Gaya Island Resort

K DG

Gaya island resort was incredible! Stunning views from our luxurious room, friendly staff, lots of varied free activities on offer (yoga, private beach trips, nature walks), and great sea-life right out the front of the resort (we brought our own goggles and enjoyed exploring the coral reef). Pool was great too, especially for our toddler. Fantastic buffets on offer with so much variety (you pay a premium but it’s worth it!). Love, love, love this place!

John Oakey

The staff here has by and large been awesome. So friendly! Things are pretty nice overall. I have to say though, particularly coming with young children, they charge A LOT here. I guess it’s my fault for coming to an island but it feels like a bit of an expensive trap in that sense. I’ve been to more expensive island resorts that don’t charge in such a petty way so it doesn’t feel so bad. But if you want luxury and still see amazing Borneo wildlife, this is a cool place if you’re willing to pay a lot.

Michael South

Beautifully located resort on a tropical island. Our huge room, #823, was perfect, with a spectacular view from it's veranda. It was higher up the hill, so may not be suitable for someone with mobility/fitness issues. The food in the 'Feast Village' was very good, and the food in its formal restaurant 'The Fisherman's Cove' was excellent. Staff were, without exception, genuinely friendly and very helpful. Any issues were very quickly dealt with. Enjoyed a wonderful Malay massage at the spa, in a very pretty setting. Only used the private beach which inlvoved a short boat trip, but well worth the effort. Quieter than the hotel beach, which was mainly used by families staying in the resort. Mangrove kayaking was enjoyable and informative. Highly recommended.

Hannah Gray

We had an incredible stay at Gaya Island Resort. We stayed for 3 nights which felt like a good amount of time to do some of the activities, lots of swimming and relaxing as well. The resort offers a range of activities - many require a fee but a few are free including daily yoga, meditation and walks around the National park near the resort. We brought goggles and swam every day, there are SO many fish to see right in front of the resort! We stayed with our 1 year old and overall it was very baby/family friendly. They have high chairs, a little baby pool in the shade and the buffet has heaps of food options for babies. We stayed in a Kinabalu Villa and the views were absolutely spectacular! You can see KK across the water but that doesn’t detract from the view at all in my opinion. We couldn’t get over how amazing the view from the villa was. The villa itself was so spacious, way bigger than the photos depict. Bed is amazing, shower/bathroom is amazing. Staff were so friendly and the whole resort was always immaculate. We had the best stay and would highly recommend to anyone wanting to experience the coastal beauty of Borneo.

Erna Naresa

Overall beautiful resort but definitely a 3-4 star hotel at best with ample room for improvement when it comes to customer service. Activities: They provide a packed schedule of activities that you can book, although at an additional cost. They do have free activities such as snorkel gear, kayaking, even ferry to their private beach which is nice. There is no need to pay extra for a “guide” for such things as they advertised as can easily be done by yourselves, so do take note. There is not much to do in the evening except have dinner, take a walk around the resort. Rooms: Rooms are beautiful. We took the villa and had a nice scenic view of the waters. Only note is the lack of privacy, sometimes the staff could just come to your front door and see everything happening in the room. NOT IDEAL. Food: Food was ok but the food management was terrible. No room service provided, this is shocking especially since they claim to be 5 star. Staff on day 1 advised us not to order room service as it will be cold, thought this was really odd. Also discovered that if we wanted to order from their lunch menu for dinner, we had to make order way in advance. So basically if u want to eat at the resort, you have to time your meals and plans in advance because you have to make booking for everything. Service: Definitely not 5 star service, more like 3 star. Some examples, call reception many times and nobody answer. Ask for room change at first (we paid for villa with water view and that view was blocked by a tree) and immediately was told not possible because they claim all rooms were booked. Had to check booking.com only to find out that there are rooms available and fight with manager to get a better room - we managed to get a better room in the end. Their attitude overall seem to be saying no to everything at first before trying to help, which is not matching to a 5 star hotel. Location: Beautiful location. You take a 15 minute ferry to reach the resort, thought this was a nice touch. Resort is beach front, facilities are very nice as well. Though bear in mind that the ferry transfer is additional charge.