Great hotel in the same style of the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok and The Sofitel in Hanoi. Lots of charm, great location to all the amazing street food vendors and historical sites. We had a room in the wing close to the Banquet Hall and it was impossible to sleep. The hotel was kind enough to move us quickly without any fuss. So inform them before you do not wish to be in that wing. Breakfast is charming by the veranda but the food is just alright. The hotel seriously needs an update. The toilets could not be flushed properly and they are still giving Nescafe sachets for your morning coffee. Seriously - this is 2013 and to promote itself as a 5 star hotel, they need to move up a notch.

A fantastic location in Georgetown to relax, enjoy the waterside scenery, swim by the shoreline and take in the ambiance now and what it must have been like years ago..
Suggest you organise transport from airport to hotel prior - about 20-30 min trip.
The great service starts from when you are greeted at the door, and then handed a refreshing drink while you check-in.
Suite rooms are fantastic, and the buffet style breakfast at Starkies was just unreal.. Roti Canai, freshly squeezed juices and ....
The hotel is within ideal walking distance to Bayview Hotel revolving restaurant, the heritage aspects of Georgetown, Little India and many other great stops.

We absolutely loved this place! It's a very classy but not overly pretentious hotel with huge, comfortable rooms. It's well located for touring around town on foot. The restaurants were nice with very good food. The afternoon tea was nice and didn't require dressing up for which was unexpected but totally fine with us. The wifi worked well in the room with very good speed (I had to download some things and there was no problem with this at all).

We arrived in the early hours of Chinese New Year, after an eventful and much delayed rail trip from Melaka, train ahead derailed and ours ran out of fuel. Arriving at the E&O was an almost unbelievable contrast. A warm welcome, cool towel, a welcoming drink, cool, calm and oh so professional, with all the new year fire crackers going off around us.

This has to be the best hotel we have ever stayed in, even when something went wrong - the lock to our room got stuck, we were ushered into the bar, it was made clear the hotel would pick up the bill and when it went on a little longer than they had anticipated the same arrangement was made for lunch.

Norman, at the concierge was amazing with his knowledge and helpfulness, unlike some places that are trying to be something they are not, this hotel is the real thing and it does its thing magnifncently. We would go bak to Penang, just to stay at the E&O.