Hotels & Resorts
Nestling in the Bosom of Penang’s Grande Dame 116
Te x t b y J U H A N K A M A R U D D I N I m a g e s b y E A S T E R N & O R I E N TA L H O T E L , P E N A N G
Eastern & Oriental (E&O) Hotel is one of Penang’s prestigious institutions that puts the island on the international travellers’ map. Definitively British colonial with Malaysian accents, this beacon of classic luxury has been in existence since 1885, the brainchild of the famed Iranian-born and Armenian-descent Sarkies brothers who founded a string of hotels around Southeast Asia that included The Raffles Hotel in Singapore and The Strand in Yangon. Interestingly, E&O Hotel – initially Eastern Hotel, then merged with Oriental Hotel – was the starting point of the brothers’ foray into the hotel business.
