Goodway Hotel

Sports Massage Centre & Spa

by DarkRay

When your body's aching from all the shopping and water sports activities that are so popular in Batam, a good massage is one of the best way to unwind the body.

Sports Massage Centre, next to Goodway Hotel and opposite Harmoni hotel is a good no-frills place to experience a good massage. Its staff are relatively professional and its prices reasonable (most 1 hour treatments cost around S$15 ~ S$25 / US$9 ~ US$15).

While Singapore dollars is accepted, do note that as they will obviously use a less than favourable exchange rate, it will be at least 10% more expensive than if you pay in Indonesian Ruppiah.

Also, although the place is called a Spa, it is really more of a therapeutic massage centre as there are basically not much ambience to speak of....

Staying in Goodway Hotel

by DarkRay

Goodway Hotel is where I stayed during my trip to Batam. It used to be known as the Mandarin Regency Hotel and that is actually pretty obvious because the hotel apparently cannot decide whether should they change their branding completely to the new name (Goodway) or stick with the old (Mandarin Regency).

Throughout the hotels, one can find signboards (including a really large one by the main entrance), decorative effects, as well as stationery using either of the labels interchangeably.

Of course Goodway Hotel used to be well-known because it used to house one of the better known casinos in Batam island. But that has since been clamped down in February 2005 and apparently, that had hit their business quite a bit. I thought it was interesting that when the receptionist made this known to me during my checkout, she was actually sighing about it.

The location of the hotel is not bad. It is not at the center of the shopping attractions in Nagoya Town, but at a relatively accessible (and definitely walkable distance). Because of this, it is quite peaceful and quiet at night.

The rooms and facilities are a little cramped and old though, but I was certainly happy the bed used for their rooms, even for twin rooms, are queen sized ones! Do note that this is a low-rise hotel with only 4 levels for those who like to stay on high floors.

Being old, there are also some dubious stains on my room's WC unit and bath tub, but not enough to disturb me greatly.

In overall, I think it is quite good value for money. But I think I will stay in a newer hotel should I visit Batam again.

Overall, Goodway Hotel is quite a grand hotel but a little dated as you can see from the somewhat dim, but spacious lobby here.

Nevertheless, it is served by a good team of staff who are both friendly and helpful.

Goodway Hotel being a low-rise hotel with more than 200 rooms, has really long corridors sprawling over quite a large area.

Despite it being only a standard room, it is always great when I found that near-queen sized beds were provided! :-)

For a standard twin room, it was actually quite roomy, with a small sitting area and more than enough space to walk. The door shown in the picture is actually the connecting door to the adjacent room, in my case, the room which my other buddies were staying in.

One nice touch is that the curtains used were of the total blackout variety, which shields the sometimes overly bright daylight well.