Gaya Island Resort

Thomas Bauters

What an amazing place to end our Borneo trip. Very nice room (understatement!) with an amazing view over the sea & mount kinabalu (in clear weather). Food in all locations was great, although slightly expensive (but that is normal and to expect). The island is quite big so there is a bit a distance to cover between your room and the common areas but nothing excessive (although it includes going upwards). Nice pool and beach (including a private beach) with great snorkeling places. Personnel was cleaning the sea in front of hotel (this is endless but a nice gesture). Place does look like it gets crowed during summer months so would definitely recommend to avoid the busy periods. We booked a diving trip (via Borneo Dream) and had a great time with their team. Amazing breakfast with a variety of choices (included cheese, which we missed!).

Jiří Brožek

My wife and I used the hotel for 2 nights after our trip through the Bornean jungle. The hotel is proud to be part of the Small Luxury Hotels chain and I have the following notices about it. The hotel is definitely not Small or Luxury. On the contrary, I had the impression of an ordinary holiday beach hotel. I'll tell you what bothered me the most. At the pool gazebos, you have very old, not completely clean and very torn curtains. You should replace these as soon as possible. However, what I consider a disaster - is the cleanliness / impurity of the sea. I was on a "private" beach one day and pulled 20 pieces of old plastic bags and old plastic beaches out of the sea. It's very nice that your staff make various ornaments on the beach with rakes, but it is much more important that they clean the sea from time to time. I definitely cannot recommend your hotel as a MICE organizer at this time. Please work on cleanliness..

Bohui Moon

Absolutely incredible experience. So much to see snorkeling not even 100m off the beach, but try to do it before afternoon, as the tide recedes. What really made it fantastic was the staff. I didn't hear a single no, always kind and quick. We booked the Gayan Bouillabaisse at the Fisherman's Grove about a month out for a birthday. Was disappointed when they emailed me a day before the grove was going to be closed for something else. But they ended up rescheduling the other event just for our dinner, and we got to have an unexpected fully private dinner!

Oscar Knight

Amazing locations, saw loads of wild animals. Good time snorkelling and doing the mangrove expedition. They made a huge effort for us being vegan, different speically-prepared dishes for every meal, which were all great. Great for vegans. Incredibly expensive. £7 for a bottle of beer. They do have two happy hours, but they didn't change the drinks while we were there, and there is only one bar, so we spent each evening drinking the same drinks in the same place. I think they could have done a lot more placemaking, so there were more cosy spots rather than one pool bar. The pool bar is also not great, essentially only garden furniture. They charge you for the boat back (without telling you beforehand, it was described to us as a free transfer), and there is no other way back to the island. After we kicked up a fuss about this they removed it from the bill. We booked to do a snorkelling trip with them, and after we'd woken up early and arrived, they told us it had been cancelled because not enough people arrived. Everything is very expensive, they exploit the fact that you cannot go anywhere else. We were there for 3 nights and spent well over £1k while deliberately drinking during happy hour etc. Great place, but value for money is questionable. If we were planning this trip knowing what we do now, we probably would have stayed somewhere else.

Małgorzata Majdańska-Strzałka

We spend amazing 5 days in Gaya resort. Personel is very helpful and nice (one of the examples was that during buffet dinner they prepared special dish for our child if he could not find anything to eat). Great location, fantastic views, rooms are located on the hill (for us it was just small training, but might be troublesome for people with some issues with walking). Great standard of the room. Warm water on the sea and pool. We really enjoyed our stay!