In Reply to: flora beach hotel posted by devil on Saturday, 26. March 2005 at 07:40 Bali Time:
Okay, so we just got back yesterday after 11 nights at the flora beach hotel. All I can say is...you get what you pay for. The positives are...the staff are very friendly and the pool is pretty okay although very chlorinated (but rather that than a dirty pool). Also, everyone is pretty umm unimpressed with the hotel and so it creates a fun situation with all the other guests if you have a sense of humour. Our room was literally 4 metres from the swimming pool, which is nice if you want a swim but bad because no one wants to be in their rooms so they all hang out at the pool and the noise can get bad at times. The hotel is also really close to kuta square and so the location is good if you want the hustle and bustle of kuta.
Sorry to say but the negatives are many. Out of the 40 or so rooms they have only about 17 are functional. Every single guest we met there had argued to get a better room. Problems we experienced were, sketchy air conditioning, hot water only if you were the first person of the day to have a shower with heaps of people complaining they had never had hot water come out of the shower at all. Thats if you were game enough to use a shower. The bathrooms are all pretty crusty. Lots of mould. And they are all made from old stone so it looks a bit dirty anyway even if it was clean. There were bugs on our bathroom wall and mirror the first night we got there and they were still there the day we left. Their were pubes on the toilet...so I dont think it had been cleaned since the last people checked out. The sheets were badly stained (gross...so I laid towels across the bed) and the towels (if you got any) were frayed and had holes. They continually ran out of towels and a few people said they had to call housekeeping daily to get toilet paper (but that didnt happen to us, the TP was constant :) ).
The pool bar only operated on 2 occasions while we were there (that we know of). There were a few rats around too. The breakfast is pretty limited with many people joking about it too.
But ultimately, it is cheap accomodation with friendly staff. They have a little stall set up in the hotel grounds with no nonsense prices for sarongs and shirts etc so if you dont like the whole bargaining process, its convenient. They are also like..2 streets away from kuta square so you never have to get taxis for most places in kuta. They are across the road from a laundry, a dvd shop (where you can hire a player for 30000rp) and a tailor. The alley way where it is located is alright although one girl had her purse snatched by a guy on a motorbike one night (but that could happen to anyone holding a purse in your hand at night in bali on a busy road).
If you are going there to go out and see the sights and have a quick swim before breakfast and after dinner then its fine. If you are expecting to go to luxury accomodation with nice ammenities and services, then dont stay there. The staff are lovely but theres only so much you can work with you know?
Apparently, the hotel used to be great...went through a rough phase, got sold and partially refurbished, but is now up for sale again and the owners are not bothering to refurbish the rest.
Sorry to sound so negative, we had a great time in bali, but personally, I wouldnt stay there again and none of the other guests we spoke to would. Especially considering how nice some of the other places are in bali that dont cost much more at all to stay in.