Berjaya Langkawi Resort

Key point to know: -If you want something unique, this is the place -stick to bed & breakfast meal plan -food & beverages are very well priced -spa facilities are a must -water bottles are provided daily in room -cosmos ecotour in oriental village is a must, really good fun (RM280 per car, half day island tour) -skycab + skybridge is must (go early morning to miss queues and heat) -RM15 room tax per night -try and get to a night market if you can, Sunday market is the closest near the airport RM50 for taxi from hotel (there and back and he will wait whilst you visit) We stayed here as a couple for a week and for a start this resort is amazing with its own unique character from the people to the actual resort itself. We had a very easy and efficient check in process with a warm welcoming as soon as we arrived at the reception. As a couple we stayed in a rainforest chalet which was absolutely amazing. Each chalet is perched up far enough where you feel the privacy but not so far that you feel isolated. Getting around the resort is very easy with just one phone call and a caddy will be outside within a few minutes to take you wherever you’d like, bearing in mind this resort is massive and very well spread out through the jungles. The chalet itself is fully equipped with everything you’d need and was in a very clean and presentable state, no faults there. The swimming pool area is really lovely, tidy and clean although as many other reviewers state; the lack of sun loungers are an issue although not the end of the world. We found in the morning all the loungers are taken with towels but come around 1pm they start freeing up which we found the perfect time to go for a quick dip in the pool. The staff are very attentive around the pool area and bar and are always around to help if needed. There is ample seating around the beach area too if you prefer the beach setting. The beach is stunning with the magnificent views of the open seas and white sand and one turn around to look back and you see the breathtaking views of what makes this resort so unique with its setting within the mountain and lush rainforest. The spa facilities here are also exceptional. We did the couples massage and it was very professionally carried out from booking to the right end. Being a spa resort it was also very well priced at RM589 for 1.5 hour massage and use of their facilities thereafter which were exceptionally clean and modern, definitely a must!! Dining....this was a very different/disappointing/difficult journey to our trip. We regretfully decided when booking our trip to opt for the full board package. As we were both vegetarians we thought this would make our experience that bit easier and give us the freedom...Oh how we were wrong. A massive clause this resort fails to mention anywhere until you arrive at a restaurant onsite is that being half board OR full board, you are limited to a set menu at all the restaurants. We paid a significant sum extra for this option yet we ended up getting very little option. Being vegetarians this limited us even further to just one option which we seriously struggled when every dinner and lunch began to be repetitive with the same foods. Paying for a full board basis you’d have assumed that you’d be given full access from the respective menus i.e. a la carte menus and set menus, minus drinks. Never have we been to a hotel where we are then tied down to selected meals which just consist of the cheapest meals and cheapest ingredients, even the set dessert in the veg menu was always “sliced fruit”...a few pieces of pineapple and two pieces of dragon fruit, that’s it?!! This of course became a significant problem to our trip as we began to feel the struggle within the first few days, we therefore HAD to find someone to raise this with because whilst dining, we were NEVER given any option to change or adapt the menu other than “it is what it is”. Thankfully we approached Anna-Lisa (front office manager) at reception who took the time to listen to us and took on our issue. Within a few hours we’d heard back from her with the news that she’d spoken to all the restaurant managers to make arrangements where we could pick our OWN choice of starter/soup/main etc. Not only did this give us that sense of freedom again but it also helped us enjoy the holiday rather than going most of the day hungry and almost having to worry what we would be eating. Note to Berjaya- please ensure your website clearly states the information on food, menu types and board basis. Do not sell your full board packages to consumers with this hidden clause which is deceitful as customers pay for the full package and are under the impression of staying on a full board basis but it feels very misleading once you have arrived at the resort and understand the board basis and what you actually get. Please make it clear on your packages and website that your full board package ONLY includes set menus. This would have helped us more if it was clear in the first instance before selecting and paying for this type of package. If we had known about this then we would NOT have paid for full board and instead would have only chosen bed+ breakfast. It was also unhelpful that your management further stated to us that it was our responsibility to notify the resort that we were vegetarians. It is your responsibility as a business and as a resort to make your packages CLEAR on your official website. It would also help if your staff were versatile in allowing those on full board basis to give an option of switching around certain items that your set menu’s give as options. The responses we had everytime from your staff was ‘you have to pay extra for that’ when it is quite clear that we have paid full board. Ultimately it felt that the staff were trained in ensuring that customers are billed when it should be focused on CUSTOMER SATISFACTION as a primary goal to retain customers,future visits and recommendations rather than being focused on MONEY MONEY MONEY. To those who are considering full board for future reference: We would strongly recommend you do not pay for full board given the experience we had and instead pay for your meals. Funnily enough this would have worked out significantly cheaper as food and beverages are very reasonably priced for this level of hotel, and you are not restricted to set menu’s and food types only. This in return allowing you the freedom of choosing what you would like to eat, wherever you’d like to eat. The restaurants are as follows; Dayang cafe (breakfast buffet) = great variety of food for everyone’s dietary requirement with good options of hot and cold foods, good egg station made to order, good selection of breads/pastries, good options for hot foods (varieties of noodles, steamed rice, hash browns, waffles/pancakes) Dayang cafe (lunch) = we come back to the problem of even for lunch having to choose from a set menu. For veg it was mushroom pasta but once we were allowed to choose the foods, I can’t fault it. Everything we tried we absolutely loved...especially the sidewinders!! Dayang cafe (dinner buffet) = never ate there as out of the 7 nights there, we never had a veg option other than steamed rice and dhaal which was also the same as the breakfast- so again same foods used for the whole day. Extremely extremely disappointing considering that was the place to be for desserts as there’d be an entire table full of different varieties, but you can only go to one restaurant for your daily dinner allowance. Oriental restaurant = Chinese cuisine which was actually delicious. Can’t fault the dishes. We had the original set menu (prior to speaking to management) however everything we ate was fresh and delicious. Beach brassiere = Indian cuisine which again was very tasty food. This restaurant was allowed in the lunch and dinner allowance although the food was identical over both meals with the exception of naan with dinner and just the curry on its own over lunch, the soup option on the set menu is also the same across lunch and dinner. The food was very good here, however seeing all the other veg options did really make us question why we were only given the cheapest meals in the set option. But once we were allowed to choose, it made it slightly easier. Pahn Thai restaurant = this is their highlight restaurant for the resort and it was by the far the best food/exp we had on the trip, we went twice over our trip and had we known earlier how good it was, we’d have just had our dinner here everyday. Everything from the stunning sunset setting over the sea, to the very professional staff to the authentic and delicious food was an all round success. We can’t fault this place one bit. Great selection of foods. On our first night of arriving, we arrived at the resort about 7pm and headed down to the Dayang Cafe (dinner buffet), we had a look around the many different dishes available only to find the only options for vegetarian was steamed rice. We found the chef that was out on the restaurant floor and asked if there was anything veg and he replied with “no, 90% tonight is non veg”. we’d have thought he’d offer and say that he could make something for us, however he then followed by saying “if you go to the oriental restaurant, they have more food you can eat”...which is what we ended up doing, we did not expect this to come from the chef himself and sadly a dissapointing start to our stay. Berjaya need to encourage their staff to be a little more helpful to different dietary requirements and show the willingness to assist in cooking something rather than just directing us to another restaurant. On our second night we experienced the same meal issues and while we were having a look around in Dayang Cafe’s buffet; Ridhwan (Assistant Manager) approached us out of his own will and asked us if he could make us anything vegetarian. Ridhwan was the first person in this resort to have offered this and given our experience on our first day left us a little baffled as it was unexpected. We ofcourse greatly appreciated Ridhwan’s courteous assistance and we thoroughly enjoyed our experiences thereafter in Dayang Cafe as he would ALWAYS approach us EACH AND EVERY SINGLE DAY whether breakfast or lunch to check up on us and also made an effort to speak to us about our time in Langkawi. We noticed he didn’t just do this for us but was making an effort with everyone in Dayang Cafe- now this is who you call a manager!! Ridhwan is an EXCELLENT example of exceptional customer service and he brings Berjaya a lot of value to their resort for going above and beyond his role as a manager! Your staff should take a leaf out of his book and really set themselves as Ridhwan’s example as asking a customer if they have anything they would like to eat shows that it goes a long way and Ridhwan did exactly that! EXCEPTIONAL AND YOU SHOULD BE PROUD OF HIS SERVICE TO YOUR RESORT! Ridhwan deserves very special recognition for this! Aishah- Supervisor at Dayang Cafe- Aishah always checked up on us during breakfast and lunch and did this with a smile! Thank you! We can understand and respect that in this part of Asia, vegetarian/vegan dietary is not a big significance, we had no problem there. The overall main problem was the fact that it was barely acknowledged considering people fly in from all over the world to visit and as stated earlier, there are many dietary requirements all over the world, not just the local requirements. We actually went to a local night market one evening and had MORE food options there with many vegetarian dishes. We did think that if someone is vegan, it would be near impossible to eat here, there is a “vegan nacho” pizza, it has no cheese but it has sour cream....... BUT despite the above (if you’re still reading here), this resort is still beyond beautiful and amazing and it really is a unique experience. Sure it’s not the ultimate 5*like nearby hotels, but I do believe no other hotel in Langkawi (or most of the world) will give you such an all round experience and be able to be so immersed within nature. This place truly does respect the surroundings and have built themselves within nature, without taking it over and there are many touches that showcases this. There is no doubt that we will return here in the near future, but just now more informed and educated. We hope this can help future travellers and give the information we never had. Great service received from the following named staff: 1. Ridhwan- Assistant Manager at Dayang Cafe 2. Aishah- Supervisor at Dayang Cafe 3. Dominik- P&B Captain at Panh Thai restaurant 4. Ranee Teoh- Assistant Manager at Front desk 5. Anna Liza- Assistant Manager 6. Jacky- Assistant Office Manager

Everything about this resort is SUPERB..!! We only stayed here for 1 night as we had made different booking in another hotel near to Chenang Beach. The staff here are super-friendly, great & delicious food, big swimming pool, clean & comfortable room. The distance between the airport and this resort quite far around 20-30 minutes but you may contact the resort to arrange the airport pick up. This resort located at Mat Chincang Mountain, one of the popular location for tourist & you can just walk to the cable car site or use free shuttle provided by the resort. They also can arrange others activities such as walk in the jungle (free for in-house guest), mangrove tour, island hopping tour, Sunset dinner cruise and more. Definitely will come again with my family.