The E&O Hotel

The E&O hotel is one of the most famous and exclusive places to stay in Penang. It's actually been around for a while, got closed down, and then recently reopened under new management. It's selling points are fine accommodation and luxury service in a colonial-style ambience.

I stayed in the E&O for one night, simply because I could and wanted to see first-hand what it had to offer.

Well, on the surface, what it has to offer was fine furniture, wonderful ambience and large rooms. I think that they're all suites in the E&O, with bathrooms as large as the bedsit I used to have in university (two sinks, if you're counting). The furnishings are splendid - almost makes you want to smuggle out a chair or a writing in your suitcase.

Each guest can also call upon the in-house butler service. I didn't, but (for example) you can instruct them to polish your shoes or iron your shirt.

I have to say that service overall was excellent, with none of that pandering hand-over-your-heart which you see in official hotels (come on, nobody in Malaysia does that to greet one another - it's artificial, it's manufactured, it's a pretense of a non-existant Bangsa Malaysia element).

However, there is a quibble, and it's in the fine detail. Not in the rooms, I must add. The only thing incongruous there is the modern-day 24" TV set with 15 satellite channels. They even have cloth laundry bags, one of which made its way into my luggage.

However, their coffee shop serves its butter in the little plastic containers and its sugar in little paper sachets. And if you're going to charge RM500 a room, I think you can afford to do a little better than that.