My stay at the Crowne Plaza Penang (December 2025)

Nestled in the heart of Province Wellesley, is the Crowne Plaza Penang. It is located in a 23-story building situated on the waterfront along Jalan Bagan Luar, featuring 343 rooms and sitting on the former site of the Straits Trading Co. tin smelting plant. The street in front of the hotel makes it accessible, and from its width, it is easy enough to discern that it is a rather busy street. The hotel has a decent parking area and that makes it all the more convenient especially for those driving down from Kuala Lumpur, or from where I am based at present, Petaling Jaya. The hotel has a nice lobby with a bar, where anyone who chooses to can have a quick drink, with the usual sofas in the seating area where one can wait for guests. It exudes a soft calming ambiance that is nothing short of relaxing. The lobby isn’t overly large, but it is large enough, and it does the basics well. The lobby and the dining area are located on the eighth floor, and the rooms are located on the floors above. I arrived at about 1 a.m. in the morning but despite the early hour, the lobby was lively, and I walked to the reception to get the access card to my room, and the friendly staff were more than obliging, and once I’d grabbed the access card, I made my way up. Because it was late, I didn’t do much, however, that being said there isn’t really all that much to do at hotels. They are generally places to stay, and with the exception of having a drink, a meal, or a dip in the pool on a hot afternoon, some hotels have spas and gyms, I’m not sure if the Crowne Plaza Penang does, and to be honest I didn’t really make the effort to find out. I made my way to the room, and I found it to be a fairly nice room, clean, and well furnished.

The room was all that you can expect from an upper tier hotel, and all the amenities, and basics were there. The bathroom was fairly large, clean, and equipped with all the free toiletries that you’d expect from any good hotel, and despite bringing along my own toiletries, I’m in the habit of checking out hotel toiletries just because it’s paid for and I expect to see them there. Whether I choose to use them or otherwise is an entirely different matter. I hit the sack soon after that and woke up the next morning, and after a quick shower, I had a good look around, and my initial impression was accurate. I walked to the window and had a look outside and realized that I had a great view of the beach, the hotel is located close to the beach.

It was soon time for breakfast, something that I look forward to in every hotel that I visit - the buffet breakfast, and I made my way to the eighth floor where the dining area was located. It was large, much larger than I expected it to be, and there was a good spread laid out, everything that one would expect, with plenty of tables, in a pleasant, cozy setting. I had to admit, the setting, and the spread were much better than what you’d find in an average hotel. I spent two nights in the hotel, Saturday and Sunday, and the breakfast spread on Sunday tasted better, than the breakfast spread the previous day, I was slightly disappointed the first day, but I guess most of these hotels cater more for foreigners than for locals, and the food that is presented is most likely tailored to suit their taste-buds rather than ours.

The hotel has a rooftop swimming pool, and while I managed to get up there and take a quick look, I didn’t really take a dip, I was preoccupied with other things, but the setting was nice, and I can think of no better place to be in than at the pool on a hot, sunny, day. The hotel also has easy access to the beach, and I did go for a quiet stroll but that is about all one can do on Penang beach, no one really goes for a swim in the narrow strait that is more commonly known as the Penang Strait, well no one that I know of anyway. All in all, it was a pleasant stay, and because the hotel is located on the mainland, it’s cheaper than hotels on the island, and I have no grouses or complaints, but if there was one drawback, it was the fact that there were no eating spots nearby, that is the one thing that I look forward to whenever I go to Penang, but then again I was on the mainland and not on the island. However, it has to be said that the food scene in Penang overall has gone downhill post the covid pandemic, and sadly it still isn’t what it used to be.