Squzair

Hi,

An update of our stay at Langkawi, which was most enjoyable.

We stayed the first 2 nites at the Sheraton, where 1 room was upgraded to a corner suite while the other was just the connecting room to the suite. This worked well for us as my in-laws could help manage the kids. Only down side were the late check-in & the need to get about everywhere in the hotel's mini-vans ... it was tiring.

The next 2 nites at the Westin was marvellous. Again, upgrade to a lovely suite facing the pools & beach, while the other room was just a few doors away. Am already planning to return to the Westin, but shall skip the Sheraton for any future stays.

As for Langkawi, it was a great experience to visit the Marine Park, especially with baby sharks swimming up around you ...

Cheers!

ckforensic

What type of room would a Starwood Gold be upgraded to (if any)? I am using points for 5 nights (4 + 1 free)...would it be worthwhile to use additional points to upgrade further?

mario33

At Cat 4 its hardly the best way to use your points.

I am not sure about their Gold policy now but I was previously told (when it was Sheraton Perdana) Gold would get a "preferred" room in the same category booked. Having said that I did get upgraded (as Gold) to the highest category below a suite each time I checked-in as a repeat guest then.

Do note that this property under new ownership (and Westin brand) is very revenue driven. If you are not Platinum, the FO agents may try to sell you an upgrade when you check-in. I was particularly disgusted when the new FO manager tried to sell me a late check-out (by the hour) on the evening before my departure when she knew I had an evening flight. Its also the only resort in SE Asia I have stayed where they charge for plunger coffee in the room (suite); nescafe is free though

abegail

Has anyone stayed at the Westin Langkawi Malaysia, also my husband has a gold card what are our chances of an upgrade?

Squzair

The Westin Langkawi is certainly brilliant. As a Plat, we had a lovely upgrade to a very nice suite, as stated above.

Our second room where my in-laws stayed, was a garden-view room, was no slouch ... it was very nice, roomy & comfy.

So, as a Gold, you may get a preferred room, as Mario33 has mentioned, the new owners are very revenue driven!! Nevertheless, their rooms are very nice & fresh ... so even without an upgrade, it will be fine as its their pools, amenities which seem outstanding.

My kids loved the choice of 4 pools, kids' club .... the large number of foraging insects/small animals/birds foraging the grounds. It certainly is a place I'd go again!

Cheers!

mario33

Do be aware that the basic rooms (deluxe) do not come with a balcony and faces a wall/driveway. The "patio" rooms share the same view (or lack of), but being on the lowest level open into a newly created patio.

Squzair

mario,

i am amazed at your detailed information of the various rooms @ the Westin Langkawi.

onedog

Can anyone share the "best" way they have found to get to Langkawi from the USA? I am trying to plan a holiday for 3 adults and 2 young children and the Mrs. is really reluctant to flying transpac and then having to make a bunch of additional connections. We are both Platinums on AA and so will probably be flying CX through Hong Kong. Seems to me to LAX-HKG-KUL-LGK is our only choice?

Thanks,

Onedog

ManUtd99

Hi

Does anyone know what kind of benefits are accorded to Platinum members at the Westin - eg. free breakfast? Executive club access, if any? etc.

Thanks.

Thunderroad

Anyone able to compare the Westin and Le Meridien Khao Lak?

Also, I understand that the beach at the Westin isn't great. But does it extend into other beaches so that you can take long walks along the coast? Or is it cut off and self-contained?

Finally, any good places to eat near but not at the Westin?

opushomes

I stayed at the Westin while it was converting from the Sheraton. So my comments above, I think they are above, stand. Unless something has changed dramatically which I doubt, the Westin is over-priced for what it is. If they have retained the evening buffet, it was incredibly good. There is not much nearby, I believe a seafood restaurant which we did not try as our rate included breakfast and dinner.

The beach is pretty much non-existent although the pool (possibly 2 now) was nice. Would I go back to the Westin. Short answer is "No".

We were at Le Meridien last winter. IMHO it is better than the Westin and considerably less expensive. There are plenty of reviews of the property and it is well respected by many on FT. Obviously my preference for Le Meridien Khao Lak is only my opinion. Would I return to Le Meridien, "Definitely".

So it is your choice.

mario33

1) Yacht Club (with a restaurant) is 5min walk, Jetty (with KFC etc) is 10 -15min walk and Kuah town proper is 5 min by taxi (fare USD2-3). Several local restaurants in the Kuah town, Wonderland seems popular but havent tried.

2) Beach is not the best but its a long bay, ok for a walk. It does get a little ugly during low tide.

3) 3+1 pools

4) Positives : nice rooms and view, feels isolated but only 5min to town.

5) Negatives : beach during low tide, high room rates

mre2b9

It seems there are only daily flights from KUL and once a week from SIN and Penang.

Since have to go through KUL, I don't think there are direct flights from the US to KUL so have to connect at NRT, INC, HKG or BKK. From the east coast can also go the other way connecting in Doha with Qatar.

It's an awkward place to get to. It's currently causing me to look at other places rather than spend 30 hours flying and in airports.

claes059

Pictures: http://travel.webshots.com/album/568162289iHZfCi

When travelling in Malaysia, we always try to visit the beautiful island of Langkawi. Our favourite Sheraton Perdana Resort was rebranded and refurbished in The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa.
Via Flyertalk I already noticed the changed in management style towards SPG’s.

Indeed Revenue management appeared to be the priority here, and it was reflected in their policy.

When arriving in the hotel the atmosphere had changed. Refurbishments, very stylish and even with some Middle East details, had changed the lobby.
We were happy to see a separate desk for SPG’s and even a large carpet with the name SPG on it. This was very fine, only the appearance of these signs did not
reflect their policy. When checking in, the receptionist told us there would be no upgrading. Even the platinum guest would not get their suite! No upgrades in the hotel. Because I insisted, last time we had a very nice small suite and after that a large suite, she called her supervisor. Mrs. A. Zakaria.

Mrs. Zakaria told us the same story, No upgrades in the hotel were possible. We agreed to see our room first, if we were not satisfied we could contact her. They showed us a small room, with two separate beds and one very small chair in a cramped space between the bed and the window. Even no space on the small balcony since the hotel placed a very large bed here! The bathroom was small. It was a big disappointment for us.
No view from this room, since we did not get our preference high floor for a nice view.
I went almost claustrophobic and this appeared not a Slice of Heaven at all….
We had memories of beautiful spacious rooms, with nice furniture and balconies/terraces with beautiful views of the Andaman Sea when it was a Sheraton hotel. This Westin hotel smashed our dream holiday in pieces.

So we went back to the SPG desk and while standing on the large SPG carpet, she first refused to give us a better room or upgrade to a better room.. When I made clear we would not accept such a small room with no view, she looked again in her computer. Finally we could have a more spacious room, on the side / backside of the hotel. Mrs. Zakaria told us many guest did not favour this room, because from the room and terrace one could not have a view of the Andaman Sea. The room however appeared to be very spacious, and had one balcony on the backside and two terraces on the side of the hotel.
Though we did not have a view, we accepted the room, since it was spacious and with nice furniture.
Mrs. Zakaria, told us we would have an upgrade when a suite would be available. So, this was fine for us.
She offered us a free lunch since the room was not ready yet.
When we entered the room after a nice lunch on our favourite spot, the beach restaurant Tide, we noticed our welcome amenities, a nice red wine and some fruits.
We felt happy….

During the night the airconditioning appeared to be extreme cold, we almost could not fall in sleep, it was just freezing. We called housekeeping and next morning fixed it. However, the next night we had the same problems with the air-conditioning. We called housekeeping and they told us they fixed it again. Only… it appeared the problem was not over and it stayed freezing cold during our stay. Opening the doors was an option during the day, but in the night it was freezing or when turning the AC off too hot.

The bathroom had a bathtub and a separate Heavenly shower, which we liked very much. From the bathroom one could have a view on the terrace.

The terrace of the room was large and we enjoyed sitting here.

Only during the last day we were offered a suite. Mrs. Zakaria’s attitude towards us was not friendly. Of course she stayed polite, but her attitude could say more than words.

When entering the small suite, it appeared to be on ground level, just next to the swimming pool. We did not have any privacy in the room and terrace. Guests near the swimming pool could practically look inside our privacy. So, we were not happy with this suite. Guests and personnel walked by, since people could walk almost through our terrace since there was a path along our terrace, along two sides.
No view from the suite, only the swimming pool.
The reception told me we had to leave the suite 12 o‘clock for check-out next morning! . I refused, since we checked in the evening before and could only sleep and not enjoy the suite. The receptionist told us she would take care of it, so we could check out at 4 o’clock, since I was a Gold SPG.
The living room of the suite was smallish, with few furniture. The sleeping room was ok, with nice Heavenly beds. What I liked was the spacious bathroom, it felt luxurious, the separate bath, shower and toilet. During the bath one could burn some scented oil, it was very relaxing, or should I say Heavenly…

Breakfast in restaurant Essence was a pleasure. The restaurant was air-conditioned, an improvement since the Sheraton did not have an AC restaurant. When seated near the windows we could have a spectacular view of the Andaman Sea.
The breakfast buffet was extensive, however less than the Sheraton Imperial in KL. The quality was high. However it was difficult to find low fat yoghurt and other low fat products.
One of the cooks spoiled my scrabbled egg, it was too wet and not well baked, so I went back. A colleague of him made the scrabbled egg how it should be.

We had some buffets here in the evening. Service was in general friendly. However once I was wearing my dark blueArmani sleeveless shirt. When entering the restaurant, the personnel did not tell me I could not wear this. And when entering the restaurant, no information was available I had to wear smart clothing. When we walked through the restaurant and were given seats, no personnel told me I could not wear my Armani shirt.
Only when I was seated a waiter told me loudly I could not wear my sleeveless Armani shirt. He made it clear other guest could notice what was wrong with me since he was pointing out to the missing sleeves on my arm. I felt embarrassed, and became angry with the way they told me. I could imagine that I was addressed to this issue when entering the restaurant, but not while seated in the restaurant with other guests next to me.
They told me I had to change my shirt and could not stay in the restaurant this way! While I went away to change, my girlfriend tried to make clear to the personnel they should have told me this when entering the restaurant and not showing it so clearly in the restaurant in front of the other guests.
While I write this, I still feel my embarrassment and anger, they did not shows any manner to the guests acting this way. If I had knew I would have not dressed like this.
The buffet is extensive, the food of high quality. Again the main problem was we did have too much food to eat. Everytime I tried to eat less, but the food tasted so good I found myself again and again with to much food…
Hoever, in general the personal was friendly and service minded.

We did have one breakfast on our terrace of the suite. Since it was our last day, we wanted to relax before our trip back home to Europe.
I spend almost a half hour dealing with the room service to order. The woman did not understand I wanted some slices of ham and cheese and some pastries with croissant etc. I repeated many times my order, tried to explain and became frustrated because I could not understand why a women who could not understand English was to taken orders for room service...
When the room service finally put the tray on the table, she had made a white bread with ham and cheese, and no pastries and croissants. The waiter apologized and did come back with our order. But it took too much time and irritation.

It was an advantage the hotel has nice fitness rooms. So we could loose our extra calories from the breakfast and dinner! We had some good work out here. Machines are good and cool water is available.
We even liked the canoeing on the Amandan Sea. It is easy to rent a canoe in the water sport centre of the hotel. Beside the sporting it is very refreshing to canoe on the waters, feel the wind etc. Personnel was very friendly and helpful!

The Westin changed the beautiful design of the main swimming pool, we did not like it.
In general it felt for us like Westin took out the soul out of the hotel it used to be.. Of course everything seemed to be luxurious and fine. But compared to the Sheraton the atmosphere was totally changed. Not a resort feeling, but more a business resort…. With less acknowledge of SPG’s.

This time of the year I noticed many guests from the Middle East in the hotel. A receptionist told me they liked the rooms with Sea View. When I told her that we also liked a room with sea view she looked surprised and did no reply. Furthermore almost all the Villa’s were occupied with guests from the Middle East.

During one of our trips on Langkawi, we did pass the Sheraton Langkawi. Since it was raining, we visited the Sheraton for the second time and had a coffee with cheesecake. ( I always like cheesecake, and regret it is not easy to buy in the Netherlands). We liked the atmosphere of the hotel very much, compared to the new businesslike atmosphere in the Westin Langkawi.

The Westin has a beautiful Heavenly Spa, located in the Villa. ( this was the Villa during the Sheraton period). A big improvement compared to the Spa in the Sheraton Perdana, when it was located in some guestrooms of the main building.

The beach of the hotel appeared to be cleaner than before. We did have some nice swimming here, in the warm water of the Andaman Sea.

When we check out at the reception, mrs. Zakaria did not bother to say a word to us. She acted very coldish and not friendly at all. Apparently she was very busy with the arrival of other guests… It was me who said good- bye to her and to shake hands. It was not a nice situation and I regret she acted not professional. She should have acted more professionally since she is the guest service manager of the hotel……….

At the airport one can find a Westin lounge. It is small but convenient to have a coffee and sandwich. Reception did not call them we would arrive. So at first we could not use the lounge. Only after the friendly woman called the Westin we were allowed to enter.

Will I go back; Nope, it was a broken dream this time.
The change of this hotel to the Westin brand with the lack of acknowledgement to SPG ( as we have experienced), the apparently priority to Revenue management, the cool and disapproval attitude of mrs. Zakaria ( she did not ask one time if we liked the room), the cramped feeling of the first room with no view, the freezing temperature of the second room with two repairs which did not help us out of the cold and resulted in sleepless nights, and the room had no view of the sea, the small suite on ground floor next to the swimming pool with no privacy and no view, the embarrassment in the restaurant, the frustration with the room service ordering, smashed our expectations of a found Sheraton Perdana paradise in thousand pieces in the Westin L:angkawi experience. I did not know a different brand of the same Starwood company could change a hotel this way. Guess we are never to old to learn…
But we asked myself, “Is the happy soul of the Sheraton Perdana Resort lost in this Westin Hotel Resort Langkawi…….?

Pictures: http://travel.webshots.com/album/568162289iHZfCi

kluau88

Anyone have any updates or recent stay experiences as Platinum?