Short review
Value for money: 5/5 (Outstanding given the price and the facilities available)
Services: 5/5 (Outstanding; personalised service making us feel welcome and at home)
Bedroom: 5/5 (Very spacious; direct access to the swimming pool)
Bathroom: 4.5/5 (Spacious and elegant)
Breakfast: 5/5 (Delicious and they changed the dishes daily)
Facilities and amenities: 5/5 (Great location in the centre of Surabaya; large swimming pool; outstanding massage)
Pros
- Very spacious room
- Beautiful architecture
- Personalised service from the staff
- Excellent breakfast experience
Cons
- TVs are on the small side
Long Review
Very happy to be back to Hotel Majapahit Surabaya MGallery. This time, my family and I stayed nearly a month in this heritage luxury hotel.
The hotel lobby is simply beautiful and clearly showcases the heritage nature of the hotel. A large painting showing the Yamato Hotel incident where the blue colour of the Dutch flag was torn off, leaving the red and white of Indonesian flag, is prominently shown. There are other historic memorabilia displayed around the lobby. A grand piano is placed in one corner. One wall boasts the awards that the hotel received. The high ceiling is gorgeous and is decorated with stained glass skylights.
Check-in was straightforward. They even gave us two options: a room on the first floor or on the ground floor near the swimming pool. We chose the latter option. While checking-in, they offered us refreshing herbal drinks.
Walking from the lobby to the room, we passed through a gorgeous sun room, serene gardens, and beautiful corridors.
Our room is the Sarkies Legendary Suite. Sarkies brothers built a hospitality empire in Southeast Asia in late 1800s. Lucas Martin Sarkies, the son of Martin Sarkies, built the then called Oranje Hotel in 1910, before it was renamed to Hotel Majapahit. Sarkies memorabilia decorated the walls in this suite, hence the name.
Majapahit Legendary Suite is essentially a one-bedroom suite. At nearly 100 sqm, the suite is expansive. This suite is also larger because it has a side porch along with a small garden and another porch which provides direct access to the swimming pool.
Half of the suite is occupied by the dining area, lounge, and a study in the corner. Welcome gifts, comprising fresh fruit and Indonesian snacks, were provided in the coffee table. They also prepared an international travel adaptor in the study space, which was a very useful thing to have. They also provided two bottles of water and these bottles were replaced and refilled throughout our stay. It is good to see that they used glass bottles instead of plastic bottles. The lounge is a great place to relax and receive visitors, which we had regularly. There is also a TV here, but in my view its size is a bit too small for the space. The reception is not particularly clear either.
The bedroom and bathroom are in the other half of the suite. The bedroom is spacious and again beautifully decorated. We asked for an extra bed and they organised one for use promptly.
The bathroom has 3 sections. The main and the largest one features the bathtub and the beautiful vanity unit. The remaining two are the shower and the toilet.
Breakfast was served at the Indigo Restaurant, and it was a truly enjoyable experience. They had a good range of dishes, and more importantly, they were delicious. One stall near the entrance served waffles, pancakes, bread pudding, and some Indonesian fried snacks, such as banana fritters. The next stall served an array of pastries and traditional Indonesian desserts (jajan pasar). I should declare that roti sisir (sweet soft pull-apart bread) in this hotel is the best I’ve ever tasted. Cereal, yogurt, fresh milk, juices, and fresh fruit were next. Opposite them, three types of jamu (Indonesian herbal drink) were always ready. Salad and bubur Madura (sweet Madura porridge) were served in the next two stalls. One of these stalls was decorated with a traditional Javanese character (I can’t remember the name). At the end of this row of stalls, they served turmeric rice (nasi kuning) and corresponding side dishes, along with congee and its condiments. This is not the end of the dishes though because there was still the hot bar, serving a variety of Indonesian and western dishes. We could also order noodles and eggs cooked whatever we like directly from the staff. Finally, there was one last stall serving soto (Indonesian yellow soup) or rawon (Indonesian beef soup). This stall resembles a shoulder pole commonly used by traditional Indonesians to carry and sell food. Another wonderful thing is that they changed a good part of the dishes daily. The pastries, the Indonesian desserts and snacks, and the dishes in the hot bar were different every day. I also enjoyed tasting different types of soto from many regions in Indonesia.
Tea and coffee were also available and can be ordered directly from the staff. I drank earl grey tea throughout my stay and the staff automatically served me this after knowing my habit.
We also requested the staff that we would like to eat particular Indonesian desserts (putu bambu, lekker, and roti sisir) for breakfast if possible. Happily the staff actually prepared them specifically for us. We were grateful for such a personalised service.
Another example of personalised service is a birthday cake which was delivered to our staff by more than 10 hotel staff singing happy birthday.
We also had dinner and lunch frequently at Indigo, which was the only restaurant in the hotel. Previously, there was also Sarkies Chinese Restaurant, but we were informed that it has been closed since the beginning of the pandemic. Back to Indigo, we ordered a lot of dishes and beverages as shown below. We enjoyed our dining experiences and the services delivered by the staff.
Other facilities in the hotel include a swimming pool, a gym, and massage by Martha Tilaar. The pool is large and the water was warm and nice. We hired Jessica Haryjanto (@jessicaharyjanto on Instagram) to give some private swimming lessons for Josie. Josie made much more progress in 6 lessons than the entire year worth of lessons in Sydney. We highly recommend her if you are looking for a swim coach in Surabaya.
The gym is well equipped, although I did not use the gym much this time. The massage service by Martha Tilaar is again highly recommended. We enjoyed many relaxing and refreshing sessions here. One of the best massages we have ever experienced. So far for me, only the massage delivered by Thai Airways for their first class passengers is comparable to this.
They also have a pub called the Maj Pub and Dine although we did not give it a go.
We truly enjoyed the hospitality of the staff in this wonderful hotel. Another outstanding experience and we are certainly keen to return in the future. Below is a video highlighting our stay. You also can read my previous reviews of this hotel here (first stay) and here (second stay).
