In Reply to: Thanks turbo5 posted by johnno1 on Sunday, 17. April 2005 at 13:21 Bali Time:
We stayed in a superior room with a sea view (just about ! because on this wing of the hotel they have a lovely mature garden infront of our room 4th floor the top floor) Your room will be slightly better.
As for what the rooms. You get a massive comfy bed a balcony, bathroom etc TV with 40 channels of which quite a few are in english ie BBC asia news and a few movie channels and sports channels a few aussie channels, discovey channels etc. The hotel was superb they change your towels 2 twice a day sheets once a day, the aircon is adjustable . The breakfast is like any american major hotel where there is a massive buffet with everything available and you help yourself, they have a egg station where you get scrambled eggs, fried boiled, poached, omellettes pan cakes etc, its your choice. There are 2 big pools and you don't need to take beach towels as they are provided, you get a voucher and take as many towels as you want and just give them back at the end of the day, even if you have been to the beach or on a trip somewhere.
The food is excellent if you eat at the hotel, but is dearer than outside. Eg, a three course meal for two with beer and Gin and Tonic etc only cost about 300,000 RP which is nothing really. The hotel staff are really friendly and all speak good english. All the bills have service charge included so you are not supposed to tip but we just rounded everything up to the nearest 5000rp.
The hotel facilities are excellent watersorts parasailing, jet skis, etc there are tennis lessons, bicycle hire, etc. The spa is excellent the wife and I enjoyed a 2 hours session, body scub, massage petal bath , facial etc it came to 500,000 rp for the a pair of us. this is more expensive than elsewhere but you have beautiful surroundings and after the treatment you can just walk back to your room. instead of taking a cab or walking back. We booked ours for 4.00pm.
The hotel has 100's of staff and they really look after you, they have security at the front gate house and every car is checked in the trunk (boot) and a mirror examines the underside of the car. (Since the bombing). The back of the hotel backs onto the beach and the security staff stop the hawkers from harrassing you.
Overall I think its a brilliant hotel, I have stayed at a few which had nicer rooms (when on business and the firm is paying !!) but they don't have the beautiful surroundings outside and the gardens inside as the sanur beach.
The majority of guest appear to be Dutch because Garuda Air have a special deal with the dutch irline carrier KLM. We also met a few English, Swiss and German. I didn't meet or hear any Aussies. Most of the airlines put their staff their between flights, everyday in reception it was full of pilots and air crew.
If you wanted even better I suppose the Hyatt looked better but not that much.
I think you will enjoy it and have nothing to worry about.