Ritz-Carlton Langkawi • a true hidden gem

100   Recommended

Room 7 , villa
April 14, 2019 by
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Room 7

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Room
villa

Recently stayed at the Ritz Langkawi for a 4-night stay with my mom. Overall, the hotel is absolutely wonderful and this was one of my best stays ever, bar none.

Let me start by saying that I came in with pretty low expectations — I hated Malaysia on my last trip, and heard Langkawi was pretty dull from friends who had visited. I also generally dislike Ritz-Carltons. Thankfully, that was not my experience at all, in large part thanks to this Ritz.

Two things stand out as absolutely stellar: the people and the hardware. F&B was also quite good. The stay wasn't 100% perfect (nothing ever is), and I'll mention a few caveats at the end. That said, that was not enough to detract from the experience at all and I would still rate this as one of my best stays ever.

 

To be fully honest, I debated whether to even post this review because I would not want this resort to get too popular. It truly felt like a hidden gem, and while it's a premium price point, it could be much worse if it gets populrized like the Maldives. It provides a far better experience and (for now) for much cheaper.

Check In

I had reached out about sleeping arrangements ahead of time — I'm staying with my mom, so wanted separate sleeping arrangements ahead of time. As an Ambassador guest, I was blocked into the Grand Oceanfront Villa at booking. I was staying during a slower lower occupancy week, right after the Lima conference ended.

We arrived via Grab (MYR 9 / $2 — beats the overpriced hotel transfer). At check-in we were met by staff, provided with drinks and cold towels. A german hospitality intern, Tim, came to introduce himself, as he would be our butler ("villa host" officially) and main point of contact throughout our stay. The german GM, Ellen, also came by to introduce herself. With the introductions done, Tim gave us a buggy (i.e. golf cart) tour of the resort, explaining all the features along the way, before eventually taking us to our villa to complete check-in formalities. We arrived a few hours before the official check-in time, but this was not an issue.

 

Room

Wow. Just wow. For this trip, I was originally considering the Maldives, but picked Langkawi instead due to cost-effectiveness + reports of service issues at the Maldives St. Regis. That said, I was still longing for that "overwater villa" experience. I couldn't be happier that that's exactly what I got here. The "Grand Oceanfront Villa" is on stilts, above the water overhanging rocky formations. The villa felt like 3000sqft+ (though I don't recall the actual size).

The inside had three rooms: a massive living room, bedroom, and a ridiculously large bathroom / walk-in closet. There were also several outdoor areas, including a 300sqft private infinity pool, two outdoor lounging areas, and a separate private "yoga balcony." There was also an outdoor bathroom and shower. Privacy was absolute — we could not see inside any other villa, nor could anyone see into ours.

Since I asked for a separate sleeping arrangement, the staff each night set up the main living room sofa into a bed. Each day, it was converted back into a sofa, and each evening the bed re-made.

Several gifts for us to keep were in the room: 2 sarongs, hats, a beach-bag, and flip flops. A welcome fruit-bowl and macarons were also present. For the first time ever, I actually ate the entire fruit plate. Each evening, a desert was left in our room after we got back from dinner.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are about a million words:


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The prettiest laundry bags!

 

 

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Our villa at low-tide

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Service

Every staff member was a joy to interact with. We had great conversations with several staff members, including the F&B director Celina, the Horizon bar manager Awang, and enjoyed spoking in French with one of our buggy drivers Willy.

The resort has an absurd ratio of 2+ staff for every guest, and it shows.

However — Tim, our butler / villa host, was the real star of the show. He went above & beyond throughout the stay, organizing everything from restaurant reservations to coordinating with the concierge for outside activities and getting us the little things we needed. We communicated via WhatsApp and were in constant contact throughout the stay. He was on top of everything, followed up consistently with any and all requests and made sure to coordinate with the rest of the staff for us. Several times, he took over more mundane tasks (like bringing something to the room or giving a buggy ride) so he could do it in person and check-in with us face to face. His energy and enthusiasm for hospitality was excellent. 

I saw the GM, Ellen, again at breakfast one morning as she stopped by tables of elite guests to check in on their stays. It was great to chat with her and see her interacting with guests.

Resort

This resort was originally slated to open as a Ritz Reserve, and it shows. They built the villas first, but eventually decided to add the standard "base-level" rainforest rooms, and open as a regular Ritz instead. I am thankful for this, as I wouldn't have thought to stay here otherwise, especially without the loyalty program. That said, you can definitely feel the Reserve quality.

The resort is spread out outdoors, and guests are offered 24/7 buggy service to get around. I walked a few times, but preferred the buggies as every time I walked I would end up drenched in sweat. The grounds are beautifully maintained topical rainforest with buildings spread throughout. 

I visited the spa for a treatment. The spa is absolutely beautiful, but I thought the treatment I got was a little too "showy" while the massage itself was just so-so. I would have preferred a better massage and less fancy touches. I was also not forewarned that the locker rooms and associated facilities (sauna, steam room, jacuzzis required a swim-suit, so I was not prepared and could not enjoy them. 

We also took two excursions organized by the resort through external companies: a small group mangroves tour and an island-hopping private tour. Both were absolutely amazing and fairly priced with pickup and dropoff at the resort.

The resort also had a bunch of free activities for guests like yoga classes and a rainforest walking tour which we enjoyed gratis.

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Exploring mangroves waterways

 

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Swiming alone on an abandoned island (sadly the water in langkawi has a lot of plastic trash. a truly sad sight)

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The amazing freshwater lake of the pregnant maiden, in a collapsed dead volcano with just a tiny sliver of land separating it from the ocean

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The spa


Insane sunsets at Horizon

 

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Even more gorgeous sunrsies from the room.

 

 

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Dining

We ate every meal at the resort — usually just breakfast and dinner. We tried each of the restaurants and overall enjoyed all the food.

(Apologies for the messy pictures, I just posted without editing and didn't always take the clearest pictures. The coursing order may also be off in the pictures)

 

Breakast at Langkawi Kitchen • Breakfast consisted of a buffet + an a-la carte menu of small dishes. Champagne or mimosas were served in addition to the usual options. Most international cuisines were represented, with Malay, Chinese, Thai, and western foods. The food was generally very high quality. There were plenty of staff for service to take a-la carte orders and bring requested items. My favorite dish was the Pandan French Toast, which was so good I had to have it every morning (and I don't even usually eat sweet breakfasts).

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Dinner at Horizon (by the adult only pool — Thai cuisine) • We ate here and really enjoyed our food, in particular a pomelo salad and a crab curry.

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Dinner at Beach Grill (by the family pool and beach — western & seafood) • We both ordered fishes which were tasty and well prepared. I didn't enjoy my cocktails as much, however.

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Dinner at Hai Yen (Chinese fine dining) • This is the only meal we didn't particularly enjoy. The food was OK, but we felt the restaurant was overpriced for the quality.

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Dinner at Langkawi Kitchen (same restaurant as breakfast, but serving Malay food for dinner) • We very much enjoyed the Malay food on our last dinner.

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Overall, I though the food on property was quite good. The drinks offerings were a bit weaker, with about average cocktails. I had port after dinner one night, and it was served on ice in a water glass. The restaurants were not busy at all, given the low occupancy.

One day of our stay, the Horizon pool, restaurant, and bar were closed due to a wedding. This was a bit inconvenient as it was one of our favorite outlets at the property and nothing was done to make up for it. They did however let us know far in advance so were were not taken by surprise.

 

Elite Benefits

I received the upgrade to the ridiculous Grand Oceanfront Villa thanks to Ambassador status. I also received a 20% discount on most incidentals (F&B and spa services), My spa service was given a free "enhancement" from a menu as an additional benefit. Breakfast was free at Langkawi kitchen.

Caveats

There were a few minor inconveniences, which did not detract from the overall experience much, but which I should mention in the interest of thoroughness:

 

- First and foremost: mosquitos. They're everywhere outdoors and infuriating. It was a particular program when sitting outdoors during meals and I got absolutely destroyed at breakfast the first few days. Mosquito repellent was provided gratis by the staff when they noticed my annoyance at the pesky creatures. We're in the jungle, so it's understandable. That said, I don't know if there's more the hotel could do to deal with this — I do hear Disney World for example goes to great lengths to eradicate them even though it's located in essentially a giant swamp.

 

- Occasional service slowness. We did get frustrated a couple times with this, and I got particularly annoyed when my buggy didn't show up at all once. The buggy was also late to pick us up for scheduled activities on two occasion, and my mom missed part of a yoga class as a result. Overall, we felt like the resort did on occasion run on island time.

 

- The beach's sand was a little coarse, and there were some jellyfishes in the water. However, staff monitored the water quality throughout the day and posted flags informing guests of any hazards.

Overall

To sum up, this is one of best hotel stay's I've ever experienced, at a very reasonable price point and I absolutely can't wait to return.

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