Can anyone recommend a hotel in Penang, ideally by the beach, that would be suitable for 2 families. One with 1 child aged 13 and the other with two children aged 9 & 5?

Depends on your budget - Shangri La's Golden Sands resort seems family friendly

We stayed at Golden Sands 20 years ago & recently re-visited it for a planned stay later this year. It has beautiful gardens & a lovely pool area. Nice large pool with various shallow areas for kids. The best rooms overlook the pool/beach. The beach is OK, swimmable & reasonably clean but we liked the pool better.

It's also a picturesque 30 minute bus ride (stop right in front of hotel) into Georgetown & the cable car. I think it's an excellent choice!

The best hotel used to be Rasa Sayang but it's undergoing MAJOR renovations and looked to be a bomb-site when we saw it in mid Nov 2005.

Don't miss the dvd store in Komtar, near the movie theatre in the back corner of the centre. Excellent quality & 6 ringit each for the latest movies!

Has anyone any comments about the Holiday Inn Resort Penang?

Pretty nice hotel, centrally located in Batu Ferrenghi - some of the rooms, I believe, have been designed to accomodate families (the kids having their own area) - but double check on this.

I'm pretty sure they will have a similar kids club to the Golden Sands (as most of the hotels in Batu Ferrenghi do)

We stayed at the Golden Sands last July, make sure you ask for a Seaview room otherwiswe you will be looking out over the street. We walked to the Holiday Inn to have a look (we had stayed there 27 years ago!!!) and GS pool areas are by far nicer, set in plenty of lawn for lounging around on. HI has just a rectangular pool. There is a great food market area on the same side as the beach, if you turn right out of the GS and walk you can't miss it. It looks like a parking area full of tables and chairs, with food stalls set around the outside. The Satay sticks, the Spring Rolls and those Korma Vegies, oh yum, I want to go back! You won't have any problem feeding yourselves cheaply there. Have a great time.

We have now opted to stay at the Holiday Inn resort because the hotel does Kids Suites which will suit us perfectly - I know the hotel probably isn't as luxurious as the Golden Sands but it does still seem to be very nice from what we have read about it, plus it is in a great location.

Therefore, please folks can someone tell us about any experiences they have had at this hotel and any recommended restaurants nearby.

Batu Ferrenghi has dozens of cheap restaurants outside the main hotels offering pretty good food at good prices.

For a change one night get a taxi to Gurney drive and try one of the Night Markets there - delicious and soooo cheap.

Eden Seafood is fun, I don't know if they still have the show or not but makes a fun evening.