Shangri-La Rasa Ria, Kota Kinabalu

Stephanie Cothran

My family and I stayed at this hotel last week and it was excellent! The food was amazing (chef's kiss) and their restaurants provided a large variety of option that I loved. The people that work there were also very friendly and welcoming. They were always quick to help out and answer any questions we had. We were looking to get away from city life for a bit and that's exactly what we got. We were also able to book a really friendly and knowledgeable driver to drive us around when we decided to explore some of the tourist areas outside the resort. Oh! We also had the opportunity to explore the nature reserve with one of their rangers. The hike wasn't that difficult and the viewing platform at the top was totally worth it! I would highly recommend this resort and would love to come again some day.

Kirshan Reddy

Wonderful hotel secluded from hustle and bustle of the city. Whilst an old hotel, the staff are very friendly and excellent service throughout. Management has added touches to make it feel special and kept it looking good. Kids club needs an upgrade but mostly for relaxation. The food variety is astounding. Many dishes for all needs - Asian, western and semi buffet at Ocean Wing was a standout (although birds at breakfast are a nuisance, staff offer ability to close your plates whilst dining). You have to be prepared to accept the natural surroundings with birds, insects etc but didn’t cause us any issues.

YUKO LO

We have traveled to many countries and stayed in many hotels, but Shangri-La Rasa Ria truly left a deep impression on us. The staff are incredibly friendly and always willing to help. They treat their guests like friends and family, which made us feel so comfortable and welcomed. Thank you for such a beautiful experience.

Grace Kim

At check-in, the music in the lobby was far too loud, making it difficult to hear the staff explain the check-in procedure. This was quite disappointing. The check-in process itself took over 30 minutes—the longest we have ever experienced at any hotel—and our room was still not ready, even though it was already 3:30 pm and check-in officially starts at 3:00 pm. We were then told by a staff member named Kim to scan a QR code and wait for a WhatsApp message to inform us when the room became available. Having to wait in this way after such a long check-in was frustrating and unreasonable. Our friends experienced similar delays, and another friend’s luggage took over two hours to be delivered to their room. The service at the Christmas dinner at Coffee Terrace was also extremely disappointing. Despite booking in advance for indoor seating at 7:00 pm, we were told to wait more than 30 minutes and were only seated after 7:30 pm, with no apology. We ordered a bottle of Prosecco, which took a very long time to arrive, and when it did, there were no wine glasses. The waiter then had to leave to find them. In addition, no one informed us that a discount was available, which was very frustrating. Overall, the service throughout our stay was slow and unprofessional. The following day, I ordered an iced coffee by the pool, which again took over 30 minutes to arrive, and the bill was incorrect. We were also told that we had used up our credit, which made no sense. Room service orders consistently took a very long time. On our last evening, we requested six wine glasses and had to call four times before they finally arrived an hour later. After speaking with the manager, Sharlin, the service did improve slightly. She listened carefully to our frustrations, apologised sincerely, and ensured that better service was provided for the remainder of our stay. She kindly sent a bottle of champagne to our room and introduced us to another manager, Allen Cole, sharing his WhatsApp contact so we could reach out if we needed assistance. This made it much easier to receive help and follow-up care. On our final day, Sharlin also thoughtfully arranged a later check-out and provided a complimentary resting room for us and our friends before heading to the airport, which we truly appreciated. While her efforts improved our experience toward the end, the overall service issues were significant and not enough for us to consider returning.

Sophie Shieh

The pool was very fun with 2 water slides one was small while the other was fairly large. The hotel provided 2 floats that were like a floating beanbag one was orange one was red. We lived at the garden wing. There was a pool that was 2.20 meters deep. The rooms toilet could not flush and was clogged. The bathtub was old and dirty with patches of brown ruff stuff. The service was not bad but not good, first the food was bland and for dinner the fresh apple juice had a weird texture while the watermelon juice tastes like watermelon rinds. The restaurants were expensive and the food wasn’t even that good. There was a Japanese restaurant and the food was very expensive but wasn’t that good. The sand felt like kinetic sand. It was very easy for me to call grab I only had to wait 4 minutes for it to arrive. On the second floor of the hotel there is a shop that closes at 9pm and inside there were instant ramen the non-spicy ones were maggi and chef. There were a few spicy ones. Overall the view is pretty but there isn’t any other restaurant nearby so we could only eat the hotels food which wasn’t that delicious but since we came on the 23rd of December on Christmas Eve we could do some activities like traditional brain teasers and gingerbread man cookie decorating etc. We had to use the toilet on the 2nd floor because ours was broken but that could had just been a fluke considering the hotel has 4.7 stars