stairs to reach the rooms. I think the paint problem may be from water leaking. The TV didn't handle YouTube well and kept having connection issues, which ruined the night.