Being part of the GHA hotel group membership, when a member spends over 10 nights in one of the many GHA hotels round the globe, instead of being able to redeem any free rooms and such, one would attain an “Experience” once hitting Platinum or Black status.

Recently for me I’ve attained the platinum membership and since I have nothing better to do on a 2-day bank holiday, I’ve decided to cash in on my “Experience” in Malaysia. I’ve ended with the 90 minutes traditional massage and since I would need to stay at the establishment to redeem it, I took out my credit card and paid RM445 (~USD 110) for a Deluxe room in Avani Sepang Goldcoast Resort!

Arrival

As it was a long weekend, undoubtedly there was a huge crowd. After checking in, the guest relation officer told me that it’ll take a bit longer for housekeeping to clean up the place and showed me to a nice bar area where I was offered a complimentary welcome drink as part of the Platinum GHA membership perk.

Everything seemed great until the point where I had to wait up to an hour just to get my room keys and there were no one there to update me if my room was ready. This was a first bad impression to begin with.

The Hut?

Right after getting the key cards, you’ll need to take a buggy shuttle to your hut/room/villa. Now as a platinum member, you do get free upgrades to the next best room in which for me was the Family room.

After a somewhat bumpy 10 minutes ride, I’ve reached my hut for the night!

Now it may look like a small little hut, but never judge a book by its cover as what’s inside will surely take your breath away!

As you can see, there is 2 king beds, 2 bathroom, 2 balconies and a common area with everything you need for your stay in one place without ever needing to leave the establishment!

The common area compromises of a TV with the local channels and some international programs as well. You could also order in room services, check the local weather and whats happening in the area through the TV as well.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted with a bowl of fruits which you don’t really get to see, especially when it involves a dragon-fruit! I was also given a small snack plate of local Malaysian dessert – fried sweet spring rolls and a coconut spring roll.

 

The Room(s)

In essence, both the rooms are pretty much equal to each other with a king size bed, wardrobe with some amenities and etc. The photo below depicts room 1 and 2, in room 1 there is an additional chair and that’s about it.

What really makes the room different was the balcony each rooms has with room 2 having a small dining table for those who enjoys a sunset dinner or simply in my case, a perfect place to write a blog post for this place!

The Bathroom

There are two bathroom in the hut, one with a bathtub and one without

Toilet 1 ↑

Toilet 2 ↑

As for amenities, I think Avani is lacking behind it’s other GHA brands. Only the basis products were provided:

The Other Things…

AVANI is a resort hid away from the rest of civilization with the nearest McDonald being 15km away which one could wonder, what could one actually do here? ‘Fraid not my friends as they’ve lined up a whole lot of activities for you!

If the activities is not your cup of tea, try the infinity pool which oversees the straits of Malacca, surely the best spot for snapping a great sunset photo!

But first things first, you need to learn how to get around as this is a huge place! Obviously if you feel like walking, there is always that option or else there is always the choice of cycling!

There are bicycles essential everywhere surrounding the resort and simply pick one up and get cycling for FREE!

If you’re fed up with the place and wanted to explore KL for instance, there is a shuttle that run daily at 2pm as follow:

Conclusion

To sum up, this is a great place for a short retreat to kick back and relax. While the customer service to me is not up to par, it makes up for it with the amazing view and the design of the room itself. Definitely a superb spot to bring the family out for a short vacay as there are tons of family fun activities around the premise to keep you and your kids entertained throughout your stay. I’ll rate it:

Room: 8/10

Food: 6/10

Service: 5/10

View: 10/10

Overall: 8/10

General Info

Check in starts at 2PM and check out time is at 12pm (Unless you’re a GHA platinum/black member then you get your room till 4pm).

Breakfast starts at 6.30am and ends at 10.30am

Parking is not available on the premise unless you choose valet parking which is RM25.

Bicycles are available throughout the premise and you can take whatever you see.