After 2 weeks travelling around Malaysia as part of our 25th wedding anniversary we had booked the Lone Pines as it was advertised as a boutique 5 star peaceful hotel. It sounded perfect as we wanted peace and quiet after some frenetic travelling.
Now the hotel is nice it's okay and has very friendly staff, what it is not is boutique by any stretch of the imagination and it is certainly not peaceful.
Why not peaceful, well the hotel is beach front, but it does not own the beach, which is separated from the hotel by a small hedge. Directly in front of the hotel there are 2 beach massage huts, one of them was in the process of being built during our stay. Also directly infront of the hotel are a wide range of beach activities, para sailing jet ski's motor boats etc.., These run from dawn to dusk and are very noisy throughout the day. The hotel has it's restaurant directly next to the beach, much of it in the open air, therefore, breakfast is served with the extreme noise of boats being started and maintained right next to the hotels hedge, worst of all is that breakfast is served with the strong aroma of diesal fumes, not very pleasant. The pool is also right next to the beach so the noise and fumes permeate this area, for us this resulted in frequent headaches.
Now in fairness to the hotel it has no jurisdiction over the beach activities, we wanted quiet and relaxed so it did not suit us but may well suit others who like lots of noise and beach activities, we were there for 10 nights and glad to leave. Also regarding noise, beside the noise of the beach activities on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday it was extemely busy around the pool with lots of children and work groups on cheap weekend deals running, splashing other guests and making as much noise as possible, if you want to go there I would suggest mid week.
There is also plenty of wild life around the hotel, the balcony to our room was visited by wild monkey's, which we liked, we less liked the crows and feral cats, which swooped onto breakfast plates and annoyed many guests. In fairness there was a good selection of buffet style food at breakfast.
For a hotel that claims to be 5 star, it does need to clean and repair the pool loungers as there were 4/5 different types nearly all were not clean with lots of bird droppings on them and many were broken.
We booked a premier sea view room in the older part of the hotel and were told it had been recently refurbished and yes it did have a fresh coat of paint but the rest of it was dated and nothing special. We also expected more of a sea view, did'nt get this as bedroom separated from the view by an enclosed balcony, which is separated from the bedroom by glass windows and curtains. To get the sea view you needed to be on the enclosed balcony with the half wooden shutters open, in other words standing up against the outsdide wall. If you want to stay at the Lone Pines I would suggest not paying the extra for a premier room as other rooms appear to have an equal view. on a more positive note the hotel has a very good spa, which we used a number of times.
