Family Room At Gurney Drive Hotel Penang

I was on an overnight trip recently together with my family of four, two adults and two teens. When you have teens who are considered adults, then you can no longer book rooms for 2 adults and 2 kids. You have to book rooms for 4 adults and that raises your cost and reduce your selections tremendously. You may have to book two rooms, and sometimes adjoining rooms may not be possible making it rather inconvenient and costly. If you put your kids together, you also worry about their safety so we usually split our rooms with one parent and one child sharing one room. Sometimes we go for suite rooms which are larger but cost a lot too.

Recently we were in Penang for an overnight trip and we booked The Gurney Resort Hotel and Residences. We had never stayed there before even though it has been around for a long time. The hotel has seen better days but more importantly, it is reasonably clean and roomy. Great for families in whatever configuration, whether it is parents with teens or parents with maid and baby and toddler, or parents with grandparents and active school going kids. To us, that is certainly a bonus. The family room has plenty of space and if you book an adjoining studio room, you will have even more space to run around in.

Here's a video of the room and some photos below it.




We booked a family room from booking.com at RM370* including 4 breakfast. After including GST etc, it came up to RM395. The room had a nice view. It was quiet, maybe at this time of the year, not sure about during peak season.

The family room has two bedrooms, one with a king bed and the other with two twin beds. It comes with a living and dining area, kitchenette with microwave oven and fridge plus sink complete with four sets of plates and cutlery. No washing detergent.

There are two bathrooms, one just outside the twin bedroom and the other is attached with the bedroom with the king bed. The bathrooms have shower stalls and the main one has twin sinks and a Jacuzzi bath in addition to the shower stall. The bath has no dark curtains though! Ironing board was also available.

We also had the adjoining Studio Room at RM198* for two adults without breakfast. The studio room had a king bed, plus dining and living area, no kitchenette only coffee/tea making facilities.

Together, there was room enough for a big family to run around comfortably in.

* Note that rates may differ during peak season.

The rooms have seen better days though so be prepared to see stains and holes on sofa, curtains mended by hand, loose shower hose and old sockets. The basement car park is free with no barrier (you can just drive in) or you can park on the upper floor car parks at RM6 and claim from the hotel.

The hotel is about 17 minutes walk to the Gurney Plaza. There are no shuttle bus to and fro though I wish there were. 

However, you can try out the Link Bike where you can ride and dock at the next Link Bike station. There are two link bike stations at Gurney Drive. They are Link Bike Station 9 at Evergreen Hotel (just next to Gurney Hotel) and Link Bike Station 22 at Paragon, Gurney.

The hotel has a nice looking pool for children and adults from the website. Unfortunately, I was not able to check it out personally.

In short, this is a value for money stay in a large room for families at Gurney Drive if you are not fussy about it being somewhat dated and not getting the finer details found in 5 star accommodation.

Places of interest nearby include the Reclining Buddha Temple (Reclining Buddha Wat Chaiyamangalaram) an 11 minute walk and Northam Beach Cafe a 7-9 minute walk from the Gurney Hotel

Sites mentioned in this review:

The Gurney Resort Hotel And Residences, Gurney Drive,  Penang

Booking.com

Link Bike
Gurney Plaza