One good day has passed. The next day, i move myself and my people to Utama hotel for another night stay.
On the right side of the photo above, you will notice there are some switch below the telephone,hehehe...they are meant to be like a switch for the whole room, including the television. Yes, you switch in the lights and everything using those.
This hotel is like Formosa Hotel 6 to 7 years ago, but it is a direct opposite of Formosa Hotel in many ways,hehehe...i will come to that part as i go on.
Look at the room, in Formosa and many hotels in Batam, when i step into a room,i would pass by the toilet 1st before reaching the bed. This one is different, i pass by the bed before i reach the toilet. On the left side where this photo is taken is actually a cupboard for clothes and the pantry where there is coffee maker, kettle and a mini fridge. Almost exactly like those i seen in Formosa Hotel.
But unlike the other hotel which provides black coffee,tea, sugar and creamer in the pantry, this hotel provides 3-in-1 coffee,tea, sugar and creamer.
Nice change,hehehe...and upon looking around the room, on the 1st photo above, there is a calendar-looking greeny thing that caught my attention. Thats for this hotel's in-house massage,hehehe...i do a little flipping.
Yes, i did try their massage shop at the ground floor. Believe me, whatever i choose to have in the menu shown above, they will tell me "dont have", only Javanese Mix Thai Massage available but going at 180k rupiah per hour.
Uncles,aunties and myself drop the idea of trying. Maybe let my richer friends go try them out next time.
In general, this hotel is a smoking hotel. Everywhere,anywhere..i see people smoking. Yes, i am a smoker, but this one really went a little overboard to the extend the staffs did not bother cleaning their air-con filter. The air-con in my room starts "puffing cigarette scent" in the middle of my sleep. I need to sleep with windows opened.
With opened windows, noise came in and as this hotel was near the main road, i am guessing noise pollution would be inevitable (i have my lowered expectation). But to my surprise, i was awaken in the morning NOT by the noise from the main road but by the guests staying opposite my room who were checking out,hehehe...and few of them were closing their room door with the incredible hulk's might.
With the room window closed, the room was better sound proof-ed against vehicle outside the main road (i tried it and there was very minimal sound), but with the door closed, i can still hear clearly the conversation of 2 Sillyporean chinese man talking loudly in Hokkien when they checked out. And they arent even shouting.
In general, Utama hotel is relative clean enough for a decent stay. I lowered my expectation when i was there, buying stuffs like Baygon insecticide, prepared room slippers, shaving kit,toilet roll etc, taken them from the other hotel i stayed in on the day before, to this one. To my surprise, this hotel was practically insect-free,hehehe...probably due to the number of smokers this hotel housed, but they do NOT provide shaving kit (so i am lucky to bring it along from another hotel).
They do provide slippers tho.
Next thing would be their customer service level. This is also the 1st hotel whereby i was given ONLY one room key when i specifically state there is 2 person staying in it. Hotel receptionist just tell me if i cant open my room door, i go to reception and they will call housekeeping to open my room door.
In my one night stay, i called their receptionist thrice to get my room door opened. The uncles and aunties staying there did the same twice,hehehe...proofs that they have better memories than me, as i forget to bring my room key out of my room more times than them,hehehe...their housekeeping were very busy that day. But i need to compliment the point that they were quite fast in coming to open the room door for us tho.
Below is their price list for walk-in customer, i guess.
I check with the receptionists how to be a member. Below is the illustrated conversation with her (to my surprise, our conversation is in Chinese) :
My query below was done in the evening when they have cleared the check-in crowd of the day.
Me : Hi, may i know how do i become a member of this hotel?
Receptionist : Oh, actually i also dont know. I really dont know.
Me : Then who should i talk to?
Receptionist : Ok, actually members is for those regular who stay at least once or twice a week and a couple of times a month.
Me : Oh...no exact figures? Like how many night stay a month?
Receptionist : That, i really dont know.
She walked away.
Overall, the receptionist wasnt on the whole rude but more of trying to push me off the question i am trying to ask. Its a weekend, there are only 2 lady receptionists coping with the gigantic crowd. I see the same team of receptionist from the early noon i checked in and in the evening after our dinner when i made those queries, and even on the next day at 12pm when i checked out.
In between, we have ask them to open our room doors several times due to the one room key issue and even request for late check out at 1230pm (even tho we check out at 12pm). The receptionist tells us that its ok that we check out at 1230pm and we will be charge extra fee if we were to check out after 1pm.
After i checked out, and when the same receptionist i talked to yesterday evening returned back my passport, she finally smiled. Its the ONLY smile i seen in her from the moment i checked in, to that evening queries i made regarding their membership, and until i checked out (yes, i was served all along by the same Indo-Chinese receptionist).
Life must be stressful working in Utama Hotel, as a receptionist.
(its NOT a 2-man show in the battle front there,but a 2-lady show there)