Staycation at Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast

During the recent mid-term school holidays, we went for a staycation at Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast. Desaru Coast is a premium integrated destination resort which include a huge water park, golf course, internationally known hotels and resorts, a conference centre and a dedicated F&B area. Hard Rock Hotel is one of the world renown hotels build in Desaru Coast (the others being the newly opened Westin Resort and yet-to-be-opened Anantara Resort).

I hardly post about hotel stays, but THIS place is worth my time to write about, perhaps I have never come across such resort before. ( I have not stayed in any Hard Rock Hotels prior to this). We made a booking for Superior Double/Twin room during our stay.

Here is how the hotel room looks like : 

A view of the bathroom. No bath tub, but there is separate room for shower and using the toilet.

One feature I like is the balcony. Outside the balcony there is an extra sliding grille which you can close it to prevent the sun shining into your room, and also to prevent young children to climbing and falling down. The additional sliding grille can't be locked though, it only serves as a prevention.

The other part i like about the balcony was that we (accidentally) discovered that it has a good soundproofing! We put the kids outside and closed the sliding door. The kids were making a lot of noise but we could hardly hear anything inside! Some peace at last! Of couse the children needs to be monitered at all times. There is also an energy saving function - The minute the sliding door is opened, the aircond will be automatically turned off. So if you like your room to be nice and cold, remember to keep the sliding doors closed! 

During our stay in HRH Desaru Coast, we were informed by the receptionist that the mini bar is complimentary and will be refilled each day. Hooray! What was available to us was a bar of Kit Kat, Tiger biscuits, Apollo wafer, packet drink and Double Decker prawn crackers. An interesting concept is the two blue water bottles. It is sealed but empty inside.

The card placed in front of the bottles explained it all. The water bottle can be refilled at any of the water refill stations located in the hotel. It is the hotel's way of reducing usage of plastic bottles, a move which I truly supported. The bottles I believed will be washed, sterilized and sealed for the next guest to use. 

Here is how the water refill station looks like. At the top right corner of each station states how many plastic bottles are saved from becoming trash each time we refill a water container. I really think this is a good idea, and how great it would be if shopping malls provide the same water refill stations. 

So what is great and special about this hotel? One reason why guests stay in Hard Rock Hotel is so they could get direct access to the Desaru Coast Adventure Water Park, with special rates for hotel guests. There is an entrance directly linked to the water park from the hotel for the convenience of hotel guests who also wants to visit the water park. We didn't go into the water park as it is a huge place and I don't think I am ready to let 4 young kids play in this water park with just 2 adults looking after them. Besides, my younger two are certainly not ready for a park this size.

So by chance we found out that Hard Rock Hotel has a children's club called Roxity Kids Club. There are daily activities for children between 4 to 12 years old. They have a daily schedule of what is in store, even a movie time for the children after dinner! Socks are provided so there is simply no excuse for them not to join. Parents can just drop off their children with the Roxity staff and pick them up once the activity is over.

Activity schedule for the week

This is how Roxity looks like. There is another section with a huge projector screen and sofa chairs for the movie screening. Children younger than 4 years old can enter to play but they must be accompanied by adults and is restricted to selected time slot only, so not to interrupt the ongoing activities for the older children.

This is Splash Park, which is is within the vicinity of Roxity but located outdoors. It is not yet opened to public during the time of our visit, but I suppose once opened the kids are allowed to have water play inside this compound. 

So if the children don't have enough of Roxity, or the younger children could not participate in the activites inside Roxity. there is a shop called Roxtars which sells toys, sweets and Roxity merchandise. How clever of Hard Rock Hotel to include this shop, since there is no shopping mall in the nearby vicinity of Desaru Coast. 

There is also another children's playground area opposite Sessions restaurant, right below the Stairway to Heaven. The place is surrounded with bean bags so it is relatively safe for children, only need to ensure they don't climb up the stairs!

Another reason we decided not to go to the water park is that we found the swimming pool just nice for the children.  No fancy slides or splashy pails, but it is OK. The children just enjoyed floating and paddling in the pool. The hotel provides life jackets for the children so they can safely play inside the swimming pool with adult supervision of course. 

The pool section

The jacuzzi section

Life jackets, all in a row

Food-wise, dining options are limited. There is their main restaurant Sessions, which serves a mix of local and western food, though with extremely limited option for pasta (nothing else sits well with my children). If you need coffee and cake, there is Constant Grind, situated next to Sessions Restaurant. Our favourite was an unexpected visit to The Elephant and The Butterfly, a poolside grill and bar which serves Mexican cruisine. There's pasta for the children, and some other interesting Mexican food for the adults too. I love the huge and colourful mural surrounding this eatery.  

We spent three nights at Hard Rock Hotel Desaru Coast. (You can find our day trip to Desaru Fruit Farm posting here). Was it enough? Yes, it was - the children had their fun. The adults took turns to chill (and become a couch potato in the hotel room). Weather was thankfully good during our stay. Would we come back again? Definitely!

On a side note - If you are one person who enjoys quirky quotes and funny puns, the hotel room amenities will provide you with plenty of eye candy. Refer to my pictures below and you will understand why 😂

The pen is my absolute favourite item, and yes I 'stole' it from the hotel as souvenir 😆😆