Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia Hotel Rooms at the Independent

location-cleanliness-room comfort very good,thanks..

very nice place to just stay and relex. If they can have more entertainment options, that would be better.

Like the title of this review suggests, the appearance of the Palace Hotel is like that of a bright-white castle on the outside, with forest surrounding at least one half of its complex. Inside it's beautiful, from the sparkling black tile floors of the reception hall to the modern furnishings in the bedroom. The place was very clean, and the staff were friendly and extremely helpful. In fact, there was an error with our booking, so we were upgraded to a slightly better room - free of charge - one with a window and a direct view of the forest. The pool area was clean and comfortable, and there was sufficient shade to hide from the blazing sun. Next to the pool is a gym, a small bar, and changing rooms with steam rooms. We paid a little extra when we booked in order to get the buffet breakfasts in the dining hall, which were versatile and tasty; a mixture of Continental, Western and Eastern-style foods, as well as juice, tea, coffee, cakes, and waffles. On our final day it wasn't possible for us to attend the buffet due to our early-morning flight, so instead room service organised breakfast to be sent to our room at 4:30am. Excellent.

We stayed for a week and loved every bit of it. The resort is beautifully locatated on Palau Gaya Island with views to the spectacular Mt Kinabalu and the Borneo mainland. The experience of staying in over water bungalows is magical especially at night with the relaxing sound of water lapping all around. The resort staff are welcoming and friendly, plus the food and wine choices are surprisingly diverse with a broad range of dining styles and choices. There are two high quality restaurants and a well stocked bar with very reasonable food and drink prices. We often stayed in rather than journey to KK, but it is well worth the 15 minute speed boat trip to go shopping, sightseeing or exploring the handicrafts or food markets. Other activities are the Marine Centre and a visit the sister resort at Bunga Raya, for a bit of soft adventure, the canopy walk takes you up into the trees. Best of all there were free boat transfers day and night to the mainland. Otherwise do as we did and take a cheap boat ride to visit some of the smaller islands where they have many water based activities. We visited in mid-January and even though it was monsoon season the afternoon rain was refreshing with daily temperatures around 30 C or 90 F. Also watch out for the cheeky Macac monkeys. As others have mentioned, we did see some debris carried into shore by the prevailing winds but we also regularly saw a busy clean up team make the place gorgeous again. Overall we loved it and will return one day.

The hotel is a little remote from the city but if you have your own car, it shouldn't be a problem. I stayed in the 2-bedroom spa suite and it was really good! The suite was huge and the bedrooms were comfortable. The spa-suite and villa side is a bit far from the main wing but they have free shuttle service to send you to and fro the main wing. Overall, my stay was very satisfying.

The Beverly Hotel is very conveniently located a short walking distance to the city centre. A free shuttle bus service is provided if you need to go further afield. I was very impressed with the service and friendliness of the staff who made my stay very comfortable and enjoyable. My room was very clean, tidy and quiet. The decor is pleasant, the air-conditioning and fan worked well and the bed was extremely comfortable. However, I was a little disappointed by the older model crt television and by the limited selection of satellite tv channels - especially for movies. One thing I like to enjoy doing when I relax at a hotel is to watch good movies or documentaries, but my choice was very limited. The pool was very small and so I didn't bother to use it at all because with 3 or 4 children in the pool, there was no room to swim. A third inconvenience was the internet connection which was supposed to be available 24/7 but the connection was limited. On a brighter note, the restaurant and its staff were superb. There was a huge selection of freshly cooked buffet menu breakfast choices and the muesli and made to order omelette were delicious. The dinner menu has a great variation and all food was superb. The in-house entertainment was provided by a talented song and dance trio called Mix Magazine who were great performers. Another point of interest are the 'pet' turtles which inhabit the water feature in the spacious and welcoming lobby area. I have booked a return visit.

its excellent they follow international standard good no words to stay

We enjoyed our stay and will recommend to our friends. The town itself was superb and the people were so kind and friendly including the hotel staff,

Stayed here for Christmas 2013 with my girlfriend who travelled from Australia. I came from the UK. Lovely stylish contemporary room on top floor (11th). The outstanding feature of this hotel is the friendly, helpful, courteous staff. Especially our sweet little room maid 'Nainhi' who even took the trouble to put christmas decorations and a card in our room. The buffet breakfast was delicious........ loads of choice. We had the christmas day buffet dinner which was beautifully presented with an exceptional choice of 5 star foods . The staff dressed up in santa suits and sang carols in the foyer on 23rd and 24th. We went to the christmas eve party in 'Sparks' bar and had a great time. I haven't laughed so much in ages! !