Review: The Langham Gold Coast, a fresh take on beachfront luxury

Introduction

Whenever a five star hotel opens, its creators often talk of ‘raising the stakes’ and ‘setting new benchmarks’. In the case of The Langham Gold Coast – opened in June and the city’s first beachfront hotel in over 30 years – they may have just achieved that lofty goal.

Housed in the tallest of the eye-catching Jewel towers, a trio of multifaceted highrises in Surfers Paradise, the hotel feels plucked from the streets of London or Hong Kong, offering a level of service and attention to detail that elevates it beyond its local rivals.

Location & Impressions

Centrepiece of the $1.4 billion Jewel hotel and residential development, The Langham Gold Coast marks the first coastal hotel for the Hong Kong-based hotel group, complementing established urban siblings such as Sydney, New York and Chicago.

Within lies 339 elegant rooms and suites, a smorgasbord of dining options – including a local outpost of the brand’s signature Cantonese restaurant – and a wellness spa offering bespoke treatments themed around the elements of earth, fire, wind and water.

Made for embracing the relaxed Gold Coast lifestyle, there’s a sunny sand-edged lagoon pool with swim-up bar, together with an indoor pool, fitness studio and full gym with treadmills overlooking the waves.

All that separates The Langham from the dunes is a small glass gate and concrete pathway providing easy access to Surfers Paradise in the north and Broadbeach in the south.

This pathway is a real asset to guests, meaning they can simply park the car, explore and not have to worry about it again until check-out… if they don’t mind a stroll. Taxis and ubers are plentiful too.

Room

As a quirk of the building’s design, every room is slightly different.

Our Superior Hinterland King Room faces south-west to the hills, with a view over the Gold Coast Convention Centre. Despite its name, it offers impressive ocean views from the balcony railing.

Calm and inviting, the room’s interior in an upscale take on coastal chic, incorporating textured linen-look wallpaper, sun bleached floors and a pale rose gold timber wall panelling, accented by shadow lines and black insets. It feels very high-end.

A dappled blue rug peeking out from beneath the king-size bed, nautically-inspired artworks and the blue-grey base of an elegant marble-topped minibar cabinet provide welcome punches of colour in the room, which would feel a bit too restrained otherwise.

Premium diptyque toiletries boost the feeling of luxury in the bathroom.

Pendant lights hang above marble-topped bedside tables, while a circular dining setting with two deep chairs and a chaise at the foot of the bed fill the rest of the space. There’s also a marble plinth, which works well as a wallet stand.

Tech-wise, the room is stocked with a 50” Samsung smart TV with ‘Streamvision’ casting, electric blackout curtains and sheers, and a Nespresso machine with an assortment of pods.

You won’t be short of a perch, with deep cushioned chairs, a chaise and two lounges on the balcony.

USB ports, power outlets and master light switches are on both sides of the bed.

Minibar prices are at the higher end of the spectrum: $10 for a juice, $14 for some nougat. Pre-mixed Syp cocktails – among them a martini and negroni – are $24 each.

The minibar is cleverly hidden inside this swing-door cabinet.

On the balcony you’ll find two white single-seater lounges on opposite walls with rectangular cushions. While these are ideal for a brief chat while soaking in the view, they’re not really somewhere you’d settle into for an extended period.

Sea views are an unexpected feature of this Hinterland King Room.

Back inside, a small dressing area with hanging space and draws leads to the bathroom – and one of the room’s hero elements: an inviting, deep oval-shaped bathtub with freestanding tapware. A separate rainshower with a hand-held nozzle is directly alongside.

As a nod to the Gold Coast’s subtropical climate, where the average year-round temperature is 26 degrees, Langham-branded thongs are supplied instead of fluffy slippers. A nice touch.

No fluffy slippers here. It’s thongs all the way.

All in all, the room is finished with an impeccable level of finesse… which makes a couple of quite minor missteps all the more obvious.

The lack of storage and space on the vanity means a separate table is needed in the dressing area to house spare towels and amenities, such as dental and shaving kits.

The dressing area includes ample draw and hanging space, with an iron and mid-size ironing board.

In addition,…