Name: 1st Inn Hotel Shah Alam (SA20)
Address: 29 Jalan Singa J20/J Seksyen 2,Jalan Singa J20/J, Shah Alam, Shah Alam, Shah Alam, 40150, Malaysia
Rating: 2

Air conditioning

24-hour reception

General

Cable TV

Flat-screen TV

Shower/Bathtub

Shower

Rooms

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Offsite parking reservations required

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the hotel

Room amenities

Sunway Lagoon Theme Park

Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport

Pusat Sains Negara National Science Center

Thean Hou Temple

Lake Gardens

National Museum

Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

Islamic Arts Museum

Butterfly Park

National Mosque

Sri Mahamariamman Temple

Merdeka Square

Petaling Street

Jamek Mosque

Kuala Lumpur Tower

Aquaria KLCC

Petronas Twin Towers

Petrosains Science Discovery Centre

Batu Caves

National Zoo

Kuala Lumpur International Airport

1st Inn Hotel Shah Alam (SA20)

Shah Alam

We booked this place last minute as our plans have changed. 

We booked the place on Agoda. The place was initially listed as $13 for the night and then went to $19 on payment screen after adding 10% service charge, 6% government tax (VAT) and 2 different levies on foreigners for Malaysia. The latter only applying for 4 star hotels, which this is not close to. We were desperate as it was a last minute booking on the day, so we went ahead and paid the ridiculous fees and proceeded to pay via credit card.

We arrived in the evening after taking a grab. The parking area was full of rats, cockroaches and garbage floating around on the ground. With effort, we got our luggage across the parking lot and proceeded to the doors. We opened it and found 2 ladies sitting there watching their movies on a laptop while eating, drinking and burping. Yes you read right. They were constantly burping, even while speaking to us. They did not cover their mouth or apologized or had even the slightest body language indicating that they realize it is super unprofessional let alone rude. The place was extremely hot (even at night time) and smelly. There's no aircons in the lobby, despite them listing aircons, so I am not sure if the rooms have it. They also advertised wifi but I did not pick it up on the phone (not even password protected one). 

We took out the phone to show them the booking confirmation. They then said "icy" and after asking several times what they mean, it turned out they meant ID. I took out my passport gave it to them and then they said 10. I asked "10 what?" they said "Passport 10". I said, "10 what?". They then said "10 for passport". Turns out they want us to pay for the foreigner levies yet again after we already paid for it on top of the booking price. I told them that we already paid for it, but they did not seem to care. I asked to speak to their supervisor, who they then phoned and gave me the phone. The supervisor wanted to know which country we from and I asked why does that matter. She said "No icy, pay for pas-pot". Clearly not good English as you can see, despite their agoda page listing English as a language. I then told the person on the line to just refund my booking so I can find a different place. They said "ok let me speak to the staff again". I gave the phone to them, they spoke for a few seconds in thier native language and then hung up and continued eating, burping and watching movies. At first I thought they just waiting for the manager to phone them back or something but after standing there for another 5min without any word from them, I asked them what is happening. They then responded "no English", followed by a grin on the face and then looking at one another, giggling and then their eyes going straight back to the movie screen and they continued eating. This is where I lost it. 

I logged a ticket on Agoda customer care to refund me as they do not want to let me in despite me already paying all the fees listed. Agoda policy clearly states that all fees due are displayed on there. I've booked with them several times and there are ones that show the total and show that a portion is paid to agoda and an additional fee at the hotel. This one did not. It showed that all the fees were included in the price (after it went up with fees). 

I phoned the number displayed on the front desk for customer service. A guy named Michael Lee answered and he argued with me that the fees were not included in the booking and that I need to pay them in cash and that it is law. I told him but I already paid it and he must look at his listing and make sure it follows Agoda's policy. He argued with me and said "It is my hotel. I would know". 

Needless to say, I did not come right with him either. I took pictures of the place, showing the cockroaches running around in the lobby, the iron standing half-done in the corner of the lobby and some broken old tables. I also took the pictures of the 2 ladies who were meant to assist us with check-in but were clearly more interested in their movies. It is almost 24 hours later and Agoda did not yet get back to me. I will post an update here if they do. 

I ended up booking a place 10km away for twice the price and had to take another grab, on top of not getting my refund. Even if the fee was not included, I would not have wanted to stay there as the place was super dirty, the staff were rude and the entire layout and setup was bad. The area, despite being "near" I-City was complete trash with nothing (not even a convenience store) in walking distance. The entire road had roadworks. 

Needless to say I will not book with them again. What I also decided is that after a previous OYO place in Bangkok was in similar condition (minus the roaches and rude staff) that I'll never book with OYO franchise either. 2 out of 2 is enough reason for me to avoid them for a lifetime. Let's all avoid them and put them out of business so that someone with better skills of running a proper hotel chain can take its place.

1st Inn Hotel Shah Alam (SA20)

Main amenities of the hotel

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Available rooms

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Description of the hotel

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