Ada L.
Yelp
I had a wonderful stay here for the same reasons mentioned by other Yelpers. What makes it wonderful is both the combination of service and the evocative rooms. You can see how most of the original structural frame of the building was left and just accommodated to suit hotel standard lodging needs. The decor is simple but with just the right touches of old school enamelware and Peranakan crockery that make it feel homey rather than hotel-corporate. It's also a heritage hotel not just in appearance but also in location. You start every morning walking out onto a street surrounded by buildings with actual character and nostalgia.
From the street, you can't really tell it's a hotel, as you only see the cafe front. Reception is the room directly behind the cafe. Past that, there is a gate that separates the lodging quarters from the front. If you've booked for 4 people or more, you get placed in your own separate building across the street. There's really no room for parking unless you're in the larger family suite, which allows at most one vehicle.
STAFF are accommodating, polite, and helpful. When you check in, they personally show you to your room and give you a tour of it before they leave. Throughout our stay, the young porter was the most helpful. But I have to say there was one receptionist who gave us some not so warm looks, and I don't know why as we'd never seen or interacted with her before so I don't know how we could've upset her other than by our looks. We spoke to her once, and there was visible disdain in her demeanor when I had seen her be just the complete opposite with two other guests.
ROOMS: I stayed in a double and all the extra space was luxurious compared to what you get in Singapore for the same price. We were 3 and there were no issues with water pressure or hot water except for once when I felt the temperatures change briefly. Wifi signal may depend on your phone, my friend had constant strong signal pick-up while my older phone barely had any unless I sat outside the room. There are both aircon and fans in the room, which you can adjust yourself.
Some issues for me was the bathroom drain, which you'd smell whenever it rained a lot (so this might only be more prominent during monsoon season). It's not really something you can do about because of the area and old drains, and as long as you keep the bathroom doors closed you don't smell it. Another issue was that our front door had a large gap the circumference of a cup in the corner even when fully closed, though obviously this depends on the room. It made me wonder about problems with critters, but surprisingly it wasn't much of a problem at all since I never saw roaches (maybe it's because housekeeping has a giant can they spray every day) or anything until the last day when we were alarmed by something squeaking loudly behind the fridge. The last thing, which some people might find unacceptable but I just found hilariously befuddling, was the condition of the sheets and towels sometimes. We once unfolded a towel to find a giant triangular rip in the middle almost as large as the towel itself. I thought it must've been a fluke until another night I pulled back the sheets and found that the lining sheet under the covers had huge rips and holes. There was no way that housekeeping didn't notice that while making the beds, so I can only assume that they think ragged towels and ripped sheets are still perfectly presentable.
Some things to be mindful of if you have young children and mind certain night activities. This is a backpacker area, and at night you'll see a lot of bar activity along Love Ln and Lebuh Chulia. And along dark corridors you'll see working girls/ladyboys (though they usually stand in the shadows) looking for clients. So if you mind this sort of stuff, you might not want to walk around with the kiddies at night. Other than just noticing them, they don't do anything out in the open so it's not really much of a concern. It's only the bar workers that holler at you. Oh, also, they have live music at night at the cafe, which you can hear all the way to the back of the hotel. If you're an early nighter kind of person, you might want to take that into consideration.
NOTE: They like to say it's 24-hour reception, but it's not really. The reception door is always unlocked, and during off hours there's usually someone sleeping in the back. So even if there isn't anyone in sight, just walk in and call out. Someone will come out to take your keys if you're ready to check out. Not quite sure how it works if you have an outstanding balance or are checking in, but there should always be someone in the back even if it looks empty from outside.
