Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites - Kuching, Malaysia     

This hotel was recommended to us by friends with young children. We booked it because they had cheap 2 bedroom suites, which suited our purposes. The suite was very roomy and had a gorgeous view of the city, Kuching RIver with the Astana on the other side. It was quite ropey round the edges though, with many stains, tears, broken fixtures, smelly drains in the kitchen and torn sheets. Not fitting for a 4 star hotel. The staff were generally helpful but not always overly switched on. What we absolutely loved was the Italian restaurant downstairs. Fantastic food, lovely staff and they couldn't do enough to accommodate our kids. Coffee shop was also pretty good. There is a wine bar that seemed to have a very nice selection of wines (for Malaysian standards anyway) and a British pub which does reasonable food. It was fairly quiet while we were there and the restaurant opening hours weren't always according to the book - the downside of staying anywhere in a Muslim country during Hari Raya I guess. All in all I think you get what you pay for, and it wasn't exactly bad. I would probably stay there again, but purely for lack of anything better at those prices. Kuching itself is fun, but 5 days with the kids aged 2 and 5 was a bit ambitious. There's only so many walks along the river you can take!!

Stayed there from 21st to the 26th of December. Found it more than satisfactory.Staff were attentive and courteous, the breakfast spread was decent and most of all the location is great. The other hotels (Hilton,Crowne Plaza) are all located smack in the middle of noisy Kuching town centre.This one however is in front of a quiet grassy field about 5 minutes from town centre so you can comfortably walk to most places and still get peace and quiet.The museum is 1 minute away.The shopping areas in India street and the riverside are all pretty close.The airport is 20 minutes away. Minuses, yes the decor could be improved, but i would rate it as tolerable rather than incorrigibile.