3-Star Hotels in Sepilok

We spent 4 nights over new year at the resort together with friends and enjoyed the stay a lot. The resort is really beautiful, at the edge of the jungle, full of trees and plants, with the houses nicely and loosely spread over the resort. The houses are nicely build and have a jungle outside shower. The resort has a really good restaurant serving local and delicious food. The staff is very friendly and the kids loved it as well.

First the good. Location is excellent, AC and Wifi worked great, very clean. Bed comfortable, and they even provide a true top sheet, something lacking not only in most places in Malaysia but most everywhere in Europe even at 5 star hotels. Grounds are lovely with only the sounds of the forest so very quiet. The soso, staff friendliness and brakfast. Its not restocked so by 830 its slim pickins. Nothing to get excited about even at open. But my biggest complaint is the fact that under facilities its lists ”shared kitchen” so we bought groceries as we like self catering. After check in, when I asked where to find the shared kitchen, which is pictured on the listing on agoda, she asked which room we were in. When I said the Hornbill lodge, she said only 1 building has a shared kitchen and its for guests of ONLY that building. This is a paradigm of fraudulent inducement, and I deduct two stars for that. There is a sink and fridge and a counter in Hornbill, in other words they have the place for the promised shared kitchen, and adding a hotplate and a couple pans would hardly cost them much, but they've chosen instead to not deliver what they promise.

We stayed here for 3 nights and absolutely loved it! The standard rooms are on the basic side, however for the money we paid we felt this was more than adequate (Considering you are in the middle of the jungle). The staff and the food were amazing and you’re well fed with the free breakfast! Actually very surprised at the previous reviews on here as the staff went above and beyond to cater to us and seemed really interested in our travel plans etc. Nothing was ever a bother for them and they seemed to really like their jobs from our point of view. We did make an effort to speak to all the staff (human decency), which in turn they were always super welcoming to us! The closeness to the attractions you want to see in Sepilok is the main bonus, with the orangutans and the sun bears being within a 10 minute walk. We spoke to some other travellers who weren’t staying here but came for lunch and they said how they highly regretted not booking here as theirs was practically derelict. The pool area is great for a cool down and very refreshing and the wildlife we seen around the resort alone was amazing. We 100% would come back and would definitely recommend!

The hotel is in the jungle with all the good and bad things that come with it. On the plus side: close proximity to the Orangutan and Sun Bear Rehabilitation Centers, as well as the Rainforest Research Center. 5-15 minutes walk. Beautiful, almost untouched nature around. The territory of the hotel is well-groomed and pleasant. Rooms are good with spacious bathrooms. There is an air conditioner that works quite well. From the bad: tasteless monotonous food (there is no alternative, we are in the jungle) breakfasts are edible, but no more, poorly trained staff in the cafe, barely warm water in the shower in the morning (I did not dare to wash my hair), lack of brushes, combs, hair dryers and etc. However, all this is excusable, understandable, and I would not write about it if it were not for the ”icing on the cake”: just disgusting pillows. A piece of high dense foam rubber, from which the neck becomes numb in a minute. Falling asleep on this is not an easy task. It is difficult to explain this mockery of visitors by the conditions of the jungle.

This is the sort of place where the staff will always greet you with ”hello, sir/ma'am” whenever they see you. Nice swimming pool and very good food at the restaurant, even though slightly pricy at first (I guess it's fine being a resort), the portions are actually huge and very fresh. Try their lemon chicken on rice for 20 ringgit (February 2024). All you can eat breakfast included for free even with the dorm bed: fried noodles, a very thick pancake, fruit, British breakfast, beef sausages, coffee, juice, etc. Walk-in price is 80RM, cheaper here on Trip. The dorm looks exactly the same as the one I staid in Kinabatangan, which is always funny (same contractor?). Comfortable night, with a new AC and fan, specially so considering I had it all to myself since the other few guests they had had private accommodation. Dorm showers have plenty of hot water and are clean, but there's no soap or amenities beyond the towel they give you at check-in. Bring your own. The staff at the restaurant sometimes disappears for no reason in the middle of service, even if there's about 20 of them considering réception is right there. They helped me book a taxi to the airport (50 ringgit), since there's no grab available (spent 1h looking for one). Don't bother trying to get one, ask them to call a taxi for you, really. This resort is about 1km away from the three main things to do at sepilok. You will be walking on the side of the road to get anywhere since transportation options are scarce and expensive. Overall this is standard of service here in Borneo, so don't settle for less than this.