Hotel Review : Grand Zuri Malioboro, Yogyakarta (Indonesia)

Hey hey hey!

Okay so this post is probably a taddd late, with the fact that it's already the full blown holiday season in Indonesia-i should've blog this a few weeks ago so people needing recommendation for a hotel in Yogya can consider this but well.. There's always next holiday, no? Haha. You can put this hotel in your list for the next time you need one :p!

As you know, i feel a bit self-conscious taking pictures of hotels where i stay in detail (for the public area like the lobby) coz people definitely stares. I feel less so when i'm overseas (coz i'm a tourist ma, tourists take pictures!), but when it's in Indonesia... Yeah, i just don't feel very comfortable snapping endless pictures. So as usual when i don't have enough pictures of the hotel, i borrow them from various sites-all credited on the photos. Photos of the room are all mine, of course.

So, when we were planning this trip and i was browsing for a hotel to stay in Yogya, my cousin L suggested this hotel because they stayed there before and it was okay. It's quite new and clean, she's quite trusted when it comes to hotels so i agreed to stay at Grand Zuri Malioboro :

Grand Zuri Malioboro
 Jalan P. Mangkubumi No. 18, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Indonesia
 +62 274 6429288

Photo credit : Grand Zuri website

This hotel is located quite strategically, in what is considered the most famous street of Yogyakarta-Malioboro Street. It's a few feet away from the stretch of Malioboro shopping street (which means you can stroll happily and shop away leisurely. Or ride the famous tricycle or dokar around the street if you don't want to work out hahaha) which is great for cheap Batik/accessories/bags/souvenir/snacks shopping. This also means getting food is easy peasy and you do not have to resort to overpriced hotel food.

It is a 3 starred chain hotel (i have to be honest that i've never heard of them before, but seeing from their website they actually have quite a lot of branches all around Indonesia) and the price point is... Well, it's not cheap. But it's not outrageous either. We paid around IDR 700.000 per room (standard room, of course) during peak season, i guess it's quite reasonable for a basic hotel located in Malioboro.

The view once you enter the room. Minus the two boys, of course. They do not come with the room *LOL*

So, i'd love nothing more than to post pristine, untouched room in my reviews, but unfortunately when i travel with my family-it's simply not possible. The (comfortable) bed was immediately crumpled because my son climbed on it as soon as we entered the room *sigh* (you can see i have to crop him sitting on the bed *LOL*)

The full size mirror perfect for applying makeup and mirror outfit selfie haha

The room is pretty small, as you can expect from a basic hotel (is this considered budget hotel? Maybe not). L said the hotel was clean when she stayed there a while ago, but it's been a few months down the road so maybe the hotel's been getting a lot more wear already *LOL*, i'm pretty fussy when it comes to hotel rooms-especially when it comes to stains. And that seat (i wouldn't call it sofa) you see next to the table, it got a lot of stain -___-. And the view of the window? Bird shit *___*. I was honestly not very impressed -___-

Even more so when i stepped into the bathroom and see dusts and hairs near the door -___-. Maybe it's just me, but i tend to immediately call cleaning service when i stepped into my hotel room *LOLOLOL*, always seems to find something to fault OMG. I'm sorry, but IDR 700.000 (actually it was more than that, but i can't remember the exact number) is not super cheap, i do expect better cleanliness for this price point!

Other than those points, the room was pretty comfortable. I did experience something that may or may not have to do with the hotel, i woke up on the last day with horrible bug bites on my legs. It was BAD. Now, i'm not saying that it's the hotel's fault or whatever, since hunny shared the bed and the sheet with me and he was fine-but Eek (who obviously stayed in another room) suffered from the same problem! It could happen somewhere else, but all i know was i was fine the night before, and i woke up like that. Please note that nobody else encountered this problem except the two of us and i am not accusing Grand Zuri, but i am slightly traumatized for obvious reason.

Anyway, let's take a look at the lobby now!

Photo source : Tripadvisor

The lobby is definitely quite nice and comfortable
 Photo source : Tripadvisor

At the far end you can find a bar where you can order drinks/get free welcome drinks and also buy fish pellets to feed the fishes at the fish pond just outside
 Photo source : Tripadvisor

Wefie in the lobby hehe

Because we were there at the end of the year (explaining the Christmas tree hahaha)

They have this outdoor sitting area at the front of the hotel facing a fish pond with lots of kois inside. Hungry kois. The kids had fun feeding them for sure

 How the area actually looks like hehe
Photo source : Tripadvisor

In conclusion... Grand Zuri is a pretty nice, basic, comfortable 3 starred hotel with semi-affordable price point (seriously, it's not that cheap at all *LOL*. I guess because Yogyakarta is a tourist city... I like to compare, and you can get a very nice hotel room in Surabaya for that price hahaha). Cleanliness needs to be better maintained. Again, for that kind of price, i think i am not being unreasonable to hope for a better maintenance? Clean the windows from bird shit (coz it's not like one or two, but like... the whole view was bird shit hahahaha), clean the seats, make sure their cleaning service do a better job than leaving obvious pile of hair and dusts. 

To think that we got endless complains in our own hotel (which room rate is way less than half than this hotel) for similar problem *LOL*. I do try to be a gracious hotel guest (coz karma is a B) coz i'd like the same courtesy from our own guests, but i also gotta be honest, right?

Would i recommend this hotel? Well, yes. Nice location, comfortable place. But if you're huge on cleanliness, maybe a 5 starred hotel would be a better choice hahaha.

Would i stay here again? Honestly, i don't know. Maybe. I'd try out different hotels first tho. 

What about you? Have you ever stayed in a Grand Zuri hotel? Or maybe even this one. Do you think i'm being too harsh on my review then?

I kinda miss my purple hair

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