You’d be forgiven if you take a cursory glance at Aloft’s Langkawi Pantai Tengah location and categorise it was yet another beach resort.
It certainly has the makings of it. Located within 15 minutes of the Langkawi International Airport and just a stroll away to the beach, you’d think it was built for tourists keen to just lounge around a generic pool working on their tans.
If that’s what you’d like for a holiday, that’s also fine. But if that’s all you do in this hotel, you might find at the end of the trip that you’ve missed out on what they have to offer.
As shared by Mike Fulkerson, Vice President, Brand & Marketing, Asia-Pacific, Marriott International, “Aloft Langkawi Pantai Tengah is a good example of how the brand is evolving to suit the needs of Asia Pacific travelers with the addition of beach activities to the Camp Aloft kids program that ensures that guests of all ages have fun and are connected.”
This push to build hotels that fit the local scene rather than just stick to one generic mould is an approach that the Aloft brands is clearly trying to take, and the Aloft Langkawi Pantai Tengah has the hallmarks of this.
Here are some areas where they embraced localisation, and subsequently improved the experience of hotel guests.
1. The hotel was built to fully take advantage of the landscape.
Don’t expect long air-conditioned walkways in Aloft Langkawi Pantai Tengah. Instead, the open-air concept not only lets in the sea breeze, but allows you to fully enjoy nature wherever you are in the hotel, with generally unobstructed views.
Almost every area faces outwards, giving you a view of the island: either the sea or the tropical forests behind it.
When it comes to views, they also have an elevated swimming pool on the 3rd floor, a concept unique to their hotel in Langkawi.
The team did share with us that not having air-conditioning everywhere has the first bonus of being eco-friendly, and becomes a double win by being cost-effective too.
Speaking about air-conditioning…
2. Sensors and technology are used to minimise wastage.
The more ecologically aware among us would know the distress of centralised cooling in a building. After all, if we don’t need it, we really should have the option to turn it off.
The hotel takes this principle a step further.
Opening the balcony door of your room to let some air in? Your air-conditioning will automatically turn off. And every single room in the hotel does come with a balcony, for guests to enjoy the views.
For anyone who just can’t remember to turn things off after using them, all the rooms have active motion sensor. It takes about 30-40 minutes of inactivity within the room for the electricity to turn off.
3. Asians expect food in a hotel, and that’s what we’ll get.
Aloft hotels overseas operate on a “grab and go” concept, but the Asian counterparts have restaurants for the convenience of their patrons.
Nook, Aloft’s signature restaurant, offers an all-day dining experience. The presence of such a restaurant is unique to Asia, because as the team told us, “because Asians expect hotels to have a restaurant”. So yes, we highly appreciate that.
4. It’s all about the activities, at a special price.
For some, holidays are all about relaxing, but Aloft Langkawi Pantai Tengah has many activities on offer, if you’d like a bit for action while on holiday.
And for parents who’ve brought children along, there’s also a free kids club, so parents can go ahead and have fun without worrying.
Now that the little ones are accounted for, cruises are available from RM180/per adult. A 4-hour jet ski ride on the other hand starts at RM650.
The team can also assist with making the bookings, and there are quite a few packages available through the hotel, which includes kayakking, jungle trekking and even bird-watching.
The more sedate would probably enjoy a sunset cruise and dinner instead (RM380).
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Arguably, on top of all that the hotel has hoped to do, the strongest point for a visit is something they don’t directly control: the beauty of Langkawi itself.
And Aloft’s collaborators (such as the tour operators) are very protective of it. We observed them diligently picking up and clearing rubbish from the beach and ocean throughout our jet ski ride.
It may be something small, but it’s clear that they are aware of how important it is for the pristine location to be preserved.
- Find out more about Aloft Langkawi Pantai Tengah here.