Shangri La Tanjung Aru Hotel

Returned this morning having spent 5 nights in this superb hotel. Could not fault anything at all. The horizon rooms are spacious, clean and have all the mod-cons you would need. The staff are polite, friendly and will do anything for you, and the food, well, I must have put on a stone already! Ample choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner to suit all tastes (including vegetarians). Sepilok was fantastic as was the nature reserve at the Rasa Ria. Can not recommend this hotel highly enough.

My mom and I just returned from 5 days/4 nights trip from Kota Kinabalu. We stayed at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru resort. We booked a room at Tanjung wing. Fortunately, we were able to upgrade to Kinabalu wing. The room is beatiful, clean and comfortable. The staff was very nice that allows us to check in early. The morning breakfast buffet was wonderful. It offers variety of foods. We went early around 7:15am which does not have lots of people. We did noticed that started on Wednesday, it appears to us that there are lot more people (tourist groups) in the hotel. Therefore, if possible, I suggest to check in the hotel in the early part of the week. Around the pools and beach area have planty beach chairs, we did not have any problem finding chairs. The hotel location to us is perfect. The hotel offers shuttle bus to the city (round trip ticket is 4.00 RM). It has 3 stops. Although it is not far from the town, due to the traffice, it took about 20 minutes. Once you are in town, crossing the streets are kind of "interesting" and can be challenge. Therefore, be careful and follow the locals when crossing. We also did 5 island tour. In the hotel, there is a shop called Beach Bums Borneo. It costs 160 RM per person. It includes lunch, snorkling equipment, and 5 island entrance fee. I was a bit disappointed with the condition of the beach. The Manukan island, in my opinion, is kind of dirty. I see empty bottles and food wraping papers in the water and on the beach. The Mamutik island is a bit better. Although, the tour says 5 islands. One of the island (if I remember correctly, it is Sulug island) we did not stop. We just "drive by". The local people believe the island is not "clean" and there are "spirits" live on the island. The South China sea water is very different from Caribbean sea. The beach and ocean is not as clean and blue as Caribbean sea. Perhaps, people acutally live in the water (you will see some houses build in the water). Therefore, the water is not as clean. All in all, we had good time. Stay at TA to us is luxury and comfortable.

We stayed here in October for 5 nights, as part of a multi-centre Malaysian holiday. Good thing number 1, is that it's only 10 minutes from the airport, so you literally roll straight off the plane and into the hotel. When we arrived, they asked if we were honeymooning, we explained that we were, and they upgraded our Deluxe room to the most amazing suite!! It had a giant bed, separate living room with TV and DVD player, and TWO stylish bathrooms. There was fresh fruit every day, and a beautiful 'congratulations' cake on our first evening. We also upgraded to the Horizon Lounge, which was totally fantastic - you get to have your breakfast in this lovely room with a stunning view, free soft drinks all day, free alcoholic drinks (with canapes) between 5 and 7pm, and afternoon tea and cakes at about 3pm. If you can afford this (it was about £15 each per day) I would go for it - the evening canapes were second to none, only problem was we rarely felt like eating afterwards!! The beach at the hotel isn't up to much and we couldn't go in the water because of jellyfish, but we didn't really mind. The pool was lovely and you can go island-hopping from the jetty at the hotel. The food overall was of a good standard, and the Malaysian buffet and entertainment was great, although I felt that it was 'Westernized' Malaysian food and not the real stuff. There is a good range of activities going on during the day. You can go on a day trip to the Rasa Ria to see the orangutans - but beware, BOOK WELL IN ADVANCE, the numbers are limited to only 12 a day, and when we went to book on arrival, they were already fully booked for the entire duration of our stay. The staff were attentive and extremely friendly. In all, I can't really fault this place. We had the most amazing time ever there and if you're thinking of going there just for a holiday or for a special occasion, I'm sure you will love it as much as we did.

We (4 adults) spent a week at the Tanjung Aru resort in KK in late Oct. 2005. The resort itself is very well run, the misunderstanding as to room type requested was dealt by the concierge efficiently. Suggest (not just at this resort but in general) anyone who has booked a specific room type such as 'ocean view' etc. check the room prior to taking your bags up. It took us 24 Hrs to eventually move into the right room & unpack. This misunderstanding may have been the booking agent's (in Australia) fault. The resort's staff was really great. If you are a young family with children then this place appeared to be perfect! (I am way past that stage) Playground & activities for the littlies looked great. The grounds/gardens very well maintaned. By the way, the offer of borrowing of bikes for use within the resort suggests the grounds to be larger than they are. You will stroll the lot in 30 min.!. The prices of meals & drinks when comparing to AUS are very reasonable & the quality of the meals was fine but 'nothing special', for this part of the world very average VFM. e.g. Cost of a beer @ ~18RM at the resort. 200 m away at a bar fronting the beach 6 RM. A very good & tasty meal in a food hall in the town ~ 7-10 RM at the resort you be paying 30 - 50 RM. So the moral of the story is, if you can be bothered you will find a lot better for less outside. As to the town & surroundings themselves - well in one word its very average, not all that clean & on the smelly side. Not really all that much to do other than shopping(for males that's a poor option)but the town is developing at a rate of knots trying eventually to become another Singapore. A trip to near by island to do some snokelling on the coral reef was a huge disappointment. During a 15 min swim in not exactly crystal clear waters we came accross many plastic bags either floating by or littering the reef area. Frankly anyone wanting to see coral will do a lot lot better elsewhere. The walk along the beach next to the resort was not all that pleasant either not withstanding the truly magnificent sunset. You certainly would not go barefoot. Sand is not, like the web sites suggests white & clean but of a 'milk coffee' colour & littered with plastic bags, bottles & other assorted bits & pieces. A keen observer will also notice healthy rodents running around the vicinity of the yacht club. So if your idea of a holiday is to do the eco thing in KK (snorkelling, walks in the rain forest or on the beach) then I strongly suggest try elsewhere. But if relaxying in the sun & doing not much but reading drinking & eating within a resort then I would recomment Shangri La's Tanjung Aru resort.

OCT 2005 Just spent 9 wonderful nights at this fabulous hotel. The staff are very attentive without being intrusive. The gardens and pool area are spotlessly clean. We upgraded to the Horizon Club which I would definately recommend, especially if you like a drink! Whilst there ensure you visit the Orangutans at Sepilok, we travelled from Sarawak to Sabah and found the country and its people charming, we will def be going back.

Loved everything about this holiday from the room, service, food and close proximity to the islands. We had no problems with the staff, room service was excellent regardless of the time of day or night and Peppino's restaurant was superb. Luckily we left just as they were improving the pool bar so we were not disturbed by any building in this area but even when they were preparing for this all guests were fully informed. The close proximity to KK was essential for us as we thought about the Rasa Ria but it is too remote and didn't look as great as the Tanjung Aru. We were upgraded to the Tanjung Deluxe Room which we couldn't fault at all. Loved it so much we're going back next year. Anyone thinking about going, it would be more cost effective to book direct with the hotel and buy your own flihts as we are going for 7 nights longer next year for less than we paid for 14 nights this year - how's that for great value!

My husband and I stayed at the Tanjung Aru for twleve nights from October 2 2005. We upgraded before we got there to the Horizon club rooms and boy was it worth it. The room was excellent with a view to die for looking over to the coral islands. The Horizon Lounge was beautiful and has recently been refurbished, we were looked after well by the staff in the lounge. The breakfast we had each morning was excellent along with afternoon tea and evening cocktails and appertizers which were all included in the cost of the upgrade. Definately worth the extra few pounds per night. We were slightly concerned prior to our trip after reading some of the reports which said the hotel was like 'Butlins'. We certainly didn't find it like this at all and we found the staff to be extremely friendly. We ate in the hotel on several occasions and were never disappointed with the meals, special praise must go to Peppinos the Italian restaurant for the excelllent Gamberoni (Large Prawns, which were more like Lobsters). Yes we did pay more to eat in the hotel than in KK but that is what you would expect. All in all we had a fabulous 12 days in a beautiful hotel with a magnificent setting. We did visit the Rasa Ria and it does have a beautiful beach and a nature reserve with some baby orang utans but this hotel is very isolated and about 45 minutes from KK we preferred the Tanjung Aru as it was quite close to KK and the airport. We spent a further couple of days in KL on the way home and stayed at the Shangri La there which was also a similar style (City) hotel and no complaints there either. I would certainly recommend the Tanjung Aru to anyone who is thinking of staying there.

I read all the reviews before we went on our family holiday to Tanjung Aru in the Summer and was a bit worried as to what I might find - However we were very HAPPY! We have 2 children aged 14 and 11yrs and to us this was a pretty perfect hotel. The rooms in the Tanjung Aru wing were fab, very large, fantastic beds and superb bathrooms, little veranda and cleaned to a high standard - and interconnecting as I had asked. I though the bedrooms were superior to the Mandarin Oriental which we stayed in in KL. WE ate in most nights as we had children and i thought the food was pretty good. i agree with a previous reviewer that the chinese restaurant food was served quite slowly, but we had 2 superb meals at the Italian restaurant, a couple of room service meals which were excellent and always came on time with everything we ordered!! We ate in most of the restaurants at least twice and thought that it was all very nice - although quite expensive when you consider the local prices. I agree that the borneo bar was very slow in the evenings, but overall we met with charming service where ever we went in the hotel. Nice poolside activities every day which werent overbearing or loud. The building work was slightly annoying but it did seem very sporadic. we never had any problem getting loungers by the pool and the other guests were a real mix of people and nationalities, but we didnt find anyone rude or annoying. Personally I would say this a great hotel for families and groups or anyone who likes to people watch and enjoys a 'big' hotel feel. If you want a small Hotel that has an intimate feel this is probably not right for you - but you wouldnt choose one that has 500 rooms would you??

We honeymooned in Borneo, staying at the Shangri La Rasa Ria (RR) and Tanjung Aru (TA) resorts, and the Empire in Brunei. The Empire sets the standards. The Tanjung Aru has nice rooms - king bed, big marble bathroom with seperate shower and bath, couch and armchairs, etc. They're nicer rooms than Rasa Ria (only by a small margin) but the TA has a more "hotel" feel to the RR's "resort" feel. We found the TA guests tended to be more families (big and loud, esp with young kids, both western and chinese), older people, esp western pensioners, and very few couples. It was more boisterous and less relaxing than RR. We were diappointed by the food. After RR's fantastic Makan St buffet, we were looking forward to a final night of malay feasting... Coco Joe's by the pool is cook your own western BBq style (boring, can have that at home), so we naturally opted for the Pulau buffet, located out on the spit with nice views. To our horror they served NO malaysian food! It was a french buffet!! We didn't come to Malaysia to eat european food! It seems that the malay buffet is Mon Wed and Fri nights... we were there on a Tue! Very disappojnted. The food was nice, and there was some variety, but compared to malay freshness, spice, and variety, french is a bit bland and stodgy. (RM88 each). The breakfast in the same place wasn't too bad - again not as good as the RR, but by no means below-par. The grounds are nice and spacious with a good pool and lots of space and lots of sun chairs. The staff and service was OK, but not as outgoing, and friendly as at RR. The staff seemed a bit blase - maybe because TA staff are from KK and have lots of job opportunity, the RR staff are from out of town with fewer job chances so they try harder? The staff were nice, but the RR was better. All in all its a very nice hotel, but if you want to choose between RR and TA, choose Rasa Ria! Its out of town but that gives it peace and quiet, it has an orang utan sanctuary, the food and the staff are better - though it IS a bit priceier. Seeing KK is easier from the TA as it's 10 mins, not 45 mins to get there.

Great Hotel. Good for kids and tons to do outside of the hotel such as 1 day tours and island tours. The rooms in the new section are good, clean and big enough. The service is slow, but the people are super friendly. However if you are looking for a really 5 star resort, you will not find it here. Its just not a the level of Four Seasons Resort or others like it. I would recomend 4 days max. Have fun.