The Cabin Langkawi

There’s no breakfast served, so you can enjoy it your own way. I personally recommend a stall at the junction with lots of food trucks at night. The food and kuih there were among the best I tried in Cenang. The room was clean and the staff helpful. Housekeeping is on demand, which I liked most.

It’s nicely landscaped but simple, and the price is reasonable for low to mid-budget travellers. The location is great, within walking distance of all the Cenang attractions, which makes things convenient. Rooms are okay, with all the basic amenities.

Built from used shipping containers, The Cabin Langkawi is an unusual chalet with a lovely landscape of flowers and palm trees along the walkways. It’s in Chenang Beach next to Underwater World Langkawi and Coco Valley, and suits families and couples. At the time of this review in 2017, it had 20 rooms, starting at RM 160 without breakfast. Rates vary between peak and non-peak seasons. Rooms have either a king-size bed or twin super single beds, air-conditioning, hot water, a flat-screen TV with local channels, balcony, Wi-Fi, kettle, mini fridge, and car park. Check-in is from 2 pm and checkout is before 12 pm. Reception is staffed daily from 8 am to 12 am, and an emergency contact number is available at reception for after midnight.

I rarely leave bad reviews, but this was a horrifying night at The Cabin Langkawi. At 0216am, road construction was going on while we slept. When I got up to use the bathroom and switched on the light, the bulb exploded. A small voltage leak jolted my finger back. Luckily, no one was hurt by the glass that flew out, though it was less than a metre above our bed. I was shocked and left in darkness. By 0230am I’d reached the door and sat on the balcony to compose myself. Reception was closed. There was a sign saying “FOR EMERGENCY” with the number 0XXX-XXXX, but when we called at 0245am nobody answered. Our neighbour woke up from the commotion and helped us call the numbers listed on The Cabin’s website. We spent a good 30 minutes trying, with no one to assist. What if someone were trapped in a room or there were a fire? What’s the point of posting numbers if nobody can be reached? I still have the call logs. At 0315am we gathered ourselves and tried almost 15 hotels along the street in Pantai Cenang, as well as calling hotels in other areas. Everything was full for the weekend. By 0420am we were exhausted and desperate, so we sat at the 24-hour KFC and waited for daybreak. At 0700am I was furious and wanted to speak with hotel staff, but it was still closed, so we had to wait until 8am. At 0815am we sat outside, ready to confront the first receptionist we saw. At 0830am a staff member arrived on a motorbike. We explained things politely, but it turned into a scene because she didn’t take the urgency into account. The Manager of The Cabin wouldn’t come down to meet us and pushed the responsibility onto the staff. We got a refund, but were more desperate to find a bed than to ask for anything else. The Cabin felt beyond hope. At 0910am we went to the beach and asked for a sunbathing chair to nap, since most hotels only had rooms after 12PM. At 1110pm we checked into Nadias Hotel. Their staff felt sorry for what we’d been through and hurried their housekeepers to prepare a room. We were dehydrated, shaken, frustrated, worried about drunk people fooling around, and worn out from dragging our luggage around. There were also mosquitoes all over The Cabin, with marks from them stamped around the room furniture. It was just as stuffy in the afternoon because the container trapped the heat. At check-in we were greeted by an odour that made us think the previous tenant had been intimate without proper housekeeping afterward. The Cabin lacks the intensive values an hotelier should provide. If you want to go through my experience, book there for unforgettable memories.