Rizqun International Hotel: Convenient Option near town center
The hotel is situated about 10 minutes from the airport and another 10 minutes from town center. It styles itself as a 5 Star Hotel but is not rated by the Forbes authority as such (I'm not certain if it's even rated by them). Never the less, they try their best with the nice touches and crispy uniforms. Being in the high end hotel industry I'm almost never impressed by a brand that doesn't focus on customer service. This one's no different but then again I'm used to a more Western sense of service culture. The staff was certainly not rude but appeared uninterested for the most part. Still, they'll gladly help you with whatever they can (and they did what I asked!). The decor was not my cup of tea and it seemed someone bought a lot of expensive stuff and decided to place it randomly around the foyer's. The issue was... too much empty space with small sections containing a lot of decoration. It felt like socialist realism :-x. Again... that's my Four Seasons sensibility playing in here... Who am I kidding, hotel's are always a tough topic for me and it's hard to please me :).
The room was very large and so was the bathroom. There was a large desk that stretched across the length of the room. The hotel was really built for business persons with all the usual connections and even had American outlets built in! Did not need to use my foreign adapters at the desk. One draw back is they did not have wireless Internet but provided Ethernet cables. I was told it was a frequent question they received but did not go wireless just yet. I did like the bathroom a lot and was the most luxurious part of the room. The view was not impressive but eh... I wasn't there to stair out my window. You're curious? What was outside my window? A lot of parking spaces and strip malls.
The lobby area is at the end of a shopping mall which is attached to the hotel. Just a warning, you're not allowed to use camera's in the mall, there are signs posted and security watches. All though not too well because i camera'd around a lot in there. There was a large sign advertising HAPPY HOUR! I was thinking "finally!" only to read in small print (tea and family, no alcohol). I knew it was an Islamic state but didn't think it was dry. Anyway, there were many local shops and Western style clothing stores on 3 floors complete with a large food court. Dining is not Brunei's strong point and I have a feeling many locals cook and eat at home in the evening.
The hotel has taxi's staged all day and all drivers speak English well.
