One Traveller’s Hovel is another Traveller’s Palace

By
Sarah
– May 14, 2011

Have you ever read any hotel reviews on Trip advisor? If you’re looking for a balanced assessment of the quality of the accommodation, look elsewhere. If, on the other hand, you’re interested in extreme opinions, absurd generalisations and reviews from people who have never actually stayed at the hotel in question, then this is the place for you!

We were trying to find ourselves somewhere to stay on the beautiful Perhentian islands and unfortunately Trip Advisor appeared to be the only review site which offered anything for this area. Opinion is divided on whether you need to book ahead for hostels at all. Personally, I’d rather not arrive on an island with limited accommodation and be restricted to whatever prices I can find within a sensible walking distance.

So, back to these reviews. We’re travelling with Jen and Ian for the time being and so we were on the lookout for a cheap place for all four of us to stay. We’re not a fussy bunch, yet it still proved more difficult than we’d imagined to find somewhere suitable at an affordable price. Most places were asking about 75 ringgits (£15) for a double room with fan, mosquito net and en-suite. While this is affordable, we were looking for something a little cheaper.

Mira Beach Chalet

We happened upon Mira Beach Chalet, we phoned them to find they could offer us a four bed room with en-suite for 90 ringgits. (£18 for all of us) We then tried to find some reviews. This is where Trip Advisor came in. As mentioned, their reviews swung wildly from “We had $800 stolen from our bedroom and the owner is rubbish” to “this is the best place I’ve ever stayed, the owner is lovely and always happy to help”. How can these reviews be for the same hostel?

I think that the differences come down to expectation, experience and the reviewer. Without expectation, there is no disappointment. If you are expecting a five star hotel for £8 a night, you are going to be very disappointed. The experience one has during their stay will always play a part in their assessment – just look at my feelings about Penang. If you are unlucky enough (or take few enough precautions) to be the victim of robbery, it will undoubtedly colour your view. And then we come to the reviewer. Anyone who is in the service industry will know that the nicest customers are given the best treatment by staff. I wonder how often the worst reviewers ask themselves how fun they were to have as guests.

Shared six bed room, Mira Beach Chalet


So, this is my review of Mira Beach Chalets.

For £4.50 a night on an island where everyone else is charging £7.50, you know you can’t expect too much. The website describes their chalets as rustic. This is, perhaps, a misleading choice of words which may conjure the idea of log cabins. Don’t be misled. These are basic wooden huts set on stilts, looking out over the ocean.

Very Basic Bathroom, Mira Beach Chalet

The construction means that there are gaps in the floorboards, open eaves in the roofs and badly fitting doors. The en-suite bathroom is very basic, almost all are squattie style and our shower consisted of a tap high on the wall which let out cold water. The room included mosquito nets and an electric fan. The generators are only turned on at night here and so electricity is restricted to 7pm-4:30am.

If these are the sort of conditions you feel you could handle then you’d have a wonderful time staying here. The owner, Radzy, is a lovely guy and we always found him very happy to help. The rest of the staff have less of a command of English and this seems to make them less happy to engage in conversation. The food offered is varied for a small kitchen and was always tasty.

Amran the Otter, Mira Beach Chalet

Wildlife is abound as we had bat lodgers every night, a monitor lizard which greeted me on the first morning as I went to the toilet, a humming bird building it’s nest just off our balcony and, best of all, a resident Otter who likes to have his tummy tickled, play fetch and spin around on carrier bags. He also liked to join Alan in the shower.

To some, this may sound nightmarish. To us, it was a wonderful adventure. In exchange for more basic accommodation, we had a private beach to ourselves. We could walk right out to the water and snorkel around seeing hundreds of fish in minutes. There was also the option to walk 20 minutes or so along a well-marked jungle track to reach Coral Bay where we could arrange diving, buy snacks and use the internet. Water taxis were always available to take us anywhere we wanted to go.

Mira Beach Chalet, Pulau Perhentian Kecil

If this sounds like your idea of fun then I would highly recommend Mira Beach Chalets. If you are looking for air conditioning, hot showers or the opportunity to shower alone then look elsewhere. If you do make it there, say “hi” to Radzy for us and give Amran (the otter) a tickle on the tummy.

As for reviews, here are a few tips to pick out the best of the bunch:

  • Check the date. More recent reviews are likely to give you a more realistic and up to date write-up
  • Check to see if the author actually stayed there, they often don’t
  • Read at least three reviews, often a good one can appear to cover up some less favourable comments.
  • Try and find reviews on multiple sites
  • Attempt to gauge the travel style and expectation of the author – yours may not match

Related posts:

  1. Giving Penang a Second Chance
  2. Adjusting for re-entry into normal society
  3. Avoiding the Bangkok Bounce
  4. Travelling with hand luggage only
  5. A Little Love for a Big Plane
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