Chan Living

It is above the average of Semporna’s accommodations. It is outside the city and in a quiet place . the staff was super helpful (dinner , taxi , found transfers to tawau …) Recommended if you have an overnight in Semporna

A very good choice in Semporna. Very relaxed atmosphere. Ground floor hotel, the rooms are around the garden where there is a swimming pool. Nice garden. The rooms are very spacious and clean. Kind staff. You can also prepare your own meal in the kitchen. Breakfast is more Chinese, but they also have eggs, toast, fried bananas and mini donuts, which were excellent. They offer free shuttles to the center and pick you up. Very commendable, especially because Grab is very difficult to get in the evening.

There was no place to hang wet bathing suits and towels. I recommend that they put a laundry rack in every room.

Breakfast was simple and suitable for what I needed. I don't tend to eat a big breakfast, so whenever I needed I just took some eggs and fruit to go on the day trip with me. I usually bring my special food items that I like to have in the morning, and the kitchen area was very clean and welcoming; at any time I was able to keep my items in the fridge and get them out when I needed. I really appreciated the staff would try to drive me to the town whenever I needed it. I could have simply taken a Grab Taxi, but they often saw me and would take us. More exceptional service was when one of our day trips was unfortunately not what we expected. We told the staff at Chan Living, and the son CJ accompanied us to the next day trip to make sure that the tour company was better quality in both the itinerary and the food. This made the rest of the tour experiences amazing to have his company and guidance. After all the day tours, the company sent their van to pick us up from the town. Even though town was just a ten minute drive away, it was a nice comfort to have since we were travelling in a group of 6 people. Finally, there was laundry area on the premises. Really good bonus. I was able to wash my own clothes and hang them up. Oh and I forgot to mention the rooms have electrical outlets for all types!!!! Very Convenient as I forgot my adapter. On our final night, it was a wonderful surprise to be able to go to the fish market to buy our favourite seafood, then the Boss Father cooked it for us! We bought the seafood we wanted and paid a small reasonable head cover to the chef. This meant a lot to have this home cooked because it was a beautiful display on the table, it chef is definitely talented - delicious :) and it felt right at home.

I had a great experience at Chan Living, but if I would improve it they could have some more recliner chairs by the pool for lying down. Even though there is coffee provided, if you prefer stronger coffee, I would bring your own. I usually bring my own anywhere I travel. That's just my personal preference. The light in my room was a bit low, but that only mattered for me since I was also doing work online in my evening times.

Convenient location near town, a nice pool, garden, large rooms with strong air con, free shuttle to town

Great apartments in U shape position, with nice surrounding garden and pool in the middle. Located 3km outside busy and noisy Semporna, so it was great decision about location and staying outside of the city. They provide mini van charter to/from the city (fixed morning times - matching daily island trips departures, but stuff was always willing to help on outside hours if someone needed transportation). You can use Grab (8-10RM one way) if you need to go to the city on your own. Rooms were big and clean, big and comfortable beds, provided with AC, towels, tea, water every day, a lot of space for storage. Staff was very friendly and always available, english is also well spoken. Breakfast is included, more Asian than continental type but eggs, toast, jam, fruit was always available (they were willing to prepare something extra if we would have requested - we didn’t). There is also a common area to hang out in the evening, some guests ordered in dinners (or were even aloud to use kitchen facilities), soft drinks, beer, ice cream available from the bar.

Rooms have AC but no fan, so there we more mosquitos over the night then usual (if you keep room closed U should be fine).