Just some brief information on some of the hotels .....
Kumala Pantai -
Good points:
Location - Opposite Legian Beach and close to some excellent restaurants
such as Seaside, Zanzibar, Lanai, their own restaurant The Sands and others
.. Beach bar out front run by Safari plus a couple of local carts, which many say
you can eat from and certainly we noticed many tourists eating there at night.
Price - 385,000rp booking directly or through Mida
Room Size - Ample room with a large bathroom, sep shower and bath
and plenty of room for storage and hanging space, safe, TV, Tea and
coffee. Y and B Block have views over the pool ... A and NS Block
are further away from the pool towards restaurant and can be a lil
darker but some prefer these rooms, I personally have found B Block
to be my pick. Near the stairs can be a lil noisy with people if people come
and go late at night and some find the climb to the second floor difficult after a time.
Balcony is large with a rack for hanging clothes plus table and chairs.
Food/Bev Price - One of the few hotels in this class where you can afford
to eat and drink in the restaurant, beside the pool and room service.
Small Bintang 11,000
Fresh Juice 8,500
Club S/Wich 32,000
Wrap 32,000
Pool - pool is large and there are usually plenty of chairs (well
except in peak periods)... there were problems this visit with the pool
being dirty and also high chemical levels. Plenty of chairs in shade as well
as sun and also table and chair settings. There is a pool bar plus toilet fac.
No swim up bar.
Late Checkout - late checkout for us was extended to 8pm for 50% of room
rate, which was worth it (192,000rp).
Breakfast - excellent buffet Bfast included in the price with freshly cooked
omelettes and eggs to your liking, lots hot dishes and plenty of fruit plus
good ole vegemite.
Not so good points:
Reservations - problems with making and confirming bookings particularly
by email. Phoning Desi direct or faxing is best option or pay extra and book
through an agent.
Staff - staff tend not to be as friendly as some other hotels and generally you
find yourself asking twice for things to be fixed in the room, needing to ask
staff at Bfast to bring coffee and also approaching bar at pool rather than
them approaching you however the good points override these small issues.
Pillows - I did note this visit that some pillows in rooms were new and larger
so that was a good sign. Pillows tend to be flat and old without pillow covers
so not a good idea to have a close look at them. Just ask staff to bring more
pillows.
Lighting - reading at night in some of the rooms can be an issue as the rooms
tend to be very dark without a central light in most rooms.
We also checked out the following beachfront hotels:
Mandira
The location and the pool are Mandira's best selling points. Certainly I feel
their rooms are overpriced and when weighing up value for money the KP wins out.
Inna Kuta
Location is Inna's biggest selling point with the hotel being right on the beach
however, I felt once again the price was over inflated and when we were shown
the 'refurbished bathroom' well once again KP's bathrooms are in much
better condition and we found it hard to notice any kind of refurbishment.
Mercure Kuta
Location is their selling point with some good specials on the Accor website
if you can manage too get them. It isn't bad value at around 45 USD when
we were there on the Accor Hot Deal. Pool has a lovely view over the beach
but is very small. Rooms are also not overly spacious.
Sahid
Nothing about this hotel impressed us, it is in desperate need of renovations and
although the staff were friendly and helpful it certainly is somewhere I would never
consider staying.
Grand Istana Rama
Great location, staff showed us a superior room as well as one of the cottages and we thought that the
rooms were great value for money; price they offered us was 500,000rp for the sup room. The rooms we were shown had recently had their bathroom renovated, they were huge, and the nicest bathrooms we had seen. The pool area needs some attention and again Kumala out shone them here but as a change we thought it was one of the better properties we looked through.
Kuta Paradiso
Lovely hotel .... Asking a similar rate to all the beachfront properties we looked at (cheaper than some) so I would certainly rather stay here than in most of those. It does not have direct beach access unfortunately and the pool is multi levelled which would prohibit swimming laps. I imagine the pool does not get full sun all day. This property is next to the Kuta Art Markets so handy for shopping.
Still very hard to go past Ramayana and Kumala Pantai. Another reason that it is hard to go past these hotels is that the poolside prices are very reasonable unlike many other hotels but like all hotels they have good and bad points.
..... not on the beachfront.....
Melati Beach Apartments
We looked through an apartment owned by an Aussie who is a forumite and manages several
apartments in this establishment. Melati is behind a lil coffee shop on Jl Padma Utara, near Merry's
Collection. Very small pool with the apartments surrounding the pool (a little like the Courtyard set-up if you have seen that). They have access to a laneway that will take you directly to the beach and you are given a key to access this. Apartment was two bedroom and incredibly spacious with double doors opening onto the pool area. TV, DVD player, CD player, modern surroundings, kitchenette, two bedrooms with one being a twin and one a queen I believe.... Very impressed we were although I am not sure I would pay the peak season asking rate however, off peak they offer some good rates.
Seminyak
Bali Mystique
Met Norman from Bali Mystique, a very interesting man who showed us through the property. We would certainly consider staying here with the off peak rate at AUD 50 for one of the lil cottages or AUD100 for a new two bedroom apartment. The new restaurant and apartments are gorgeous. There are two pools, it is very close to some nice restaurants, and I believe some 200 meters from the beach.
Any questions pls email me.... More to come later.....