Marriott Resort, Miri Malaysia
While arranging to visit various places on the Century Travelers Club world list, I noticed that Borneo is segmented into 4 places. Two for Malaysia, one for Indonesia and one for Brunei. I had a few days of open commitment for my trip and started looking for reasonable, but resort type properties on the island.Several showed, but the Marriott Miri Resort was exceptionally reasonable, and really close to an airport with good flight prices from Kuala Lumpur.
Arrival
I had arranged a car with the hotel to pick me up at the airport. A medium sized airport, modest in some amenities, but strangely, I had to go through customs again, even though I was still in Malaysia. I found out later that when they formed the country to have this area of Sarawak join, they were guaranteed control of their borders. So, they control them.A very short cab ride later, I was at the hotel and I was being checked in. I was able to wrangle a corner suite upgrade, which is a great room overlooking the South China Sea, and the swimming pool plus resort center grounds.
The Room
The one bedroom corner suite, well, it's quite a room. Guest bath, kitchen (yes, a real one), nice dining/living room, 2 balconies, huge bathroom. While not required to enjoy the resort, WOW is it quite a room when it was just little ole Rob here.
3D interactive room tour, use your mouse or fingers to move around and see other rooms.
The Floorplan for direct room click access.
Dining and Drinking - Zest
With 3 eating spots, and 2 drinking (some are combined), there is not a need to leave the property. Zest, the regular dining spot. Borneo Baking Company, pastries and coffee at a very leisurely pace. Lush Bar, well, the bar, with some bar snacks available. Matahari Pool Terrace, swim up bar, sit down bar, pizzas and other light meals.The Other Dining and Drinking
Well, since Zest was so many pictures, I didn't want these to get lost in the mix.Hotel Amenities
The main event here is definintely the swimming pool. Massive
On top of a small rise, so it's kinda steep, but there are no doors to the lobby
Large seating, and during the day was always being used by people checking in, out and waiting for cars
Now, the imperial suite next to me is bigger, but man, what would I have done with that space?
All the lights, by your bed
Managers gifts for recognition of my Marriott status, this is really something I continue to love
The minibar menu, unstocked but by order
The all day dining of international flair
Lots of seating, and outdoors too
Zest drink menu
Zest lunch menu samples
I ended up with the steak sandwich and fries that were well done
Breakfast buffet shots, starting with the pastries
Red bean pau. Nope, no idea
Cashew mai
Malaysian specialities
Rendang, my absolute favorite Asian dish
Make your noodle soup station
The cereals, including my choco selections
Rendang!
Roti! My second favorite Malaysian dish
Borneo Baking Company, Coffee and carb loaded food
The bar, and not well used being a Muslim country, I generally had it to myself
Also, quite decent wings
The poolside bar. I spent afternoons here
Also a really quality pizza was available. They nail western dishes
And well, when Rob is working and it's 2am local, he needs to order roomservice. Zero complaints
Morning shot of pool before security told me I couldn't take anymore of it (even though it was empty...)
So I went to my balcony and took a picture
Pool from the swimup bar
Ahh, nighttime glows
The grounds of the property, and what Florida would call grass
If you forgot something, or are feeling snacky, or to purchase a memory
Now, the tennis court has definitely seen better days
Full, complete, gym
Play areas in the gym too
THe sauna, which given the heat and humitidy outside seems superflous
The South China sea, and yes, contested waters
Balcony view, quite serene
Summary
Now, this is a nice resort. There are some dated and areas that could use some work, but it was good enough for me to do nothing for a few days in the tropics.It's a very reasonably priced property and the food is good. The drinks are great and actually good prices for Malaysia which I also enjoyed. As it is a resort, there is no lounge, but having breakfast buffet and affordable food options all day long also was nice.
The regular rooms are decent. Family rooms are good for families, and a lot of Dutch, Brunei and Malaysian families come here. Would I come back? Yes, I would. I liked it and it was comfortable.