For our first two nights ‘travel recovery time’, we booked ourselves into the Magellan Sutera Resort, on the fringes of Kota Kinabalu in between the airport the city centre.

To say we left it a little bit late to book would be a sweeping understatement; by the time we looked, all hotels in Kota Kinabalu had reached atmospheric pricing levels due to Chinese New Year, and our choices had narrowed between this property, in an Executive Suite, or the nearby Shangri-La in a standard double room. I think we can all agree the choice was obvious.

This hotel has, without doubt, one of the grandest, most ridiculously large lobbies I’ve ever wandered into – though the greeting was muted, with us left to haul our own luggage to the front-desk, a counter about halfway down the lobby.

Check-in was a brief affair, with no mention of the club benefits, and we were quickly given our keycards and sent – luggage in tow – on our way.

The lobby size overall is emblematic of the whole property; it’s gigantic and walking distances can be quite lengthy.

Our Executive Suite was, however, equally gigantic and delightfully disproportionate for a couple of two. At the entrance, we were met by a hallway and a small bathroom to the right, opening out into a very generously sized living area and kitchenette, with views out over the sea.

Further along, a set of double doors opened into the equally palatial bedroom, which featured its own separate balcony, the bed, and then a quite extensive bathroom you could nearly get lost in.

The only drawback to the bathroom, if it bothers you, is that it features wooden shutter doors that open into the bedroom that any couple valuing privacy will want to close, and leave closed, right away.

Overall, it was very hard to criticise the room – clearly the property is older and the furnishings and general condition reflect that, though it felt like upkeep and maintenance was good.

My two big areas of feedback would be that four bottles of complimentary water were provisioned in the room every day, but additional bottles were never left even when you clearly used your allotment and asking anywhere on-property led to a charge of RM3 per extra bottle – which just felt a little cheap and unnecessary. Secondly, good luck finding convenient power sockets; we ended up charging our phones on either side of the room, well away from the bed, due to the lack of available sockets.

I should also make one point – while our room had an unobstructed sea view, my Mother’s suite, two floors below, had a very obstructed view due to a new building outside, and so despite paying for a ‘sea view’, she got it only by carefully looking over the top of a roof.

In terms of eateries, there’s quite a selection and the buffet (which is also where breakfast is served, though prepare to join the throngs for that) is clearly a favourite – though we ended up decanting to the bar / pizzeria restaurant at the end of the block, which had one of the most extensive menu’s I’ve ever had to read off my phone (isn’t it time we stopped phone menu’s? Or at least use them only for a menu with 5 or 6 pages, not more than 20 like this was).

The food was good however – with the only caveat being that breakfast, as I alluded to above, got very crowded. Tables could be found quickly, but that was the most trivial part of the battle – the egg station, pancake station, etc. all were just swamped far beyond the apparent capacity of the respective stations.

The property is centred around a large swimming pool and activity area, along with a very, very small manmade beach of sorts, all of which really come to life during the day – the combination of the family-focus and the Chinese New Year holidays definitely meant the crowds were out in force.

Nevertheless, we spent the entire day at the pool (accompanied by several RM3 water bottles), watching the sunset seaside bar get setup, which looked most appealing – but in the name of research, I was dedicated to go and try the club lounge ‘cocktail hour’ all the same, despite several online posts protesting the lack of available alcohol.

This was probably the biggest disappointment of our stay – first of all, as I say, we were never even told about it at check-in, but I was quite certain we were eligible. At first, the attendant tried to turn us away for incorrect swim attire – fair enough, though I was OK to enter – and then when I insisted I’d go in first and wait, she tried to tell us that, while the cocktail hour finished in 20 minutes, the lounge was full and she could call us later if seats became free (but it wouldn’t be extended). All while we stood looking out at several seats outdoors on the veranda.

Presumably as punishment for my continued insistence on coming in and taking a seat outdoors, I was served – very obviously – as absolutely slowly as possible with two other tables nearby getting a menu, orders taken, and drinks received before mine came. However, wine was on the menu. Or at least it was, until we’d had a glass each and it had apparently ‘run out’. Overall pretty disgraceful form. If you can tolerate the nonsense though, the sunset views from the lounge are spectacular however.

Unfortunately we had to rise and shine at an unfathomable hour, before checking-out and making our way back to KKIA for our onward flight to Sandakan for the real adventure to begin.

Overall, while there were a lot of plus points for the Magellan Sutera Resort, like the size of the rooms, the views out over the sea, and proximity to both the airport and town – aspects like the terrible club lounge service, the size and sheer busyness of the place, and the nickel-and-diming for water would make me think twice.