Forest City Phoenix International Marina Hotel Review

Forest City Phoenix International Marina Hotel located in Forest City JB, Gelang Patah. I had a short getaway in Forest City which is about 40 mins from Singapore last weekend. The hotel was built in the Forest City, a reclaimed land. In fact, there is a huge city with newly built commercial buildings and apartment condominium built in Forest City.

Now, let’s talk about the Phoenix International Marina Hotel in this post. There are two hotels in Forest City, one is Phoenix Marina Hotel and the other one is located 15 mins from here is the Forest City Golf Hotel, more for people who intend to play golf.  The advantages of staying in Phoenix International Marina Hotel is closer to the shopping street and eateries street.  Hence we choose to stay in the Phoenix hotel instead.

There is an underground carpark, once we parked our car, we went up to check on the lobby.  We arrived before 12 pm noon but we were allowed to have the early check-in which is cool.

The lobby hall is very spacious and there is a corner facing the beach where singers will perform at night.

We have gotten our room on the 7th floor. The surrounding view is pretty impressive, lots of green.

Room Review

The room is very spacious with a balcony and sea-facing view. The twin sharing beds wasn’t comfortable enough for me as I find the mattress is a bit soft.

There is a small working table with light in case guest need to catch up their work.  Four complimentary bottled water and some tea & coffee packets are available.

The wardrobe review

Inside the wardrobe, there are two bathrobes and two pair of sandals for guests.  A safe box with pin number is also available inside the wardrobe.

Bathroom Review

The bathroom is very spacious too with an oval shape bathtub sit in the opposite corner of the shower room.

I like the shower room with glass door, it is also spacious and allows you to move freely.

You will find a hairdryer and even toothbrush & little toothpaste provided at the drawer in the bathroom.

Afternoon Snack

At around 3 pm, there is some refreshment brought into the room.  Some fruits and milk, quite a healthy choice.

The view from the balcony

There are two pools when you look down, a bigger and smaller pool.  The bigger pool was closed for maintenance but the smaller pool was opened during my visit.

If you look further, you will see the beach and because of the haze, the view is not very good.  Otherwise, you can see the island of Singapore from the balcony.

 

Night view from the room balcony

The lights are coming from Singapore Island.

Gym Review

The Gym is located on the first floor with no air-conditioning.  It is very spacious with enough pieces of equipment.

There is a weight area with lots of dumbells and a barbell.  I was trying to show off my overhead squat.  Anyway, the total weight is only 15 kgs more or less.  The zig-zag barbell is 5kg and both sides of the plate are 5 each, the total is 15 kgs. I usually overhead squat more than 15 kg but this is just to show off, I even didn’t have a proper gym outfit.

Children Corner

A little indoor playground for young children is on the first floor, near the restaurant for breakfast.

Bicycle Renting

Forest City is huge so there is bicycle renting for the guest, about RM 15.00 (USD 3.60/SGD 5.00) for an hour.

In case you have forgotten to bring your swimsuit, you can purchase at the pool registration counter here.  They even offer pool floats to rent out.  The big flamingo bird cost RM 40.00 ( USD9.50/ SGD13.10).

Wedding Corner near the Beach

This corner here is for couples to have their outdoor wedding vows

Night entertainment in the hotel lobby

There is a singer who sings from 8 to 10.30 pm on Saturday at the lobby.

SkyBar & KTV

The sky bar and KTV karaoke are at the top level 13.  The Sky Bar is called Sirocco which offers great views from the indoor but it also has outdoor seating too. The rooftop bar with an excellent western menu cum local fusion.

Breakfast Review

The restaurant for breakfast is on the 1st floor and I was shocked to see so many guests there because at night there weren’t many guests around in the lobby.  The seatings are almost full!  The choice of breakfast is average with local Malaysian nasi lemak, Chinese bun and western sausages, and fries. Don’t forget to go outdoor to get your egg omelets and noodles soup.

Final thoughts:

Who are the guests that stay in Forest City Phoenix Hotel?  The hotel caters mostly for potential investors who wanted to invest in housing in Forest City.  I met a Chinese lady from Hunan China, she came with a group of Hunan potential buyer to look for a second home in Forest City.  Well, even if you are not into buying a home here, you are always welcome to pay a visit to Forest City Johor Malaysia.  You will be impressed by how well the city has been doing so far.  More to come as this is only at the beginning stage of building up this city.