Gayana Marine Resort

Great getaway resort away from the hustle and bustle. Perfect for a couple nights stay as may run out of activities within the vicinity if staying longer. Staff were amazing and kind! Thank you to all!! Property condition is a bit outdated with expected wear and tear but kept clean enough for an enjoyable stay.

Beautiful resort! The wooden reception and restaurant buildings are very nice; the pool is wonderful - overlooking the sea. We had a Breeze family villa on the water. It was beautiful, spacious and elegantly decorated, with all the amenities one could need. The staff at the restaurant, as well as at the dive center and the reception, are very friendly and welcoming. They do everything they can to make you feel at home. Prior to our stay, we read about garbage washing up on the island, due to the proximity of Gayana to the city of Kota Kinabalu. There is some of that, but the staff try to clean this up promptly. We didn't feel it was very present. A nice extra that this resort offers is that you can borrow snorkel gear, as well as kayaks and paddle boards for free. The food at the restaurant is good; the breakfast especially is excellent! Try the fresh, warm berry bread or the crispy coconut french toast.

Beautiful island resort. Palm villa was unreal . Amazing in all aspects

This resort is so beautiful and has so much potential. The staff are so friendly and attentive and the rooms are divine! If you don’t look down then you will truly feel like you’re in paradise. If you look down you will see a sea full of rubbish. The island unfortunately sits only 20th it’s away from Kota Kinabalu and on the east side of a floating village. Every day piles of rubbish comes in with the current. The staff clean up the bay every day but it’s a massive problem. The resort is trying to minimize their plastic use and do have great info for guests to follow but the pollution really lets this place down. I probably wouldn’t come back based on the rubbish. The restaurant is amazing and they catered anything to be vegetarian for me. The food and drinks aren’t too expensive but definitely not a cheap restaurant. The pool is lovely and has a wicked view. The spa is pretty expensive too but a nice thing to do obviously :) The complimentary hiking activity was fun- take mossie repellent and allow 45minutes up. The dive tour was better than I expected and we saw some pretty healthy coral considering! The other islands are nearby and easy to get too but again full of rubbish and many tourists flapping around in high numbers. We did a guided kayak tour as well which was nice but later found out you could do it for free without a guide haha The services and amenities were fantastic. That bed Omg.

Fantastic location and such helpful friendly staff

My experience at this resort was the worst experience I ever had. Upon arrival as we walked towards our cabin, the first thing you notice is a foul smell coming from the water. Our second day when we went to swim we encountered a fair amount of garbage in the water, things from old Shampoo bottles to used shaving kits, napkins etc. Their only entertainment room was closed and their excuse to this was "maintenance" but there was nobody in the room performing maintenance duties, therr was no "spa" services, all you had was water and kayaking. However this was the least of it, during our checkout process, they charged my boyfriend for a "docking" fee because we booked scuba diving with a different company and not them. We were NEVER made aware of this Docking fee, our boat didn't even park at the dock they just picked us up and dropped us off. We were also never aware of their scuba diving services because THEY DON'T ADVERTISE IT ON GOOGLE. Their argument for this fee was "because they didn't know we booked with a different company", so what? Can't we come and go as we please? Why do we have to pay you in order to leave the resort? People are going to want to leave at some point during the stay because they don't have a variety of activities for their guests. We had the unpleasant chance to speak to Mr. KARL SIMS who is the resort manager and he had to be the RUDEST business manager we ever encountered. From the beginning as we were trying to explain to him the situation from our end, he kept interrupting and dominating the conversation by raising his voice which portrays some seriously poor customer service skills as well as a Lack of manners towards customers. DO NOT VISIT this resort.

Horrible experience right from the start! Poor communication and lack of provided information. They lied to us saying, that they only provide ferry ride to the resort once a day and we have to pay 250 for one way. Later we found out ferry goes 3 times a day. Upon arrival we noticed that resort has lots of garbage in the water , sewage smell by houses , outdated rooms, not maintained deck that looks horrible in person. It is not 5 Star resort whatsoever! At the check out we got more proof that this resort should be avoided completely. Apparently they will charge you 250 every time you leave and come back! They don't tell you that when you book, or when you check in. Separate shout out to worst manager I have ever encountered, that guy will cost this resort a lot of money and I hope he will get fired . Karl Sims, absolutely rude , inconsiderate, unprofessional. Raises voice and interrupts as you raise your concerns. Hope owners of the hotel will see this and fix issues and get rid of that manager , that other guests had issues with too. Honest opinion: do not stay at that resort Absolutely not worth it

Its nice/modern interior, beautiful ocean front. It was really amazing and I strongly recommend to choose ocean view room

The best thing about this resort is the service. People are so friendly and bend over backward to ensure that your stay is pleasant. If it werent for that I would rate it maybe a little lower. They really model themselves to be an eco friendly luxury resort to the point of saying if we had plastic on us, that we needed to immediately abandon it at the lobby. And yet in the rooms, there are all those little packages of plastic wrapped toothbrushes, razors, one use disposable plastic items. I do like that they provide water in glass bottles. They also cannot control the amount of plastic floating in from the ocean everyday - we did see them out on the boat picking it up one day. Our fan never worked in the room even though they came and fixed it, it immediately short circuited again. We would not have had to run the AC so much if it worked. We loved the little Marine Center and what they were trying to accomplish. Lastly a luxury resort would have more convenient boat arrival times (maybe 2x in the morning and 2x in the afternoon synching up with the check in and check out times?). Wifi in the rooms would be nice - these days it seems it is an expectation - not a luxury. And sadly there is no fitness center.

This resort has fantastic staff. Their best asset! The manager ( having met him, not interested in guests) needs to make an effort at cleaning up all the debris in the water. It is an eco resort but there is no evidence that they are doing anything to clean the water. It is a Malaysian issue but the resort needs to make an effort. I would not snorkel in the sea of waste!Make an effort!…not even a garbage can or a staff member assigned to clean up!