Heeren By The River in Malacca

visited in summer 2024, the only good thing is that it’s located in the center of the old town, from there you can visit just every place by the river

The checking in… my god… i had to wait about 1 hour just to check in, because no one was there, i was disappointed and i bet the receptionist could see it on my face, but i didn’t care

mine was a queen bed room with private bathroom, uggh it’s giving me the damp feeling. it was not clean, wet, itchy mattress, stuffy room

The hotel is suffering from a complete lack of maintenance. The room was in a dilapidated state, with a moldy toilet and a pervasive mosquito infestation. Evidence of a significant water leak was apparent, with the issue being addressed by simply placing a bucket underneath it. Additionally, broken furniture had been crudely "repaired" with tape. The room provided was a stark contrast to the one advertised online, which is highly misleading. Given its prime location on Jonker Street, the management's failure to properly maintain the property demonstrates a lack of professional ethics.

[Edit : Response to Hotel's Reply]

Yes, it's a 50/50 error between the hotel or AGODA.

Hence why my review was about customer centricity AT YOUR HOTEL.

If you have a better (and reliable) representative available onsite - sharing the same explanation in person, we wouldn't be this upset.

We could have YOU to speak to Agoda instead and get it cleared.

Maybe a standard '.. we are truly sorry and we will improve / ensure this incovenience will not relapse' will do for a decent damage control.

My recommendation is to have a more eligible, well-trained personnel at the reception. We have empathy too, we understand things can get tricky sometimes and with some humbleness and genuinity, we can accept proper explanation as a closure.

Please extend my apologies to the KID as well, he has done a good job trying to get some clues to calm us down. I will also write to Agoda for equal feedback. Thanks ~

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Booked two (2) rooms for two (2) married couples via Agoda, payment went through and booking was confirmed.

Prior to arriving, received email saying our rooms are not available and they are replacing with one (1) family room.

The heck we are sleeping together?

Once arrived at the hotel (bear in mind it was a super sunny day!), they mentioned that Agoda took our booking in despite they have closed their reservation on the system.

Doesn't sound convincing.
Wouldn't they have proper system deals i.e. quota of the day with any third-party apps?

Our best guess was hotel accepted walk-in despite offered their quota to Agoda.

Worst part? We were dealing with a school kid (literally KID, but claimed to be in high school) at the reception.

No proper communication, was on the phone with someone (senior colleague maybe?) all the time and we were left hanging (clueless and grumpy) at the counter. It doesn't seems fair to express our frustration to a school kid ..

We deserve a proper explanation, better alternatives and a mature negotiation.

Thankfully Agoda was helpful and we got relocated at a better accommodation.

This review is for terrible customer service, such a good example for lacking of customer centricity.

PROS: Great location
CONS: I'd call it MR DIY Hotel as there's no service (unless you call the mobile number displayed at the reception). One day, I got a towel that has a dark brown stain and went to look for someone at the reception. A woman took me upstairs to get one from a cabinet. She said she's 'not sure' which stack has been cleaned or which hasn't (she smelled them and eventually gave me one). I thought, how can dirty and clean towels placed in the same cabinet and on the same rack)! Broken chair and bed, it's just my bad luck to get that room (1st floor/ corner).

Frankly, the best part of this hotel is location, it is only 1 min walk to the jonker street ( night market on Friday sat and sun only). There is no lift in the hotel, have to climb stairs and not recommended for the elderly. The building is old and the room is made of wood therefore you can hear the stomping from above unit. The room that we stayed cabinet are faulty (missing one side of the door). As we are facing the street, the restaurant beside on the music till close to 1am and you can hear the music loud and damaging to our rest. Motorbike, people talking downstairs can be heard loud and clear. Good rest will probably start at 2am onwards where most noises come to a stop. Hotel do not ribose parking space and you need to drive to a public parking lot and pay rm12 for overnight which also means you are not allowed to retrieve the car till next day. Beware of the parking lot, remember to keep the receipt, they tried to ask me for another 12rm payment saying I park overnight, luckily I kept my receipt.

Terrible experience.
Cleanliness: poor
The room is dirty, spider webs were found in the wardrobe and corner of the wall, shower head holder fell off during shower, wardrobe smelt mouldy too.

Amenities: poor
Basic toiletries (eg. towels, slippers) are not provided, no hairdryer in the room too.

Service: poor
Reception was already empty at 9pm, did not get reply for the missing towels issue until midnight even tho they mentioned they tried sending towels to our room, when i was already asleep. No messages was left to us about the towel delivery until I reached out for checking out issue. Reception was still empty upon my checkout. I was told the reception operating time is 10am-10pm, i was asked to wait for an hour(oh please? when the reception was already empty even before 10pm on the night before?) I then went through hassle to get my deposit back. Really poor service and support.

Above are basic accommodation standard that wasn't being met, not even talking about having a secured parking lot for guest. Dont think it matches a 3stars-hotel standard, as even the basic stdrd was not met.
Overall very disappointing and bad experience, not recommended at all.

Bedroom is spacious, but the bathroom is horrible, bath tub blocked seriously, water hardly to drift, the floor always slippery