Longest-staying guest in Penang’s history honoured

GEORGE TOWN: German widow Wilma Budke, thought to be the longest-staying guest in the history of the island’s hospitality industry, is making her presence felt. On Dec 21, the 82-year-old would have spent 4,500 room nights – equivalent to 12 years and four months – at either the Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa or the Golden Sands Resort in Batu Ferringhi. To commemorate this, both resorts pledged a total of RM4,500 – RM1 for each night of her stay – to benefit the Resource and Education for Austistic Children (REACh) and the Penang Turtle Sanctuary during a dinner they threw for Budke.

The German was also given the honour of switching on the lights of the Rasa Sayang Hotel’s Christmas tree in a ceremony at the Garden Wing lobby here yesterday. Rasa Sayang communications director Suleiman Tunku Abdul Rahman said it chose to donate to these two charitable organisations because they were not as well known as other welfare bodies.
“We wanted to highlight the needs of these special children. “Although the Penang Turtle Sanctuary is in Pantai Kerachut, not much is known about their work,” he said, adding that the hotel also sold turtle merchandise like T-shirts and crystals at its gift shop. “All proceeds go to the sanctuary. The hotel hopes to raise enough funds for a tracking device, which costs RM18,000, for the sanctuary to trace the turtles’ migration patterns and their habits,” he said.

Budke, who first came here with her husband in 1978 and has been back every year since, said she was determined to clock 5,000 room nights in Penang, a feat she hopes to accomplish in two years. “Here, I know everybody. The staff are like my family and it feels like home. When I am back in Germany, I would count the days until I come here again. Each time I leave (Germany), people would say I am going to my second home. “But I say no, this my first home,” quipped Budke, who lists chicken rice as her favourite local delicacy.
-thestar online.