Joakim Persson

The Granite Luxury Hotel Penang review: Looking for affordable, luxurious accommodation at the heart of downtown Penang, Malaysia? Well then, no need to look further than here! Happy Hour Asia choose to review and present this downtown George Town, Penang, hotel mainly for its luxurious interiors and touches, as it really lives up to its name on a surprisingly high level. It also offers both suites and rooms with a variety that can fulfill many needs in terms of guest capacity, amenities and space. And a built-in, outdoor roofop pool with great views of the city!

Its luxurious interiors and magnificent rooftop pool compensates for the fact that the hotels does not offer restaurant and breakfast service (however rooftop bar and room service is available).

In this coverage we focus on the 52 Premium and Luxury rooms, which are situated in the lower wing of the hotel’s to interconnected buildings. Altogether with the higher building, which also houses award-winning automatic lift-based car park, there are also 100 suites in various styles and configurations, including those for families of up to four people.

This hotel also has an excellent location along magazine road, right opposite the landmark building ’Komtar’, and is this also just steps away from downtowns shopping just a block away as well as the bus station hub, supermarkets, fabulous hawker food restaurants and of course being at the very heart of downtown George Town’s Unesco heritage district, which is full of mulit-cultural discoveries, In fact – if new to to Malaysia’s George Town – expect a uniqe melange of nationalites, religions, architecture and cuisine, on this island which is increasingly a draw for both business and leisure.

Arriving to the hotel it basically has its own short drive-in side street, where guests coming by car can leave their vehicle in good hands to be sent up via lift to one of the parking lots within one of the buildings. The ground-floor lobby has floor-to-ceiling window walls, a golden/granite bar counter and wide round pillars with a golden metal mirror surface, and arched wall mirrors with thick golden frames. And the flooring is of course made of shiny bright, grey granite.

There are also elements of vintage in the interior design and furniture, making this look like a fashionable five-star setting! There are stylish custom-made bird-cage armchairs (made with brass and a shape resembling corals) and four large sofas with upholstering and decorated with colourful cushions!

Hanging from the high ceiling are what resembles gigantic ear rings in black and gold as well as metallic-looking, transparent lamps in shapes of large bubbles (or gem stones) andhues of silver, rose gold, ruby, and brass. There are also wall lamps with gold-hued cone-shaped lampshades.

Moving up to the accommdation floors (via lifts with gold-painted chrome and black tinted glass walls), these also have granite flooring, dark brown walls and with large digital displays with room information: number, do-not-disturb symbol etc.

Room types here include: Luxury room, Premium Plus Room, Premium twin room and Premium JR room.

Now admittedly this lobby has built certian expectations of what the room design could like. Rest assured: it won’t dissapoint! A beautifil room reveals itself, with stylish and sligthly modern vintage interiors in quality materials all the way. An the chosen palette in hues of brown/dark-brown, beige, white, brass and gold feels really harmonious and bespoke. Floor tiles, wardrobes and framed wood wall panels are in dark brown. The wallpaper is more towards cappucino-hued. This room type is perhaps more male than female, but very luxurious and should appeal to a majority of guests. By the way, ladies can opft for the ’Girls-just-wanna-have-fun Diva Suite’ and The Granite also offers a ’Romantic Darling Suite’.

The soft, creamy-beige sofa-style, velvet padding of the headboard stands out, along with those round bedside twin table lamps! With a golden metal inside cover these lamps sends a golden light both upwards and downwards, coupled with ambience ceiling lights, giving the room a very luxurious look. Then, there is a window alcove, with paddes seating and see-through light brown curtains. This relaxing/romance-inducing setting is further enhanced by the black-tinted bathroom window, framed with gold metal – a “Magic glass” that can be switched between frosty or transparent. There is even a tea theme for this: the ‘Jasmine Romance’ teabag flavour of the Ahmad Tea London that are stored in a stylish black leather tea box.

Clearly, many fittings and details are in gold/brass here, such as the golden door frames on the wardrobes, the tea spoons and the bathroom tap. Toiletries are provided from the Nuggets aromatherapy brand.

This King bedroom type also houses and oval bahtumb at the centre of the bathroom!

The pentry as well as the bathroom sink comes with a black-veined – presumably granite – Counter. A large flat screen TV facing the bed is mounted on the wall, and the same side houses a wooden work desk with three drawers, standing on – of course! – golden legs. A comfy soft-padded armchair has a straight back from where to conduct computer work or watch TV. The air conditioning and the quality of the bed mattress are flawless.

Even the iron deserves special mentioning: It is huge and in particular has a vintage design look resembling something from the 1960’s and with brass-hued ironing surface!

In conclusion, these are wow rooms with a fabulous luxury appeal in the choice of decor and materials.

Moving on to the Mirage Pool Deck, there is a fairly long lap pool, which has a cantilevered section at one end, where you can look down all the way to the ground through its transparent floor. Daytime the pool has a turquioise colour, night time it turns more dark blue with illuminated. The view in the direction of Komtar and the Gurney area and the sunset to the far left is impressive, where there is competion for the daybeds poolside. Up here, guests also find the hotel’s fitness centre.

Once you want to venture outside for dining, drinking and shopping here are a few suggestion. Turn left (in the opposite direction you will also find 1st Avenue Mall with lots of fashion) when you come out on the Magazine road, and walk towards to the next crossing with traffic lights. Almost immediately you come across whole-in-the wall excellent Indian-Malay restaurants where you order murtabak, mee goreng and other delicies from this wonderful cusines! Then continue in the same direction, and cross the road on the same side and walk up into the large building on the corner. There you find Four Leaves bakery. Get yourself a few packs of scones there. They are very affordable and delicious. Within the same building you have a supermarket, including a store for wine.

From the junction walk up Jalan Macalister and you will find, at Lorong Baru, side road and starting in the late afternoon, the ’New Lane Streetfood Stalls’ with many famous Penang dishes and hawker food stalls that have been within the same families for many generations!

Or from the same junction as previously set off down Jalan Gurdwara and you will soon arrive to ’Hin Bus Depot’, which is an interesting weekend market and including, street art, handicraft, cafes and restaurants. And part of this cluster you’ll find the 1-Michelin star fine dining Restaurant au Jardin!

Here and there you will also find cocktail bars – a strong trend also in George town, such as The Mandarin Cocktails Bar on a side street to Jalan Dato Keramat. Talking of coktails, and combined with excellent Asian-Internatinoal cuisines Hygge Dining & Bar can also be recommended nearby (which has its cocktail lounge and interconnected with the restaurant). Hygge is situtated on 58, Jalan Kuala Kangsar, which is found in on the opposite side of Komtar, faced by the hotel, and at walking distance.

There are myriad of interesting places in this heritage matrix known as downtown George Town. You will never get bored here, bit it migt be – depending on the season wise to avoid too much walking at midday and afternoon, due to the heat. But definitely, hit the streets and you’ll discover!