Since 1997, the family and I have spent Chinese New Year in Langkawi, Malaysia. We booked and stayed at the Sheraton Perdana Resort each and every year. Now, not to sound as though we are creatures of habit and we don't like experiencing new things, this particular hotel hooked us with its layout, pools, food, service and people.
When we first moved to China in 1996, we experimented with different resorts that others had tried. At the time, the most popular place to visit was the Laguna Beach Club in Phuket. Our initial leave that first year was to that resort. It was good. The hotel was comfortable...the pool was great...the beach was right next to the resort and the food was pretty good. It was expensive, though, as Phuket was one of the two biggest attractions in SE Asia for traveling (the other being Bali) at that time.
While watching television, Tai-Tai and I saw a feature on the island of Langkawi and how Malaysia was trying to focus attention on travel to this island with a new airport and duty free status, we decided to take a look at trying to get there. As our internet connections were fairly brutal back then, we looked up hotels in a directory for Hyatt, Sheraton and anything else we could find. We found two hotels in Langkawi and eventually settled on the Perdana based on the pictures and recommendations some good friends that stayed there previously.
We were hooked. The hotel had three great pools. One large pool, in the old style...with a deep end and shallow end. Another pool which was called the 'Ocean Pool' and originally was full of salted water and had rocks and fountains. Expat Daughter always referred to it as the 'rock pool' because it was a pool with rocks to jump off. Finally a fantastic kids pool with fountains and chairs with water jets.
The restaurants had a grand variety of local as well as western favorites. We always went to the same restaurant, which was an outdoor venue that served more of a gourmet a la carte menu. Although the service at times was brutal, we always gave them the benefit of the doubt...and we were rewarded with our patience with great food and better service in the future.
The pool bar was a great community to sit around, shoot the breeze and have a cold Anchor or Tiger...or savor a 2 for 1 happy hour just prior to dinner.
The rooms were very comfortable and spacious with its own balcony. The TV had always sucked, but, hey, I'm there to catch some rays and drink some beers...not watch TV all day!
The clientèle consisted mainly of Taiwan, Singapore and Japanese tourists. During Chinese New Year, there were more expats there...but for the most part, it was a family oriented resort. We saw the demographic of the hotel change year after year...from Asian to British to Australian to Middle Eastern...everyone comes to this place.
Finally, it was the management and the people that kept us coming back. After our first year there, we returned the next to be greeted by staff and managers with a hearty, 'Welcome Back!' That was the clincher...they remembered that long...and we loved it. It was what customer service is all about...and it was what China was NOT all about. People happy to see you. Sort of like the Cheers...where everybody knows your name. This was the number one reason we kept coming back.
So, in the coming posts, I would hope to address each of these different items in more details to discuss the changes that were made and how they relate to our previous visits and our expectations.