Great Pool Suite, one of the best in S.E. Asia

Looks like Zimac bet me to the punch so I will offer a slightly shorter review.

Bottom-line- At 250USD/night with pool suite St. Regis Lankawi is an outstanding value which I will try and return to. This was the best use of my SNA as a platinum over the past 5 years. However, if I’m with my kids then I would not book the St. Regis but rather the Andaman if I could only choose a property in Langkawa.

Background- I’m platinum and submitted a SNA which was approved. I then requested a pool suite which I received. This was only a 2-night stay and was to celebrate wedding anniversary.

I’m not a fan of vacationing in Malaysia since I can’t get my swine with my morning PLT breakfast at SPG hotels. I’m definitely not a fan of Langkawi since there are so many better beach locations to go to in S.E. Asia. However, the St. Regis Langkawi has made an impression on me and provides a great value for a quick get-away weekend for me. If the St. Regis keeps its rates sub $300/night and I can score a pool villa using a SNA then I will plan to go back to St. Regis.

Compared to the Andaman

The Andaman is better for families. I stayed with my kids 4 years ago (pre-reno) and had a great time. Andaman has a far better pool (with slide) for the kids than the St. Regis does. There is a small kid pool at St. Regis and I mean small! I think it might have been 6’x3’. There are only two lounge chairs available at the StR main pool for parents to sit at and watch their kids.

I think the beach is better at the StR for kids simply because it does not have all the dead coral to step on that the Andaman has. But I think the Andaman stills has better views and I love the large trees on the beach that provide shade at the Andaman.

I have not stayed at the Westin so I cannot compare it to StR or the Andaman but I would continue to choose either StR or Andaman over Westin for a Langkawi stay.

Pros/cons

Cons-

The StR location makes it seem like you are staying on a lake. The views into the ocean are surrounded by islands which make it appear you are on a lake.

New Staff- The hotel opened in late May and it seems like the staff are still on the learning curve. The hotel was 90+% occupancy when we stayed and the staff seemed overwhelmed during the morning breakfast. Several people got upset with slow service from the staff. It took us 30 minutes to a coffee but for us it was not a big deal. The pool suite and Bentley had already put us in our Zen zone so waiting for a coffee was no big deal. However, if we would have had our kids, where prompt delivery of items keeps kids in check and parents from getting mad at the kids, then we would have lost our Zen very quickly. I think the staff will overcome these issues as the hotel is new. One staff member, who apologized for the service even though we didn’t’ complain, told us that this was the first weekend the hotel was almost full. The hotel had only been at 20-40% occupancy up until the weekend we stayed.

The Beach is not fully ready. By this I mean the palm trees on the beach have not grown their palms and the landscaping has not fully bloomed yet since the hotel has only been opened for 2 months.

Pros-

The Bentley! What a way to start your holiday and to end it by riding from and to the airport in a Bentley. It seems odd to have such a nice car roll-up to an airport such as Langkawi but who cares! I have never ridden in a Bentley but with an in seat massage and slow jazz playing I want one now. I’m not sure how exactly the free service works but there was a guy checking out same time as I was and rode to the airport in van instead of the Bentley. Based on Zicmac comments I’m wondering if it was because you have to actually book the Bentley before hand.

Pool suites- The pool at the StR is small and no chairs to sit in and hangout. So getting a pool villa is really worth it, the pool in the pool suites is about half the size of the main StR pool. I also must say it the pool suite is the best I have ever had. I have stayed in a pool villa at the LM Koh Sumai and Hyatt Maldives. The StR pool suite is a garden oasis that you want to hang out in all day. We only went to the beach when we were waiting for the staff to finish our room. The rest of the time we just hung out in garden and pool.

Staff- Even though I noted issues with service in earlier paragraph I must say that the staff learned our names after first greeting and addressed us by our name for our short 2 night stay. This is the reason I think the staff overall service will only improve in time.

Even though the hotel was at 90+% occupancy the main pool was not full nor were there a lot of people in the beach chairs. I saw maybe 5 couples between the main pool and the beach.

Airport lounge- You get access to airport lounge at the airport which in Airside. It is not big but provides refuge from the Langkawi airport.

Champagne with Breakfast. They had a lobster omelet as a choice from the menu. However, was not a fan of yet so maybe breakfast is not ready for prime time. I think they have quantity but not the quality in my opinion. Great selection but not my top 5 breakfast experiences within SPG, maybe top 10.

Recommendations

Pool suite- If you stay here I would try and get a pool suite. The only other thing to do is sit in a lounge chair on the beach. I don’t know if we would have enjoyed our time at the StR if did not have the pool suite. Depending on the pool suite you get we can have some great privacy in the pool. The StR has mounted sheer white curtains around the pools so you can draw these curtains and enjoy privacy. The curtains are also above the pool so the rooms above you cannot see directly into your pool. I have never seen this done before but great concept to ensure your privacy. I’m sure Muslim ladies will enjoy this feature as it will allow them to enjoy swimming in privacy without a full wetsuit.

For pool suites I would stay away from 101,102 and 105-108. You can see directly into these pool suites from the main building so you lose the privacy of the pool suite.

I would not recommend the overwater suites. Maybe I’m jaded because of overwater villas in Maldives and StR Bora Bora but Langkawi is not an overwater villa location. Additionally, you can see directly in the pools in the overwater suites from the beach. So not the same privacy as the pool suites. Not sure why they designed it this way as it would seem simple to put up a privacy screen to the sire facing the beach but they didn’t.

There is an overwater restaurant that the StR has, which you can also get to from the Westin by bridge, which looked really nice. We didn’t eat there but you may want to check out. They have this suspended canopy (think of catamarans) that you can lay on and watch the sun set while having cocktails. We didn’t find out about this until the last day when we decided to walk around the property but wish we did as we would have enjoyed it. This is what Zicmac is referring to as the view.

Other info-

There appears to be several putting greens which appear to not be completely ready yet.

There is a small island, large enough for a table, where I think you have dinner on. The water is submerged during high tide.

Spa looked nice, we used it to change into beach clothes when we arrived while waiting for our room. The spa rooms have frosted windows with water falling down it for ambiance.

Butler service- I have stayed at a StR only 1 other time and that was at Bora Bora. So I haven’t figured out the StR Butler service yet. The head Butler at StR Langkawi introduced himself when we checked in a

Conclusion-

I now want to come back to Langkawi with just my wife again so we can enjoy the StR pool suite again. I think it could give places in SE Asia like Sheraton Pranburi Villas, Naka Island, Westin Siray Bay and Vana Belle a run for their money if the StR was not in Malaysia.