After our 2 week trip thru Borneo this island beach resort off the coast of Kota Kinabalu was just what we needed. Drinks at the pool, excellent spa, beach toys and snorkeling. Plus an excellent restaurant and great happy hour bar. Our cabins were spacious and well appointed. Air conditioned room. Ours was right on the beach and had its own little cool water pool. 15 minutes boat ride back to the Borneo mainland and 10 to airport. Great way to close out our Borneo journey. More
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If there’s a heaven then it must look like Bunga Raya Island resort I suppose. It’s a resort with a lovely private beach and spacious villas built on a hill next to the beach. All comfort is present at this resort. If the weather is good then the snorkeling is fabulous so is the relaxing at the infinity pool. Ofcourse the price for staying here isn’t cheap but you should give yourself this gift by staying here for a couple nights. The staff is most friendly, the villas are clean and very comfortable and the food is just great. We love this place a lot! One tip: don’t forget your repellant, because lots of bugs found this little piece of paradise as well :-)
Dear 54janwillemg,
Greeting from all of us at Echoresorts.
Thank you very much for your excellent review and score.
We are very happy to read your words saying that our resort is a "Paradise" and above all that you enjoyed your whole stay, from the room to the infinity pool and the food. This kind of review is always shared with the team and when it is enthusiastic like this it is a great motivating tool towards all employees. Therefore we are very thankful to you.
With regards to the little bugs please note that in the room mini bar we offer our guests a complimentary anti-bug spray and that it could be refilled all along the guest stay. Also please note that when weather permits we proceed to a resort fogging every Saturday evening.
Now that you found your paradise on earth we look forward to welcoming you back in the closest future!
Kind regards from Borneo,
When in a hotel the quality of the service accommodation and food is obviously of prime importance but if an event occurs that shocks and disturbs you then these matters fade into insignificance. The staff were wonderful, attentive and friendly, the room was comfortable even if it would benefit from a refurb. The food was well cooked and presented. The beach was pristine, the sea clear and clean. The pool area was superb. The free first evening cocktail was much appreciated. The evening mosquito patrol was very efficient. The spa facilities were wonderful. The canopy walkway presented a unique view of the island. However when you open a wardrobe drawer and are confronted with a large brown rat these plus points are soon forgotten. To be fair the matter was dealt with speedily and efficiently. Within ten minutes a member of staff was present with traps and poison. The ready availability of these items suggests that the rat problem was not a one off incident. We saw evidence of rats in the undergrowth and one other family asked to be moved as there were rat droppings on the bed linen. I cannot therefore recommend the hotel to others and would not wish to stay there again unless I was completely satisfied that the problem was solved. It is a great pity that this stay in a real Robinson Crusoe island was spoiled by this occurrence.
Dear AlanJ677.
Greetings from all of us at Echoresorts.
We are still very sad that you had a visit of a shrew in your room and we would like to deeply apologize.
Our guest feedback is very important to us since it usually highlights some weakness and give us opportunities of improvement. In this way your feedback will help us to raise our quality of service and we would like to thank you for the time you took in posting your comment on Tripadvisor. .
You can be sure that if we solved the problem fast, it is just because we run a system in place to take any guest request very seriously, addressing it in less than 10 minutes. Definitely this is the kind of service we aim to deliver to our guests and such invaders are not common even if our location on a National Park, within the rain forest makes us as the invaders on a wildlife territory. Indeed our guests usually enjoy watching Macac monkeys, Hornbills, Monitor Lizards, Wild boars. The Beach and its crystal waters, the Flora and the Fauna are our main asset, however we do not aim to receive any shrew visit in our guest rooms.
Also after the incident you were offered to move to another villa and you agreed.
In the meantime we place several trap (that we usually use in our storage rooms) all around the room. Our pest control provider was also informed and came the next day.
Your case was very seriously taking into account so that other guests coming in do not face the same poor experience.
We do understand that this unexpected visitor jeopardized your perception of the resort and shall you wish to come back please contact me directly I will take special care of your reservation and stay.
Best regards
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,
Dear Susan,
Greetings from all of us at Echoresorts,
Thank you so much for having taken some of your precious time to write such a nice comment.
Indeed our location in the rain-forest sometime brings unexpected guests over the villas terrace and most of the time this gift of Nature is well appreciated. We are very glad to read that you enjoyed the experience so as the magic hands of our therapist Tina and we hope to welcome you back in one of our 3 resorts in the nearest future.
Kind and sunny regards from Borneo
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
