I’m going to be fair and objective in this review of the hotel. This is based off my experience.
Positives:
1. Spacious room with decent amenities.
2. Comfortable bed and the AC was wonderful despite the 1800’s type switch to use the AC.
3. Nearby restaurants and supermarkets. A tip for new guests: Walk 5 minutes further to find more affordable restaurants for nearly half the price, same quantity, and often better quality as well. You’re welcome!
4. Some staff were very friendly.
5. Breakfast was fantastic!
Negatives (constructive criticism):
1. I couldn’t be check-in at 2pm. They told me to “please wait 15 minutes more”. I was a little irritated (internally and didn’t make a fuss) because I have been waiting since 12:50 but I completely understand that check-in is at 2pm. At 2:15pm, nobody came to me and told me my room is ready. It was only 30 minutes later when I approached the front desk and asked, the lady in orange attire visibly annoyed by my presence, gave my keycard. This shouldn’t happen. I also think that the hotel is short staffed, putting pressure on the workers with the larger volume of people.
2. Not much is explained upon arrival in terms of where the pool is or how to get there, where the elevators are, or where breakfast is, and so on. You figure it out on your own. Not a big deal but thought I’d mention it.
3. Despite the spacious rooms, they are very much old and dated. A renovation is definitely needed.
4. The pool area was probably my biggest problem during my stay. It’s smaller than you’d expect (compared to the giant foyer!) The amount of sunbeds can only accommodate around 20% of the guests if they’re busy. 3 mornings in a row, during breakfast time and before 8am, I peaked down at the pool, I saw a lot of sunbeds already being “booked” with towels and bags placed on them. At one point, I stopped going there because there was no place for me to lie down. I saw several other guests arrive, and then leave immediately because there wasn’t anything available.
5. Kuta beach is about a 5-7 minute walk away. Very close! However, it is an awful beach and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. Dirty (a lot of trash but also broken class pieces), and not much to desire in terms of appearance. Talk a walk to Legian, about 15 minutes up, and it is a little bit better.
6. Finally, I called reception just after 9am during checkout morning for an iron. At 10:06, an hour later, I called and said the iron hadn’t arrived yet. I was very polite. At 10:38, nothing had arrived but I received a third phone call “a reminder to check out at 11am”. I had to remind them that I still have not received the iron I asked for and I won’t be able to check out on time because I called more than an hour and a half ago. Anyway, around 10:45ish the iron arrived. I will attach photos of the ironing board and iron for you to see for yourself. I think I ironed 2 shirts and shoved the rest back in my luggage because I feared I would end up damaging my clothes. I checked out at 11:05.
I have stayed a total of 48 days in Bali (and neighbouring islands) and stayed in a total of 13 hotels during my stay. This “5 star” is definitely on the bottom 3 hotels for me, and I don’t mean that disrespectfully or bitterly, I was just happy to leave after day 5.
