After learning that our team had to go to Rompin, my colleagues and I decided to check the place out via their website and TripAdvisor. We were NOT comforted. But because there weren't that many choices, we did lower our expectations. But unfortunately, it wasn't low enough. The entire place was not well maintained to begin with. We arrived by our charter bus late in the evening and noticed that the hotel lacked street lights. It seemed too creepy and I wouldn't want to be the one assigned to the security guard post!
There didn't seem to be anyone else save for our group at that point in time. Since it took time for them to sort our rooms out, some of us mosey-ed over to the "giftshop" area at the lobby. The displays and items on sale were a bit dusty - not a good sign either. After 10 minutes, we all received our room keys and were mostly resigned to just accept what will come our way once we enter our rooms.
Some termite-ridden furniture - checked. Faulty water heater - checked. Faulty faucets - checked. Bedbugs - checked. Stained sheets and overused towels - checked. Noisy and leaky airconditioning - checked. Untrained staff - checked. Stale or overcooked food - checked. Aiyo...
Pool looked nice and they had probably just cleaned it but it didn't seem as if the waterpump was turned on though. We didn't stay at the chalets since we were in a huge group and found it tougher to draw up a fair room-sharing plan. It was more practical to share two-to-a-room in the main building and be closer to each other - I have to admit, more so because we were in the middle of nowhere and were scared shitless more than anything else. Haha. But gosh, we passed by the chalets and thanked our lucky stars we didn't opt to stay there! They looked dilapidated from outside.
I heard that they had a management change-out but judging by what we had experienced, the improvements may have been made but it's not gaining us better experience. We found older pictures of the hotel with the newer ones and our sentiments' confirmed. If you don't want to take my word for it, then check out comments on Trip Advisor. Pictures are there too. The actual rooms don't even look like the official pictures posted.
We couldn't help wonder if the new management really cared to turn this place around as it has a lot of potential. Being the only hotel in the area, they could really make a profit IF only all the abovementioned were sorted accordingly. We Malaysians felt really embarrassed when we saw (during our so-called breakfast) that there were some foreigners staying there too. They didn't seem excited and happy. No two guesses what their comments would be!
Right now, the only thing "golden" was the sunrise!
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