THE PATRA BALI RESORT AND VILLAS
This is truly a lovely hotel certainly justifying the deluxe classification – on 11 hectares of waterfront (but not beach) at the far southern end of Tuban closest to the Airport. All the resort rooms are in freestanding 2 storey buildings set around open courtyards in glorious gardens. It underwent a massive upgrade during 2003 (we were told that what they spent on renovations would have built from scratch 3 other reasonable hotels!!) and décor and fittings and fixtures in all room types are stylish and fresh.
For the well heeled there are also villas – with a separate pool
There is a large well equipped (free) kids club with a/c, and outside a big safe play area with climbing equipment and a shallow pool. They try to allocate families to rooms closer to the kids club, while couples are well away on the other side of the main lobby and pool area
The pool overlooking the water is huge, with different depths and a spa plus a swim up bar. Plenty of loungers and shade and a small manmade sand area with pool overflow water making a safe area for the real littlies to paddle around
Hawkers are very low key and still reasonably priced – we paid 50000 each for a massage plus I paid 25000 for heel treatment and pedicure
Location close to the airport was not a problem – it certainly isn't very busy and provided an interest – especially when a plane came into land out of the setting sun – a great photo opportunity. Walking out of the hotel main entrance it is a long way to anywhere of any interest (although there is a sports field, where many food carts set up at night and you do pass through what I would consider to be a maybe 'middle class' area of housing which is of interest in itself) but along the waterfront it is a very short walk along to the Bali Hai grounds – then through the hotel to get to the bottom end of the Tuban 'strip'
There is a shuttle service into Kuta – 5 return trips a day and taxis are so cheap that the location really isn't a problem. We found the staff to be delightful and the mix of guests was interesting – domestic Indonesian, ex pat westerners working in Asia, Japanese and some Aussies mostly
Probably the only real negative (apart from possibly getting lost in the massive grounds – although the bellboys will happily run you to your room in a golf buggy) is that the prices for everything in the resort are definitely 'deluxe' + of course the full 21%. Two cocktails were 118580 rp (around Aus $18) and 2 breakfasts 217800 rp (around A$33) for example
I've got a reasonable amount of info about room types/locations etc (and they are offering some very good specials on rates at the moment) and I'll post some of it to Mic's site
BALI DYNASTY
This big hotel on a relatively small block is unashamedly aiming itself mostly at Aussie families – and as such does it extremely well. It is hugely popular with a big pool, 4 restaurants, poolside theme dinners every night, lots of organised activities both for the kids and adults, loads of special added value features, a kids club with its own pool and lots of shade and a guest activity centre with discounted rates on tours etc Public areas are very impressive and the gardens feature a fishpond and waterfall
Personally, the noise of kids and large family groups having a great time and all the pool based activities with loudspeaker type commentaries was a bit much for us and whilst they have an attractive adults only lawn and 'lazy pool' area it was hard to avoid the noise.
I hadn't realised that the hotel isn't actually beachfront, a number of villas (of Santika Beach) are directly in front and even from upstairs in the Sunset Bar it was virtually impossible to see the beach at all. Access to the beach is through a small gate near the kids club and a laneway. Sunset Bar was a good place for Happy Hour though (5 – 7pm) when we got two cocktails for the princely sum of 35001 rp (just about Aus $5)
The hotel is an easy walk up to Kuta Square, and very close to Dianne's fixed price shop and quite a selection of places to eat
Again, I'll put more info about room types on Mic's site and I'm happy to answer any questions I can