Review: Gaya Island Resort, an SLH Hotel

 

Gaya Island Resort, an SLH Hotel

Trip to Malaysia flying Turkish Airlines Business Class

Date of stay: May 8-10, 2026
Address: Malohom Bay Tunku Abdul Rahman, Marine Park, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Room: Booked Bayu Villa
Nightly Rate: 35K Hilton Points with breakfast
How to get here: From Kota Kinabalu Airport, it is best to take Grab to Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal.
Hilton Property: Number 242 in 69 countries

Video on YouTube



Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal

From Kota Kinabalu Airport, we took Grab and after 20 minutes we arrived at the Jesselton Point Ferry Terminal. There is no need to pre-book the speed boat to the resort as long as you arrive at the ferry terminal 20 minutes before the scheduled departure. Our flight arrived in Kota Kinabalu at 2:15pm so we took the next boat which was at 4pm. The boat ride takes about 7 minutes.

It was raining that day so we waited under the shed. Moments later, the buggy came which drove us to the Gaya Lounge (about 2 minutes drive).

The Gaya Lounge is quite small compared to the Pangkor Laut Lounge. There were sofas, chairs and a slef-serve drinking station for coffee and tea.

Speedboat schedule and Gaya Lounge address

At 4pm, we were on the way to the resort.

Hotel Exterior & Reception Building

View of the resort from the dock.

Main building with reception area and lobby seating area

Lobby seating area (the reception is on the right side)

There were numerous activities being offered, those with asterisks are chargeable.

Bayu Villa 620

Private veranda

Gaya Island Resort Bayu Villa 620

Gaya Island Resort bed

Gaya Island Resort TV

Gaya Island Resort Bayu Villa work desk

Gaya Island Resort welcome amenity

Gaya Island Resort complimentary coffee and tea (the noodles are for sale)

Gaya Island Resort minibar

Gaya Island Resort walk-in closet

Gaya Island Resort bathroom

Gaya Island Resort Bayu Villa bathroom

Gaya Island Resort Bayu Villa walk-in shower

Gaya Island Resort Bayu Villa toilet

We loved the fact that the villa was spacious. The walk-in closet was large and there was also a beach bag we could use during our stay. Sadly, the lights switch and AC power ports were hidden under the cover of the bedside table which is not practical. There were several TV channels (BBC, Astro movies, etc. but no Netflix or YouTube).

Dinner Buffet

The resort only offers buffet dinner in the Feast Village (main restaurant). If you want ala carte for dinner, they have the Fishermans Cove (for 12 and above with smart casual style) and the Omakase Japanese Restaurant.

Dinner buffet at the Feast Village was 140MYR plus taxes. It had an extensive offering so it was worth the price.

Feast Village seating

Below are some of the photos from the buffet:

Salad station

Beef Arabic style with Biryani rice

Prawn with spicy sauce



Baked Mackerel

The spaghetti with mushroom sauce was one of the best pastas I´ve had in a hotel 👍

Noodle Station

There were 2 kinds of soups, bread station and more hot dishes. Juices, coffee and tea were also included.

Dessert station

Dessert Station including ice cream

Breakfast

Below are some of the photos from the breakfast buffet:


Made to order omelette



Made to order noodles

Dimsum, spring rolls

Sliced fruits

Yogurt, fruits

Cereals

Danish, pancakes, croissants, local desserts

Juices

Coffee station

Amenities

Playroom

Playroom (upstairs)

Library

Fitness center

Private beach

Private beach with loungers

Sadly, there were so many trash in the water which according to the staff are coming from the nearby village, etc. and that even with their clean up team, it still is very difficult to make the water free from trash.

Pool

You an rent snorkel gears for free from the Water Activity Center

Free Activities

From the list of hotel activities, we decided to take the free boat transfer to the Tavajun Bay (5 minutes from the resort by boat).

There is also the Gaya Island Resort Marine Center.

Private beach (again, the water was not clean).

Outlets

Pool Bar & Lounge

The Mee Goreng Mamak was very good as per Mike.

I had the fish and chips and they were also very good.

We did not visit the Fisherman´s Cove and Omakase as we had the dinner buffet twice in the main restaurant.

CONCLUSION

We booked our 2-night stay here using 35K Hilton points per night and with nightly rates from 380USD, we thought it was a great deal. Of course, our total bill still was 298 USD (90MYR per person per way speed boat, 2 dinner buffets and lunch ala carte plus tourism taxes.) As an island resort, it was really nice to stay in a villa where you hear the birds sing and lie near the beach to relax. The staff were also very friendly and the breakfast and dinner buffet were both impressive. Sadly, I believe the main reason for most of the tourists coming here is to enjoy snorkeling and swimming but with the trashes floating around, it was a big disappointment. During check-out, Mike pointed this out to the reception staff and were told they are doing their best to make the water clean. It was a overall a nice stay in the island, and hopefully the problem with the trashes would soon end. To all the staff of Gaya Island Resort, Terima Kasih!

Comments

Post a Comment