Vila Rumah Manis, Jalan Nakula 18, Seminyak
http://www.balibountygroup.com/villa/index.htm
(Apologies if you have read some of this..I did post about the hotel while in Bali as some forumites were waiting for info. I have re-worked it a bit)..
We were in an Agung villa with internal staircase. There are (as always) some plusses and minuses. Staff are friendly. The outdoor courtyard with plunge pool is wonderful for a family to spread out, and both rooms also have a comfy seating area with coffee table and TV and fridge (both floors). We took all the drinks etc out and put them on the table right beside the fridge so they could see we had not used them, just moved them. Stocked the fridge with own drinks and fruit (and my make-up - brilliant tip that, from the forum).
My two adult daughters were in the twin beds below. We had the large four-poster king size bed up top. It was very comfy..probably the best bed we have slept on in Bali. We asked for, and got, an extra pillow but I asked at the front desk for a bathplug for the big marble bath on the top floor and did not get one for days until I showed the guy who cleaned our rooms that it was missing, and he hurried away and got one pronto.
There is a narrow staircase up to the top floor, and no dividing door (though you can't see up or down). You can call out to each other, though, and if the TV is on loudly it can disturb. We were not so pleased to discover there was no door, but what can you do when all the Agung rooms are the same. (There was that 'euuuuuwwwwww' factor for our girls, but we promised to drape a signal cloth over the banister halfway up the stairs if need be, which prompted another 'euuuuuuuwwwwwwww'. Sheesh, you would think they had been immaculately conceived! )
Both bathrooms are open-air, but roofed, except for downstairs shower, and the girls were not impressed that when you were in the little plunge pool in the courtyard you could see right into their shower area. But by the end of the holiday youngest daughter had gone from 'no way am I using that shower' to really enjoying using it before the rest of us were up.
The hotel has a good laundry service and the main pool is lovely.
Restaurant is okay, and breakfast was okay..neither spectacular.
Room service was mainly good, and reasonable prices for room service. Towels good. The hotel provides a can of mosquito spray (and a coil each day) for the rooms. Toilets are modern and in good condition, not smelly. Showers strong and good hot water (note says it can take 5-10 mins to arrive hot, but we found it almost instantly hot). The lighting at night was what I call 'gloomy' in the rooms but my girls said it was perfectly all right...no central light, you see, just lamps and a light over the dressing table. We did enjoy the spaciousness of the villa.
The cleaner did a good job but our drinking glasses that disappeared on Day II to room service never reappeared so we bought some anyway.
The hotel fogged for mosquito control while we were there and we got a notice a day or so beforehand to warn us and reassure us it was safe.
The courtyards are cool and have flagstones and greenery in little garden plots, but a little bare...the fancy pots of flowering plants that are on the website are not there. The courtyards of each villa are overlooked to some extent by the one across the way. Our plunge pool was not visible to others, but the rest of the courtyard was. We looked out upstairs onto the one directly across from us. (My husband did not mind when he saw the woman over the way sunbathing on her lounger topless, but I did not find it so fascinating to glance out when opening the curtains one morning to be greeted by the sight of the bloke wandering naked across their courtyard to get some clothing from the clothes rack!)
If cooing doves or pigeons drive you nuts then you will not find it peaceful. Each villa has a poor bird in a cage winched to hang from the corner eaves, and they coo off and on all day. We were on the side of the property with a road on the other side of the wall and traffic noise was a bit loud at times, and we could hear a cacophony of dogs barking sometimes too.
The pathway of concrete slabs along through the rows of villas is rather uneven...I would not feel happy in high heels or if I was unstable on my feet.
The hotel is down a dusty, dirty lane which is the road, Jalan Nakula. We did not mind walking to the main street, but the traffic edging past, motorbikes and cars, could be a bit close at times. I would advise holding children's hands. (I suggested in the feedback letter to the manager that they would improve the perception of the hotel if they, and perhaps other hotel owners in the jalan, paid a person to keep the narrow street clean and free of rubble and rubbish). We found that going either left or right when out of the lane onto the main street we could find plenty of shops and eating places within walking distance, or we just got a taxi.
The front counter staff were excellent and generally had a good understanding of English and were happy to help change money/call a taxi etc. They also did a great job of confirming our flights the day before we left, which meant our seats were already allocated to us when we fronted up to the Garuda counter the next day.
I guess overall we did enjoy the Vila Rumah Manis. The staff were friendly and helpful and that makes all the difference.