Unfortunately I was not referring to walking on the side of the beach here. But rather about the hotel I stayed in during my weekend at Kota Kinabalu. The Promenade happened to be where the MSH Scientific Meeting took place and staying there meant that I didn't have to worry about travels.
Anyhow, the hotel was more than capable of holding such an event. The rooms were just being refurbished. And you can tell from some unfinished fittings still left on some of the corners.
The wifi in the room was sluggish and not password protected. The TV channels were limited to 10, with only one sports channel. Luckily United were playing on Sunday, after I reached KL.
The lights on top of the main lobby
The main lobby
The reception area
A group of Korean climbers checking in. They looked to be very well prepared.On the first day, I had to get the plumbers to be sent because the toilet was getting clogged up from the previous tenant.
The breakfast was great actually. And the waitresses were attentive and polite, unlike some of the venues in KL which I was used to.
As for the hall, it struggled to accommodate the sheer number of delegates. We didn't plan for 500 people to start with, this being Kota Kinabalu and all. But we were wrong. Yes, we had to partition the ballroom for the pharma booths to fit in, which can get rather noisy. The ceiling in the meeting rooms were also rather low, but we coped OK. The AV system was UK although I stayed away from the wifi. My iPad has good LTE signal on the hall floor.
The bed was cosy enough
A nice seating area by the window
The corridor from my roomThe hotel was also within walking distance from the town centre, the beach front and the Filipino Market which was a hit amongst the nurses. Transport in and out was simple via taxi.
On the whole, it was a pretty decent hotel. For lunch, I had some Chinese dim sum which was not bad. More of a working lunch rather than anything. Would definitely try it again if I return, although Sutera Harbour would still be my first choice.
