I thought my holiday was ruined the moment I checked in for my ferry at Harbour Front. It was the Chinese New Year festive break and almost everybody were heading to Batam for the nice long break. The ferry check in took about 1.5hrs in Singapore and upon reaching Batam, there was another long snaking queue......

We were picked up right outside the terminal and sent to the resort, a short drive of about 10-15mins. Checked in and went straight to the room. I must say the room is spacious with a separate dining, living and bed area. No complaints about it as everything was neat, tidy and clean. The only exception was probably the sofa covers were a little old and dirty looking. Well, not a new property but good to have nice clean covers :) Housekeeping also needs to improve on their overall, as they seem to keep missing out on replacing tissues, towels etc and had to call for items to be replaced.

The resort had the usual swimming pool, spa, paintball, karaoke etc. I did not manage to enjoy the mentioned facilities as me and my wife spent most of our 3 days out at the shopping mall. Oh, the resort provides x3 transport runs to and pickup from Nagoya and BCS shopping mall.

I must also comment that the staff were all very friendly and went out of their way to ensure things run well. So thank you for that!

Overall, while the resort was full, it did not feel overly crowded, except for maybe during breakfast timing. Noise level also wasn't a big problem for us during the stay.

Will head back there again but maybe not during the peak timing.

Holiday Inn Resort Batam - It's a very large property in the midst of a renovation. I suggest that one take advantage of every amenity, the tea tree spa, the sports bar,the shuttle to Nagoya, the excellent pool outside, the fantastic buffet breakfast. I highly recommend this property to my best friends and associates for business and pleasure. Absolutely wonderful.

In fact, this was the first time for me and my hubby visiting Batam. We decided to hunt for a neat and affordable 2D1N package to Batam as a quick weekend getaway. Thus, after much exploring around the travel webbies, we choose Holiday Inn Batam since I read largely positive reviews on Tripadvisor. The trip from Singapore to Batam was rather fast, an hour or so.

When we stepped out from the immigration at Waterfront Terminal, a friendly guide asked if we were going to Holiday Inn. We were promptly taken to our hotel without much waiting time.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we were given a refreshing pineapple welcome drink. It was really good especially after all the travelling.

The concierge were friendly and prompt in checking us in. All the processes including booking of the return ferry tickets were really smooth. We managed to confirm our return tickets for the next day.

Upon arrival to hotel to getting to our room took about 15 mins. We booked a one bedroom suite and we were pleasantly surprised at the big layout.

There was a master bedroom with a bathroom attached and a spacious hall with a TV and cushion sofas. A balcony right outside with a table and chairs. There was another room with 2 singles beds. We loved the space we had. It was just like an apartment. The queen sized bed was one of the most comfortable I've ever slept on. You can be promised of a good night sleep.
The bathrooms were clean but smelled a bit musky. The TV had plenty of channels to choose from, something you will need because the hotel is rather quiet and not much to do around it except swim and maybe check out the spa. I did not go to the spa though, but it looked a little run down. but I have heard great reviews about it, so you can try if you ever visited this resort. The downside to TV is that the next day when it rained really hard for like alomst 3 hours, the channels kept getting disrupted. We had to wait 5 mins to 10 mins before you can view the channel again. It can be frustrating.

Okay so coming back to the first day at the hotel, an hour after chekcing into the room, we decided to go for a swim since the weather was great. We checked out the indoor swimming pool and realised only the two of us were at the pool.

Later, we walked over to the outdoor pool which was obviously more crowded. I personally preferred the indoor swimming pool. It was tucked at one end of the hotel and more quiet.

As for our lunch, we were decided to dine at the hotel since we were left with only an hour to go to Nagoya Hill Shopping Centre. We went to Terrace Cafe and it once again we were the only ones. Maybe we lunched too late around 4pm I guess. Their menu had different cuisines. We chose to stick with their traditional Indo cuisine. I chose their famous Ayam Penyet and my hubby chose Fried Rice. The portions were rather small and the chicken was very bland. The food was pricey too. We paid around SGD$30 for our two dishes alone without any drinks.

After lunch, we took the hotel transport to Nagoya Hills Shopping Centre. The journey took around 50mins which we did not expect. I then found that the shopping area is kinda far away from the hotel itself, but the good point is that the hotel lies 5 mins away from the ferry terminal. You could just walk over if you wanted.

Nagoya Shopping Hills was kinda boring. The only joint we could relate to almost immediately was JCO donuts. You cannot find big brands here. Most of the shops carry very cheap stuff and fake branded goods. The food joints are mostly their own franchises. We did have coffee and some toast which cost us $5. We did not buy anything as we could find the same stuff at better price and quality in Singapore. We only bought some bottled water from their Hypermart while being there. We had dinner at A&W, something we cannot find in Singapore. We went crazy over their root beer float! It was too good even after all these years.

The second day at the hotel, the buffet spread for breakfast was pretty amazing. We had many varieties to choose from. And the chefs kept topping up the trays of food once it runs out.

We checked out at 2pm and were taken to the ferry terminal by hotel transport. We were glad we did not have to spend a cent on transport which saved our pockets extra money for a magnum at the ferry terminal. Lol.

Overall, I would say that you could only stay 2days and 1night and not more than that cos you can be bored. And the shopping places are far away from the hotel. But if you want some quiet ambience and better quality, i would strongly recommend this hotel.

a nice value for money place to laze by the poolside. if u are looking for a hotel with a sandy beachfront, this is not the one

hotel is located in a corner of the island. in case u are bored, hotel has free shuttle to nagoya hill for some shopping and massage. wish they have more shuttle trips on the weekdays

breakfast is good! food in hotel restaurant is expensive by batam standard

room is simply great, couldn't have ask for more (at the price i am paying). room is spacious, bed is comfortable (slumberland).......sofa looks a bit aged........... notice that part of the hotel is under renovation, i supposed the newly renovated rooms will be even better. although hotel is old, it's well maintained

cheers...........