Vouk Hotel Suites

This is my second time staying at Vouk Hotel in Penang. I am unlikely to stay here again as the maintenance issues seem to be getting worse rather than better, unfortunately. It's not a bad place to stay; the hotel just needs a lot of work. Pros: *Central location to easily access most of Penang's popular areas; walk to Northam night market (5 minute walk), Gurney Drive/Plaza (10-20 minutes walk), and even historic Georgetown (20-30 minutes walk). *Very comfortable bed and linens. *Very spacious room and bathroom. *Great pharmacy and a Starbucks next door. *In-room, secured safe deposit box with customizable digital code. *Large workstation/desk and plenty of cabinet space. Cons: *Found several bugs/roaches in the bathroom, some adults and many babies, and one adult in the main area. *No hot water in the shower or sink the second day. *Needs minor maintenance (damaged wood flooring, inoperable wall light to the left of bed, electrical switch on left of bed sticks out from wall, wallpaper needs to be replaced, etc.) *Wifi is annoying to access, especially with a laptop. Each time you return to the room you need to re-login to the network. *Cash deposit of RM100 required to check in. *Hotel hallways are very dated and need a renovation/upgrade. *Not very quiet; you can easily hear people in the hallway and the adjacent rooms. I suggest getting a room at the far end of the hallway, furthest from the elevator, to minimize noise.

This hotel was rated as a four star hotel, that would not be a correct assessment, it is more like a 2 star or possibly a 3 star. We booked two rooms, the first room TV did not work and the A/C did not work. There was trash behind the curtain that was not cleaned from the previous guests. The second room hot water did not work. The staff was great and helped move us from the first room to another room. This room had an adjoining door to another room and we could hear that family very clearly throughout the night.