Areca Hotel Penang

9.4

Exceptional

335 Guest reviews

9.4

Exceptional

335 Verified Reviews

Read all reviews

Cleanliness9.2/10

Service9.4/10

Comfort9.2/10

Condition9.2/10

Neighborhood9.2/10

Amenities8.8/10

Good maintenance heritage hotel. The room has ceiling fan and aircon installed, both running well in the hot hours. Offered the free afternoon tea was a bonus although we couldn’t get back to hotel to enjoy it everyday. Will definitely suggest it for travellers wanting a relaxing day stay.

Close to everywhere!

Loved our stay here. Friendly and helpful staff. Great room and location.

Unique hotel. Love the peranakan style.

Unique heritage accommodation with lift access for elderly, luggage etc TV wasn't working for our room and they change our room immediately 👍

Unique boutique hotel with old fashion architecture setup inside. It's only a few minutes away from all the shopping areas. Lottos of things to see was in 10-15 minutes walk.

The staff here are excellent people. Nice. There was a rock concert across the street and I asked if we could move rooms to back and they accommodate. We stayed 5 nights only one was noisy because of concert. The staff cannot help that. Good breakfasts, good laundry services. Friendly, friendly, friendly. Wonderful people

Our stay at the Areca was not typical for us. Yet we enjoyed the nods to the building’s history with the furnishings in our heritage room and loved the courtyard! However, a week was a little too long in this style of accommodation with no windows in the room. There were only dark wood shutters that opened to bars on the outside, which seems typical in the historic shop house design. The area is filled with history and it was very easy to get to the various points of interest. The staff are wonderful and very helpful. One note: of the 7 nights we stayed there the Majestic theatre across the street hosted two events in a row on a weekend. It was very noisy as we had read it could be in another review, so we were okay with it (headphones worked great)! Also, the noise stopped promptly around midnight. The other 5 nights it was super quiet as it often was during the day. All in all, it was great for the price point. Thank you to all staff for making our stay memorable and for doing such a great job at preserving this piece of history for guests to enjoy.

Room a bit small. Other than that everything else is excellent

Gracious and dignified. This place has quiet self-respectfulness for its uniqueness and location in Georgetown. Great quality for the price...I would stay again and again.

Huge spaces for family stay

The room is huge and our family love the extra spaces that you do not see in normal hotel.

The property had a colonial feel to it. Located a street away from the main road, which was an advantage as quiet. The room (Loft) we booked was comfortable and spacious. The staff at Breakfast were kind and polite. The location was central and walking distance to the main attractions. Also easy to get a taxi (grab).

It was unfortunate access to the hotel was blocked due to the Chingay Procession & we had to drive around for nearly 2hrs. Will be great if the hotel staff alerted us earlier for anticipation. Other than that, the stay is pleasant.

Liked the heritage aspects and the large rooms Very noisy, preventing sleep when events are held next door (at the Majestic) and during clean-up/restoration afterwards due to unmotivated and untrained staff used at the venue.

Peaceful and conveniently located, with staff that are very helpful and friendly. A delightful back to a more nostalgic time.

Hotel Excellent location off Penang Road, lots of places to eat, near shopping mall and walk to heritage history. Hotel clean, very relaxing, breakfast excellent, staff very helpful. The tour rep and colleague helped us book a 2 day trip to Kuala Lumper and recommendations, it was very good. A day trip to Penang Hill and Baru Farringu beach is also recommended. Love Malaysia.

It’s a place with lots of greens inside the hotel, looks like you are living inside a green house, with all leisure customer spots, you can relax wherever you can, quiet place!

Fantastic service from the staff!

Old worldly and charming.Great location.

Very convenient locations.

Definitely worth 10/10 reviews for a 3-star boutique budget hotel, super friendly staffs, decent meals option, will recommend and definitely return to stay again 👍👍👍👍👍

Good location but crossing Penang Road can be challenging. Use the bridge or walk to the traffic lights at Campbell. Clean and comfortable room. Ear plugs provided so mosque and street noise are muted. Good selection of food for breakfast. Special mention - excellent service from Yahfiz. Complimentary afternoon tea.

The hotel is amazed with Peranakan decor in modern settings. Bright and airy. Our rooms are big and spacious. The only problem I faced are steps to the bathroom. Good that the hotel has an “antique” glass lift that moves slowly. It serves clients like me who can’t climb up and down the stairs. Maybe should consider to have another lift just in case the one and only lift breaks down. Thank you to the management for the extra high tea treats. Very generous portion.

Comdy beds and pillows, loved the shower head also. Strong and good temperature that is adjustable. Aircon and fan strong. 1 narrow stairway and 1 lift which has a limit of 4 ppl max and moves really slowly. Other than that, great rooms and lovely staff and service.

A nicely decorated old style hotel, convenient location to all popular restaurants/ Street food, room is clean and spacious. I am very impressed by their staff, They were all very friendly and were very helpful, Highly recommend

Pleasant, polite and helpful staffs. Well maintained property. Enjoyed the entire stay enormously.

Second time staying at Areca hotel and still loving this property. Room is super clean and well maintained. All the staffs are friendly and attentive too. Location is excellent and walkable to Chinatown. Highly recommended.

Great location!

Older hotel in beautiful condition. Spacious and well maintained. Within walking distance of the best areas of the old town. Served a nice breakfast. Shopping and restaurants close by. Great place to stay.

Neat little hotel. Very friendly staff.

Areca Hotel was delightful, full of character, so much nicer than the high rise hotels we have been staying in so far on this trip. The staff were so friendly and welcoming, not only with a welcome drink, but an invitation to afternoon tea each afternoon of our stay. The room was small, but adequate and freshened every day inclcluding clean towels etc.

Disappointed

I really wanted to love this hotel. I thought not having windows would be quaint but it mostly felt like a dungeon. One reviewer on another site mentioned "termites" and had pictures. He said he was basically blown off by staff. It could have been a one time occurance but it happened to me as well. I noticed a bug creeping on my bed. I didn't take a picture because I immediately killed it. It was the same as the other person's picture. If this happened to one person and to me weeks later, this is a normal occurance that has not been addressed. I couldn't sleep that night afraid of what might be crawling around me. I didn't bother reporting it because we just had one more night and I didn't want the hassle of being moved. The hotel is in a decent location with a good spot for breakfast just next door and walking distance to many places, however, I would stay somewhere else if I'm in Penang again.

We had a lovely stay here, the staff were friendly and helpful and the afternoon tea at the hotel was a great touch, we really enjoyed it.

The room isn’t soundproof. You can hear the call to prayer in the mornings and the cafe below. Not a terrible issue, it adds to the charm of the place but worth knowing ahead of time to set expectations right. Would stay again but in a quieter end of the hotel

Beautiful heritage building with friendly staff.

Everything was good except we picked the heritage loft and it was very hot on the first night then it was better the next two nights. Next time I will choose the lower floor. Bathroom was a bit difficult for older people. There were steps to walk down.

Good stay in the hotel, like the location there. Plenty of good food around the hotel.

I love the large Victorian style family room.

Beautiful colonial building

The staff were friendly and very helpful, the room was extremely clean and the breakfast was good. Plenty to walk to nearby. The only noise was from the nearby mosque which will be a problem anywhere in Penang.

Nice hotel in the historic Georgetown area

Nice hotel in the middle of the old section of Georgetown. Close to some of the tourist attractions and easy to get transportation to others. You do have to travel a bit to get to a decent beach if that is what you’re looking for. But if exploring historic cultural center, it’s a great place to stay. Hotel was well kept and maintained. Check-in was easy and the staff was friendly and helpful throughout.

Beautifully designed nostalgic feel hotel

Very good experience. This hotel has a nostalgic feel. Like the peranakan style ceramic floor tiles. Room is clean & cosy. Water from shower head is strong & good. Walking distance to major tourist spots & eatery like local food char kueh tiao, chendol dessert. Highly recommended a restaurant called Hygge Dining & Bar which is a block away from hotel. It served very good modern Asian cuisine. My family chill out at the hotel ground floor area with own bought beer & snacks at night. We like everything about this hotel. Will definitely choose it again for next visit.

A older hotels that has kept it's caricaturist.

Simple, quiet , not congested Eateries within walking distance

A happy repeat guest. The hotel makes good use of the Penang shophouses it has been refurbished from. Great service and charming property.

Clean place and a enjoy full place to stay

A satisfied repeat guest. The service is so wonderful at Areca. Stayed in a different type of room this time - smaller, but just as charming and functional. Thank you, as always, Dennis.

The hotel was wonderful. The only issue for me was the limited options for food around the area, and mostly that the hotel does not offer dinner.

Room is clean and spacious. Just that morning abit noisy. Other than that stay was pleasant.

It is a very quiet place without having any TV and other disturbances. We cannot stay there without a rental car.

Love the rich heritage decoration of the place, the scent and cleanliness. The staff were friendly and welcoming! Only drawback is if your room is facing directly the event space opposite, do expect a lot of noise at night. We stayed over the weekend and there was a wedding, people were really loud at 1am saying goodbye and getting really loud after all the drinking. It was horrible esp with young kids sleeping halfway crying from the noise.

Great architecture small room

Beautiful architecture. Pleasant staff. Room pleasant but small and bed too small for 2. Shower great. Breakfast not so good, especially the Western food. Location good for sights etc.

Staff were very welcoming and helpful. Lots of food options around. Property is very beautiful and rooms are big.

I love this hotel. Right across from the famous Oenang road eateries. Most attractions are within walking distance. The Hutton lane roti Bakar is right outside the hotel entrance area. The staff are friendly and helpful and the hotels feels safe and private. The flip side is that I get waken up at 6am sharp from prayer calls at a nearby mosque. That’ was bad for us since we are on holiday and it’s not great to get worked up at 6am daily.

all fine

Nice and cosy. Just that hotel is a bit old and noisy at certain times. Service staff very good service :)

Very nice hotel, well located and friendly staff.

The reception and Areca cafe and room ckeaning staff all are friendly and carry with wide smile. Helpful and easy going . Will come to stay again .

Fantastic colonial style hotel, easy walking distance to the old town.

Really beautiful design, love the vibe of old Penang yet the facilities are modern!

Spacious and clean room. Friendly and helpful service staff. Many great and recommended eateries within walking distance. Value for money.

Great service, clean and spacious rooms, classy Peranakan-feel hotel.

The staffs are enthusiastically helpful. Very polite and courteous! We felt like living with a family instead of hotel ! The breakfast and tea are warmly served . The hotel is a lovely classical taste and nostalgia to the Georgetown past. There are plenty to do in this old town with incredible food and shopping ! We would definitely going to stay here next time and also interested to stay at the related resort facilities !

Very aesthetically appealing property with tastefully decorated rooms. Very comfy bed and great shower. Very friendly and service minded staff. There were only 2 negative points and only 1 of those points is within the control of the hotel. They are, the toilet drains leaked into the courtyard area on a couple of occasions making sitting in the courtyard unpleasant, but the staff did try to minimise the effects by diverting the overflow to another drain and using copious amounts of disinfectant. The other point was the noise from the nearby Mosque at 5 minutes to 6am every day

Cozy place. Friendly staff. Affordable

Friendly staff, excellent and efficient service when our faulty kettle gets replaced within 20 mins upon reporting. Room is pretty spacious and clean. Will definitely come back again

Multiple weeks spent here in May 2023. Room was a top floor spacious room with a king size bed with lots of pillows. Lots of staff serving the hotel and they were frequently cleaning the common areas while another crew cleaned the guest rooms. Everything was well maintained and kept neat and tidy. I appreciated the 24 hour front desk staffing and they all spoke english. Each room has its own temperature control unit and you adjust it to your liking. Hot water in the shower and sink was never a problem. Hotel is on a quiet, one block long, one-way street so I didn’t notice any continuous traffic noise. The hotel is in easy walking distance to the core of UNESCO Heritage Georgetown and there are many, many food stalls and restaurants and market places within a ten minute walk Komtar is a five minute walk away. The Rapid Penang free CAT bus has a stop one block away. Great place to stay and highly recommend Areca especially if this is your first visit to Georgetown.

Both the Wifi and the 4G network are poor in this hotel.

Love to stay here! Will choose Areca Hotel again next time.

Excellent hotel in the heart of Georgetown!

I had a wonderful stay here. The staff are wonderful and as a long term guest, they really went out of their way to make sure my stay was as comfortable as possible. They offered me a free afternoon tea for every day of my stay as well as free laundry service which was much appreciated in the heat of Penang! The rooms are clean and comfortable and the location of the hotel is excellent - it's very centrally located and you can walk to any part of Georgetown in 15mins or less All in all, I can't recommend this hotel highly enough!

Friendly staff; Nice environment and if u like peranakan, definitely this must be ur choice!

Very friendly and helpful staff, big comfortable room with effective aircon and fans. Breakfast was very good with wide selection of quality, interesting food. Location is also very good for food and exploring Georgetown. All in all a great hotel experience.

Charming & beautifully restored, Areca is made more beautiful by its warm, dedicated & customer-oriented staff. One feels transformed to the old glory of Areca’s past of prewar shophouses with the comfort, coziness and impressively maintained boutique hotel destination it is now.

Beautiful hotel

Beautiful hotel, friendly staff and excellent service. They also added an afternoon tea for all guests with compliments no charge, and every day there it was different type of bites to snack on .

10/10 hotel 👍👍👍

Beautiful hotel, friendly staff, free afternoon tea, spacious and clean rooms. Love the location, walk two minutes to the top.

Great historic building to stay in Penang close to everything.

Room ambience and hotel design are impressive.

Room is a little old. Water heater is working too well. ( Btw I wanted cold water and water came out hot :P) Bed linen had stains. Air con was rather noisy so we use the ceiling fan often. Love the location of the property! Walking distance to department store as well as food stalls & market. The staff there were friendly and helpful. There's the complimentary simple tea break which is much appreciated. On the whole, we enjoyed our 5day stay. Will not hesitate to return.

The service and staff friendliness were great. Location is central to most of the famous street food stalls. Great afternoon tea. Cafe's setting is marvelous with beautiful glass panels and charming wooden tables and chairs.

Staff service were excellent. But the room we stayed had a lot of mosquitos. Location is good.

Quiet oasis in a busy city

Simply perfect, Thank you very much

Value for money

Excellent service from the staff. Location is good and the place is beautiful and clean. I love this hotel.

Wifi not really stable

Beautiful hotel in old style, close to restaurants,food stalls and shopping. Very attentive staff, nice room and bathroom.

Everything about this hotel was superb. The staff, particularly Denis were amazing, nothing was too much trouble. The decor and ambiance is so relaxing. The complimentary afternoon tea was a lovely touch.The location was great for access to restaurants, bars, shopping, public transport and banks. We will definitely be staying at Areca Hotel in the future.

Property was beautiful and well decorated as a conserved shophouse. Beds and pillows were surprisingly comfortable. However, the amenities were minimal - they provided 2 in 1 hair and body soap. Toilets required slightly steep stairs to accessible so try to get a accessible room if you’re booking. Power points were not particularly accessible in the room. The most jarring issue is having to find my luggage lock fiddled with after the room was cleaned. So beware with your valuables when you leave the room!

The family Suite is a big room. Beds and pillows are comfortable.

Good customer service

Great and friendly staff services.

Clan and nice staff.

Overall, it’s a great place to stay despite it is rated as a 3 star hotel. Room itself is clean and spacious. As for food, there are plenty of options, either through walking or just grab. We were delighted to have the free afternoon tea/snack offered daily to us.

Overall really nice place. Staff were friendly as well. Only issue is the surroundings can be a bit noisy making it hard to have good sleep for light sleepers. Otherwise highly recommended!

Very convenient place to stay to shop in Chinatown and close to good food. Hotel is clean and welcoming. Good Nasi Lemak for breakfast. Staff helpful n cheerful. Firm matters n proper pillows.

A lovely room, well appointed. The staff really try to make one's stay pleasant. Very friendly. Much appreciated complementary tea and snacks in the afternoon.

The property's location is good (in Geroge Town), and the staff is very friendly. The hotel also offers complementary afternoon coffee and snack which helps visitors to meet each other. The minuses are that the Furnitures are bit rundown, and it is noisy which makes it difficult to run online meetings.

great ambience and cleanliness. Location very good - near Chinatown area. Everywhere walkable distance.

Lovely hotel

Lovely hotel, wonderfull staff, nice breakfast , idealy located near heritage Penang. Only down side was a very small room

We love Areca!!

Me and my 5 friends stayed for 4 nights and we all love this hotel so much. The room is spacious, very clean and the bed is comfortable. I highly recommend this hotel if you are visiting Penang. However there are a few negatives. Some staff at the front desk are warm and friendly while a few just completely ignore you. The restaurant staff isn’t the most friendly either. I wish they smile more often. The morning breakfast is really average. Go eat at the nearby coffeeshop. Do bring along an eye shade if you are sensitive to light as the room cannot be blackout completely. Lastly bring along ear plugs if you are sensitive to noise as you will hear the early morning prayers from the mosque next door and sometimes noise from the corridors. All rather minor issues because the hotel is still an excellent one.

Clean and nice, Everything in hotel is good. Breakfast is not buffet type. Hotel located at quiet place, far from restaurant and tourist spot.

Improvement in bathroom facilities

The toilet seat was in need of repair, it was out of alighment so was not comfortable. The wash basin area is too small. Water get splashed onto the sides. Towels given were frayed at the edges