Stayed here for four nights after a hectic but wonderful trip to the rainforests. This place is heaven, our lodge was beautiful and you even get Sarongs and water bottles and a beautiful hand written letter from the manager welcoming you to the resort! We had a 6 o clock alarm call with the Macacques running over the roof and balcony 😀 the staff are so friendly and helpful. Had amazing massage from Tina in the Spa. And the food was first class,More
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The rooms are lovely - We had the basic standard of room and the one we had was high up with a great sea view a huge comfy bed, tv coffee, big bathroom and balcony - really was more than we expected - was a steep walk up but you can get a buggy to collect you if older.
The stay was slightly ruined by the food cost and quality for an expensive resort we had higher expectations - the food is basic and the prices compare to London - been an island you have to eat your meals there unless you take a trip to mainland so we did feel rather taken advantage of on the cost compared to what you pay normally - having just come from Kuala Lumpur even the top restaurants were cheaper - seems they abuse the opportunity to make money here.
The resort itself needs a facelift. Aside from the room the pool area felt grubby and was very busy with children most days so wasn't relaxing. It was jellyfish season so we couldn't go in the sea as much as we would have liked -obviously cannot be helped! for a few nights it was ok but we would stay in the higher end hotels on mainland for the same price next time. If you want a dive resort make the effort to go to sipidan islands or Lankayan as they have true reefs and wildlife. It is ok for a night or two relax but for the price there are better options out there.
I do have to say the staff are all lovely and we didn't meet a single person who wasn't polite and helpful.
Dear SER508,
Greeting from all of us at Echoresorts.
We are sad to read that despite the quality of our room, your stay was ruined by our food pricing.
Just to be precise our prices are representative of the market and from time to time lower than competition.
Don t forget that we are a secluded resort located on an Island without electricity and water.
We need to run our own genset at high diesel price for our guests comfort and unless we tell you that electricity comes from generators, you would not know for your own comfort. City hotels are just connected to the main line and do not bear our additional costs.
Also we have no connection to the city water pipe and we must run different tank boat pumping water from another place and bringing it to the resort where we treat the water to make it drinkable before sending it to the guests villas and obviously this is also an additional cost that city hotels do not bear.
Our resort aim to offer a different experience on a national park where Nature is still preserved. As we own different farms on the mainland our menu offers several dishes including organic products that we grow ourselves. You may find our dishes basic and in fact they only respect the product itself that we grow with care and passion in our farms with the help of several biologists making our own organic fertilizers. Therefore most of the menu items are prepared with organic vegetables, our fishes and shrimps being also organic.
Having said that and to be more precised a caesar salad is around US$10 and we charge less than US$15 for an organic fresh sea bass fillet with fresh organic vegetables. Having checked the benchmark, those prices are lower than city hotels in KK and none of them are offering organic fishes and shrimps.
Sometimes heavy travelers tend to forget that in some part of the world utilities are still not due and enjoying a quiet and respectful environment also has a price.
Shall you wish to come back we will explain you more in details how we run a resort located in a unique and still preserved rain-forest and we will be delighted to listen to your advises.
Best regards
Very nice resort in a secluded island 20 minutes away from town. A good getaway from busy city life. There is no WiFi in room and very slow wifi in public area. So might as well just keep your phone away and enjoy the nature. There are swimming pool, gym, complimentary kayaking, snorkeling to keep you occupied too. We are lucky to see some hornbills and macaque. Food is nice but not great. Price is very steep even for resort standard. All in all is a nice stay, would definitely come back more often if not for the premium rate.
Dear Jc_Lim,
Greetings from all of us at Echoresorts and thank you for taking some of your time in writing this review.
We are really happy that you enjoyed your stay in our Resort and that you experienced the wildlife. Indeed it is quite common to see Macaques, Hornbills and also Monitor Lizard and Wildboars.
It is true that being located in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine National Park, we encouraged our guests to disconnect from their smartphone and to (re)discover the magnificence of Mother Nature and the rain-forest, with sometime an amazing flora and fauna. with this regards experiencing the canopy walk and/or the zip-line give usually great memories
In the meantime for those really addicted to the Internet, we provide devices that allow to connect from anywhere within the resort...and to stay connected with the world.
In term of F&B we run 2 restaurant, one more international than the other that offers local and Asian food including Dim Sum for lunch. This coming month of May we will also celebrate the Harvest Festival with some performers several times during the week. We also run scheduled boat going to our sister resort Gayana and our guests may enjoy their meals there automatically being charged to their room.
We are not a street venue and we aim to give a quiet atmosphere to our resort totally at the opposite of some other places like Sapi Island enjoying mass tourism. Therefore talking about price, you should make your own choice since indeed you may find cheaper on the market... with a different experience as well!
Shall you wish to come back soon, drop us a message and I will personally take care of your booking, we always recognize are loyal guests.
Kind regards
We stayed for 5 nights at the Resort to recover from a week in the Sabah jungle. The friendly and efficient check in process was carried out at the hotel's front desk at the pier in Kota Kinabalu. We then had a somewhat choppy 20 min private boat transfer across to the resort. Getting on and off the boat in less than perfect sea conditions was slightly challenging and we almost had to be manhandled off by the cheerful staff. We arrived after dark so did not get a full impression of the resort until the following day. After a brief introduction and welcome drink we were taken by golf buggy up to our villas. We were surprised how steep the roadways were around the resort...this is not really a place for the less able. The villas were fabulous...absolutely huge and on stilts overlooking the jungle gardens and ocean beyond. Ours had a main bedroom with en suite with twin washbasins, shower, separate WC and corner bath. There was aircon and a ceiling fan. Outside they was a verandah with chairs, a corner sunbed and, over a small bridge, yet another room with TV/DVD and great views. There was a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine and ladies and gents sarongs. A lovely touch. There was always plenty of hot water. Wifi/internet is only available in the common areas of the resort including the pool. If you want it in your villa they will supply a "dongle" free of charge but it was pretty hopeless. You could get a buggy to pick you up from your villa very quickly...we tended to walk down and get a ride up! There are two restaurants both of which are very good but pretty expensive. Cheapest bottle of wine was about £40GBP and a Gin and Tonic approaching £9GBP. Fortunately there was Happy Hour from 17.00 to 19.00 every day when you could have a free cocktail. The infinity swimming pool was beautiful. The resort wasn't very busy so getting a sunbed in the shade was not difficult. One minor irritation was that staff rarely came to the pool to take food/drink orders...you had to walk over to the nearby restaurant to find someone. The sea was warm and clear although a little further out there were lots of jelly fish so be careful. There was no evidence of litter on the beach or in the sea. Kayaking was fun but the canopy walkway etc a bit tame.....no animals to be seen. Sitting on your balcony you will probably see macaques, hornbill, and the odd wild pig. All the staff at the resort were unfailingly helpful and friendly with a special mention for Manager Laurent who continually circulated amongst the guest to ensure everyone was happy. A great end to our Sabah adventure.
Dear Sunseeker2020,
Greetings from all of us at Echoresorts.
Thank you for having chosen our Bungaraya Island Resort during your stay in Borneo and also for taking the time to write this long review sharing in details your experience with the world.
The whole team is delighted to read that you enjoyed your time with us.
With regards to F&B pricing it is true that the local government tax policies on alcohol drive us to set our pricing on beverages accordingly. Don't forget that, being located on an island, within a National Park, where we need to get water and utilities on our own, also leverages expenses and shipping cost.
Definitely our prices reflect all these elements and we are grateful for the opportunity you have given us to be of service since it will also help the local community to grow.
Thank you once again and we look forward to welcoming you back in the not too distant future.
Kind regards,
I just loved this resort, not only are the tree house style villas just beautiful but the whole resort has everything you could want, a gym with a sea view, infinity pool, Malaysia’s largest wine cellar, zip lines, canopy walks through the jungle and 2 beautiful restaurants on more western and one specialising Asian fusion. I would recommend asking for the private dining on the peer, it’s free and first come first serve and is totally magical and would be perfect for a special occasion. The staff can’t do enough for you to specially manager Lawrence.
Thank you very much for this very nice description of our resort including several of our activities. By reading your kind words we believe that we achieved our goal to welcome you in a Natural environment, still providing all comfort needed. Being located within a national park between sea and rain forest we run water activities but not only and we are glad that you enjoyed the canopy walk and the zip line. As you mentioned we also offer honeymooners (or not!) to experience a romantic dinner under one of our private pavilion on the peer and we were delighted to set it up for you. Thank you for mentioning my name, however it is all about the team since alone I would not be able to run the 48 villas for long!...We run consistent training and we carefully listen the feedback of our guests in order to keep going and improving our service. Once again we would like to thank you for the time spent in writing this comment and we wish to have you back soon at Bungaraya or in one of our sister resorts, Gayana Marine Island or Borneo Eagle.
We celebrated our 10th wedding Anniversary here. Got the room Villa 28 on top of the hill with a seaview. All the staff at the resort were super helpful and friendly. Every staff will give a smile, even the gardener, the cleaners all would give you a smile. Good jobs guys. The restaurant dishes was great. The room superb. The pool and the amenities superb. What more can i say. Next time i will for sure come back for another few night stay at the resort.
We are very glad that your 10th Anniversary celebration at Bungaraya went up to your expectations and that you enjoyed both your villa and our premises. We consistently train our employees to deliver a Malaysian service coming from heart and it is great that you noticed it. We share all reviews with the team and your very positive comment is in this way a great motivation tool to us. Thank you for that. Shall you wish to come back please contact us directly we always acknowledge loyalty. Hope to welcome you back in a nearest future.
