E&O Hotel

My department just had the annual dinner last week...a yearly affair and organized by a bunch of young folks (LOL) which promotes the motto of the company to cultivate a great place to work:)

Proud to say, I was also part of the organizing gang and it was great fun to work on this despite the hectic schedule atop the normal work schedule adherence.

So, the venue for the function this year was the prestigious E&O hotel (Eastern and Oriental) which was the most expensive and also the oldest hotel on the island.

Let me go back to the pathfinding stage when we first started our planning; actually the whole event preparation took place in about a month(proud that we made it!~)

We actually arranged to check out the venue prior to the event to engage in the discussion and negotiation with the hotel management on the event arrangement:)

I was there early; while waiting for the rest of the gang to arrive after their lunch and started snapping pics for my blog...:p

This is the hallway; I entered the main entrance and then turned to my left at the hotel lobby and this is the corridor walkway.

Sarkies' Corner; their in-house old restaurant which was on the right of the hallway.

They serve buffet lunches and dinner as well. Anyway, the deco; as expected were mostly in the olden coffee house style....actually most of the stuffs here look ancient and antique...however, I must say that I am not that impressed with this "wah-so-expensive" hotel image and I will slowly explain why.

Now I am at the other end of the hallway and taking picture from that end:P

This is our supposed venue for the grand night; the grand ballroom....hahaha...it was a joke to me actually...nothing near to the adjective to indicate the grandeur impression it is imposing.

Sighhhh...in fact, nothing impressive at all about this hall....I was disappointed.

Hahaha...I even took a pic of the restroom; nothing grand lar....just ancient:p

Most of the things here adopt the antique and long lost collection stuffs which were used by our predecessors...ermmmm, our ancestors:p

The interesting part is the color theme which they adopt in their interior design decoration which kinda matched our theme as well.

Their color theme was actually set in black and white; to give it a classic look and also the vintage old feeling since it is after all, the oldest hotel in the Penang.

Well, I am not really awed by their image as I have to admit, their name and reputation as I have collected managed to captivate my curiosity ahead and I must say I had my expectations that this should be grand and bombastic.

Imagine my disappointment when I see a hotel which looks more like a coffee shop rather than a rated hotel.

Yes, you can maintain the image and outlook of the ancient style with a twist of tradition but somehow you need to exude the elegance and classy feel to the place as well; get what I mean?

It is kinda hard to express in words my expectations but for a highly priced hotel like these, you can't just adopt and describe that this is hotel in legend when all I can see is just a coffee shop styled inn...yeah, inn is more like it to call this place.

Who says antiques cannot have that classy and elegant appeal?

I think more effort needs to be included to enhance the image of the hotel.....to give it the winning reputation it deserves:)