Good Hope Hotel - Penang

Note : This is another blog which I have procrastinated for some time. It just shows that I’m not a disciplined blogger.

I travelled to Penang Island back in Augt 09 for an overnight trip of business meeting with my Director, GM & Marketing colleague.

I have been to Penang for quite some time and frankly, I’m not familiar with Penang. Hence, I can only offer to drive along the North-South Highway. Once in Penang, better for someone who’s familiar with Penang to take over the wheels. It was a pleasant drive as we left PJ around 8.45am and reached Penang around 12 noon. We have earlier booked into an economical budget hotel since this is only an overnight trip.

Good Hope Inn was where we spent a night. This budget accommodation was recommended by another colleague who has stayed here before. Good Hope Inn is just walking distance from Gurney Drive. Other famous hotel nearby Good Hope Inn is the famous G Hotel. Back to Good Hope Inn, I like this hotel for its simple yet homely feel. It’s a decent 3 star accommodation which cost me around RM80 for a night stay. The room comes with water heater, TV with some Astro channels throw in, fan and air-con. Wifi is available at the hotel but you will need to pay around RM10-15 (which comes to roughly USD3 to use). I find the Inn to be surprisingly very clean. I have stayed in some overseas 3 stars hotel which fare even worse than this place. Probably, it’s because this place was opened for business less than a year ago.

A nice comfy bed after a hard day’s work

Just a right sized table as my working space

The bathroom

This place can certainly compete with Tune Hotel. Actually, I much prefer this place to Tune Hotel in the sense that it comes with air con and water heater while for almost the same price in Tune Hotel you only get a fan. Value for money wise, Good Hope Inn is a better choice. Just across the road where Good Hope Inn is at, you can find some nice eating places as well, including local food and even a Starbucks cafe. If you opt not to pay for Internet service in Good Hope Inn, you can bring your laptop to Starbucks for free wifi but for me that will be a hassle to work in Starbucks if you have some serious assignments to work on. Concentration will be your biggest challenge with so many people going about you in a Starbucks cafe.

For those of you who is looking for a budget accommodation, especially those on backpacking holidays, I would strongly recommend this place to stay. I will certainly come back again to this place next time around and probably give the other type of rooms a try. For this trip, I stayed in the Single Bed Room. Maybe, I will treat myself with a bigger bed next time