The Empire Brunei

“Luxury beyond imagination”

In terms of the hard product, this is easily the most luxurious hotel I’ve reviewed across 600 stays. The property is truly spectacular and enormous — it would probably take us five days just to fully explore. We heard there are six swimming pools! And I have never stayed at hotel with its own cine… more

In terms of the hard product, this is easily the most luxurious hotel I’ve reviewed across 600 stays. The property is truly spectacular and enormous — it would probably take us five days just to fully explore. We heard there are six swimming pools! And I have never stayed at hotel with its own cinema! The staff are friendly, well-trained, and highly professional. They also took care of us during our honeymoon and arranged a cake which was a really nice gesture that we truly appreciated. That said, there were a few areas that could be improved. Check-in was somewhat slow, and there didn’t seem to be a conveniently located power plug except by the bed. The coffee cabinet felt loose and makes a loud noise when closed, the buggy service could be faster, and the room thermostat was a bit tricky to adjust. Breakfast, while adequate, was average compared to other hotels of this caliber. Despite these minor issues, we absolutely enjoyed our stay and look forward to returning. This is undoubtedly a top-tier property.

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“Pure Luxury”

Luxury stay. Beautful property with many amenities. The room was spacious and clean. Free minibar drinks and food. Housekeeping was excellent. There are many activities to do on site. My kid enjoyed the pool, fish feeding lagoon and renting a bicycle. The staff was soo friendly and even gave me a c… more

Luxury stay. Beautful property with many amenities. The room was spacious and clean. Free minibar drinks and food. Housekeeping was excellent. There are many activities to do on site. My kid enjoyed the pool, fish feeding lagoon and renting a bicycle. The staff was soo friendly and even gave me a complimentary 3 pm checkout. Breakfast was fantastic. We had dinner at Lobby Lounge and it was great. Its a bit far from the city centre. I would recommend this place for a luxurious stay

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“Good, but fell short of expectations”

We had high expectations for the Empire, but perhaps they were too lofty. The staff were exceptional, and the facilities at the country club were outstanding. Unfortunately, the hotel itself lacked character and reminded me of a recent stay in a Japanese hospital. Due to its remote location, we ha… more

We had high expectations for the Empire, but perhaps they were too lofty. The staff were exceptional, and the facilities at the country club were outstanding. Unfortunately, the hotel itself lacked character and reminded me of a recent stay in a Japanese hospital. Due to its remote location, we had many meals at the hotel but found the food to be somewhat uninspiring. The breakfasts, held in a dark ballroom, left my family longing for the wonderful meals we had just a week prior across the border at the Miri Marriott. From an environmental perspective, the number of plastic water bottles used was excessive. It would be great to see them offer reusable water containers. Additionally, the air conditioning throughout the hotel was extremely cold. Even in our room, the air conditioning was so frigid that we had to turn it off most of the time. The complimentary mini-bar was a nice touch, but it primarily stocked sugary sodas and cookies. For an island known for its delicious coffee, it was disappointing that this self-proclaimed 7-star hotel only provided instant coffee packets in the room.

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“A good relaxing break however.....”

My family and I just returned from Brunei for a short CNY holiday. We booked 3 of their premium Ocean View Rooms; a King bedroom for myself, my wife and a 2 year old toddler. The other two rooms were twin rooms shared between my sister and grandma and my parents. The hotel itself sat along the coa… more

My family and I just returned from Brunei for a short CNY holiday. We booked 3 of their premium Ocean View Rooms; a King bedroom for myself, my wife and a 2 year old toddler. The other two rooms were twin rooms shared between my sister and grandma and my parents. The hotel itself sat along the coastal side of Brunei and spanned an extensive land area. It had many facilities like outdoor pools, indoor pools, golf country club and even its own cinema. The rooms were of a good size and a massive toilet with separate shower , bathtub and toilet cubicle area. It was quite relaxing considering its holiday resort theme. I would also give compliments to the hotel staff who were always friendly and accommodating. However in honest the stay was only prob a 3.5 star for me out of 5. We paid a premium for the ocean view rooms but we were allocated 3 rooms on the 3rd floor of the ocean view block. They were on the ground level apparently. I was travelling with an elderly grandma, i did appreciate the gesture of consideration but the sea views were less than spectacular. Instead of the sea views we got to see the beach views. My parents on 4312 had it the worst it was literally almost all barren sandy beach view. Mine was half half and the last room which housed both sister and grandma had slightly better views. Considering the price of almost SGD$300+ per night, the room allocation could have been much better. Secondly for the large and massive size of the hotel, the entire estate seemed to be understaffed. It was evident on multiple occasions during my stay. Normally for each hotel tower block there is a a concierge at the main lobby area to assist guest with queries and calling of buggy services to get to the main hotel front lobby or to other parts of the massive estate. However there were 2 nights I was wanting to cstch an evening movie at the in house cinema but the concierge was vacant. The first occasion was prob the staff was taking a short break but nobody manning the concierge desk and the 2nd time was literally no one. I was watching a 9pm Movie and despite my calls out to check if someone was at the back of the ocean view concierge desk it was literally no one. I waited for 10-15min and gave up. I picked up the front desk phone to dial out to an operator. Another lady guest who apparently wanted to get some assistance also walked away seeing the ocean desk unmanned and looking around gor help. The other evidence of shortage of staff was at the country club indoor lap pool. This made my stay very uneventful and sour as I was told off by a irresponsible and obnoxious parent of a group of kids. She was with a friend and they had a brood of four children ranging from 5 to 12 year olds jumping in and playing afool in the lap pools which were lane divided for more serious adult swimmers. They took it as their own private children pool without consideration to me as a paying hotel guest who just wanted to have a peaceful swim. Her kids were occupying around 2-3 lanes playing with one another and jumping into the pool for fun repeatedly. Me being the other only user of the indoor pool voiced my concerns to the mother lying on the sunbed but to my utter disgust and horror I could not imagine the words that came to her mouth. I was politely letting her know " Ma'am, this is a indoor pool for pple who wish to do proper laps not a children's pool and if you dont mind your kids just keeping to one lane". Here's the thing, I was polite and my statement was accommodating and reasonable. Yet for this ridiculous parent to waive her disgusting fingers to me and calling me out on her sunbed " there are other lanes you can go swim at the other lanes instead". I was gobsmacked. What kind of self centred irrepsonsible parent was that. I have a one year plus boy myself and I did not put any blame or scold her kid yet as a paying guest I was supposed to take in her nonsense? Again this incident would not have happened if there were proper pool guards on duty and the reception had properly filtered out who enters the lap.pool premises. No 5 star resort or hotel would allow a guest who is in wrong themselves to humiliate and ridicule other guests. That is why the presence of staff and proper staff training is of significant importance. Dont try to please all guests, just please the one that matters. The other major disappointment and very apparent which made me have such a lukewarm review was because our rooms were not cleaned on time. On 2 days we arrived back to our hotel rooms to discover it was still not cleaned. Mind you we had already put on the cleaning lights display yet room was still in the same state when we went out for in the morning. I have a young baby and hygiene and cleanliness is of much importance. Without the bed made and cleaned my son cant get his afternoon nap. Where else should we place him, in a stroller? And this happened not once but twice. A 5.star or 6 or 7 star hotel would not have such incidences occurring. Given the price premium and the not so fantastic experiences I believe my 3 or 3.5 star review is justified.

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