I debated with myself for a long time if I should write something about this hotel or not. The reason why, is, that unfortunately we were disappointed, and I didn’t feel like writing a review about being disappointed. But, since not everything in life is rosy, I thought that I should also write when something does not meet our expectations. So, here is our hotel review for Reserve the Cozytainer.

I think that the Cozytainer deserves to be mentioned simply for the cool idea to build a hotel made from containers in Taiping, Malaysia, which is more of a small town, and, well, not the most modern-looking town.

And those who know us, know that our dream is to have a tiny house one day. As we began looking into tiny houses, we also found container homes that are almost kind of cooler. We are so in love now with container homes that our plan from a tiny house may have changed to a container house!

It looked so cool in the pictures that we were really looking forward to our stay there. So excited that we didn’t even read all the reviews… otherwise we would have known some things before we arrived.

But, from the beginning.

The blue containers are organized in a U-form. The reception area is made of brick. And since we love both metal and bricks, this made a very good impression on us.

Not too big, not too small, very modern with that nice combination.

And when we saw that the rooms also have en-suite bathrooms and free Wifi at a fair price, our booking was made quickly.

The communication with the hotel was good and fast, so our anticipation was huge.

As we arrived, we did the self-check-in. The room keys were in a box with a number combination.

The journey to the hotel was good, just note that the hotel is pretty much isolated. Walking in that heat from the city center was a “no way” for us! We think that this hotel is good for travelers with a car. Or you can use Grab, which is available in Taiping.

As we unlocked the door and entered our container, we were very happy. Concrete walls and floors, a cozy-looking bed made with white linens (I absolutely love white linens, that is THE symbol for holidays for me), and a black metal divider with a shelf to the bed. Very industrial, and very nice looking!

Then the shocking moment. A long dark hair on top of the bed. And as the blanket was folded on the end of the bed, we had a free view of the unattractive stains on the sheet.

Did they even make the bed fresh? Was it cleaned in here? Those were my first thoughts.

Yes, we heard later, as we contacted the owner. He quickly gave us another room and wrote that he mixed up the room numbers.

Unfortunately, it was not much different in the other room. Again the sheets were stained.

We contacted the owner again and wrote that he should come and look at it himself. He came immediately.

We met Lean the hotel owner, a young man, who planned and built this hotel himself. He was very engaged and extremely nice. He went through several rooms, but it seemed like there were stains on all the bedding.

We were both hungry and wanted to eat something. We also wanted to visit the zoo, which is why we came to Taiping. Lean was so nice and promised to take care and clean the room.  He also offered to drive us to the city, which we gladly accepted.

We did our little city tour and came back to the new room after our trip to the zoo. Well… the white bedding was changed to grey ones now, but upon closer inspection, they were also with stains.

In our travels through Asia, we have stayed in probably 100 different hotels, B&Bs, or guesthouses. But something like that has never happened before.

This is why we don’t accept “the washing machine was probably too full” or “the stains don’t go out”.

Then you must wash several loads, or find a new cleaner, or simply buy new beddings.

I complained about the facts which made me angry – and our stay was not so pleasant. But Lean deserves a chance because we still love his idea to convert containers into a hotel.  And especially love his style.

The water pressure of the shower is optimal, we had hot water without having to wait an eternity.  Having hot water with good pressure hasn’t always been the norm in our travels.

And if he can fix the cleanliness issue, the hotel would be a real hit!

24 rooms

Occupancy from 2 to 4 persons possible

Water dispenser, free of charge

Wifi

TV

Free parking

A small backyard

Cleanliness needs to improve

No toiletries

No English channels, only a little amount of movies

The location is not central

Style of the hotel

We like the interior

Minimalistic

Lean, the owner, is very nice and helpful

Price

5 Globes on a Tee out of 10 for the Cozytianer. Even if the price is very good and less expensive, we find that cleanliness should be priority number one. Currently, it is, unfortunately, a long way from it. But if Lean can fix this, the Cozytainer will be a very nice place to stay!