In Reply to: BGH or Jayakarta posted by jandalsue on Tuesday, 26. August 2008 at 04:49 Bali Time:
Check my post....
Posted by Stavros on Wednesday, 6. August 2008 at 16:08 Bali Time:
Hi all, back again...
As per last JBR... accomodation on our holiday was 5 nights at the
Bali Garden and 10 nights at the Jayakarta.
As i read in the forum, many of you stay in the above listed hotels,
so a comparison of the 2 is what i'll do, along with info about each
of them:
BGH :
Room:
5 nights in a family room, cost (booked through Island Bound Holidays
in Perth) $534. All Family rooms are on the ground floor with a coutyard of sorts. Our first room had no courtyard as it had an access
patyh for staff running through it ( not happy Jan!), plus our bed was
so soft, i haven't sleplt that close to my wife since our wedding night1..LOL!) we just rolled down the slope into one another all night....changed rooms 2 days later, bed slightly firmer, but not enough for me. The rooms although rather large, were pretty shabby, cracked tiles, paint peeling, cheap 'n nasty chairs and tables. TV
had a heap of channels on it History,Discovery channels and the like..
It had a good size fridge and a hot and cold water dispenser provided.
Bathroom ok, nothing to write home about, water temp and pressure were
good though.
Staff:
Very freindly, helpful and good over all english.
Breakfast: Good, had Pancakes and eggs any way you liked,Sausages and Bacon ( apon request), pastries,
toast, fruit and fruit juice, tea and coffee as well as the usual
Indo favourites...Noodles Rice etc, but no cereal ( had to go and buy some for the kids).
Pools:
Top notch, great atmosphere, over looking the beach, pool furniture
all new and never a hassle getting a lounge.
Restaurant(s):
The Boardwalk which is opposite the pools was good and cheap, much like the prices you would out at the street resto's, this is because,
unlike many hotels the BGH doesn't directly run the Restaurants in the
hotel. Drinks at the pool bar where also cheap... Bintang about 12000
and cocktails 40000ish from memory.
Location:
Top notch, especially if your into shopping, it's very central to all the big shops and plenty of good places to eat.
JAYAKARTA:
Room:
Deluxe room (No 305) triple room with a Cot in it for my youngest (who does sleep in a bed at home, but had no probs being in a cot
again, although he only just fitted ! LOL). Cost was $821 for 10
nights, booked direct with Wira via email back in February. The room,
was smaller that the BGH room, but more "homey", beds were top notch,
firm (quite new, i think), furniture a little worn, but a lot better
than the BGH. Less TV stations than the BGH, but more than enough to keep you going if your into that sort of thing. Sheets changed daily. Bathroom, clean and water pressure/temp were all good. Small fridge
and no complementry water.
Staff:
Freindly, but not quite as much as the staff at BGH, in saying that,
we had no problems with them.
Breakfast:
Good, a larger selection of everything that the BGH had, except the
pancakes weren't cooked fresh...extra's that the BGH didn't have- Fruit salad, yoghurt, cereal and even Vegemite.
Pools:
Although ageing, the pools were fine, clean and adequate for us, the only real problem i (and many others) found was that the marble tiles
around all pools were VERY slippery and quite dirty ( just check the bottom of your feet when you get out of the pool and walk around and you'll see what i mean). I reckon they are old and worn and need replacing.
Restaurant:
Only ate there once (when we first arrived). service here was slow
and the food we had was very average. Drinks were expensive and as
a consequence of this the atmosphere around the pool bar and restaurant was pretty dull. You would be better off popping out onto
the beach and grabbing a beer from Franks Bar and bringing it back in with you. His price for a large Bintang 20000, the hotel, 30000 for a
small can!.
Location:
Right on the beach, near plent of good shops and resto's, both on the beach srtip to the left of the hotel and on the streets at the back of it.
So who was the winner?
Well if could put the pools and Restaurant of the BGH in the grounds
of the Jayakarta i'd be rapped... I did talk to the staff at the front desk of the BGH about the much vaunted room reno's... the answer: They were supposed to begin jast Novembern but Bali has been so busy and the hotel running at near capacity, they just haven't started yet, they say they are going to have to bite the bullet and
close down a wing at a time and get into it...but when? who knows...
Both had there plus' and minus', so if your a "pool man" the BGH is the go, but if you want a little more comfort in your room, then the
Jayakarta is the go.