Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa Kota Kinabalu

booked 2 nights at this resort. nice and relaxing. room is very well - appointed and very spacious. the view is marvellous from the room, facing the pool and the sea. Went to the sunset bar for the sunset view. So worth it. everyone is so friendly here. breakfast the next day was so scrumptious with massive selection of food. Would definitely come back again.

We moved to Shangrila after two night stay in Hyatt Centric which is a city hotel. It was disappointing yet expected given its 40 yr history. I chose it because it was highly rated and remember it as the prime hotel since my younger days. The hotel is under renovation so it didn’t help that they upgraded us to a suite which faced a construction site. The suite was spacious but the layout made it feel cram. There was a mix of experiences in terms of service. Unfortunately the older staff were efficient but lacking in niceties. The younger staff were more cheerful and one young big sized porter was helpful and had a good sense of humor. The breakfast buffet was passable and our lunch at the Shang Palace was of good standard. The highlight of the hotel is its Sunset Bar which is acclaimed to have the best sunset view ok KK. There was limited seating and the prices for different seats were exorbitant. We chose the lowest price and got good seats at the bar. The bartender was friendly. Unfortunately it was a cloudy evening and we couldn’t see any sunset at all. I felt sorry for the top payers. We were at the Magellan Sureya and a Waterside bar on the prior evenings and the sunset views were good enough. Go to Shangrila if you like large beach resort but explore the alternatives for the pros and cons such as convenience, new vs old and quality of the rooms

We checked into Shangri-La Tanjung Aru at midnight tired from the flight in and ready to get a good night’s rest. The hotel was quiet and eerily empty making me wonder if I had made the wrong decision of booking this hotel based on online pictures. As we walked into the lobby, Jordan at the front desk greeted us and informed us our family of four might feel a bit cramped in our original terrace ocean view room and offered to upgrade us to a family suite. Of course we said yes! Not only did they provide two roll away beds for each of our kids, the room had a beautiful ocean view, was very spacious, and had a lot of nice amenities for the kids! The breakfast was delicious every morning with rotating menus and the best chocolate croissants made by their pastry chef! The pool was nice and not crowded at all with beautiful ocean view all around. Avila, the kids club coordinator, lead fun activities in the pool and game room which our whole family enjoyed very much! The sunset at the hotel is unparalleled and totally worth every dollar we spent on our hotel booking. The day before we had to check out, Rachel with the front desk stopped by to ask how our stay was and proceeded to coordinate luggage pickup, trolley ride for us to the front lobby (because the hotel grounds is HUGE), and even sent breakfast to our room so that we could make our early morning flight without going hungry. All in all, we highly recommend Shangri-La Tanjung Aru for their beautiful hotel, unforgettable sunset views, good food, and excellent service. Thank you for giving us a wonderful summer 2026 family vacation!