In Reply to: garden view cottages posted by mickshirley on Monday, 22. September 2008 at 16:58 Bali Time:
Stayed at GVC for nearly a month, and just got home a week ago. The reno's aren't noisy or inconvenient. They seem to have pretty much stopped work on the new rooms down the side (due to change of plans from what I can gather).
The old pool is closed, with only the new pool operational, which means it gets a bit busy through the day but still room to use it if you're into pools. There's a little bit of work going on near the reception, but none of it was noisy or in the way of checking in, or going in or out of the hotel.
As for the bad reports, I'm not too sure what everyone has been complaining about.
The towels didn't smell bad.
The rooms were cleaned each day.
The restaurant is fine.
The staff are still as great as always.
Anything I needed fixed in the room was done quickly and without a hassle (needed one light bulb replaced and air-con re-gassed).
The only problem we had was at the start with rooms not available on our first night. They tried to put is in the old run-down cottages but we just stood our ground and politely refused. They made a few non-acceptable offers - such as sharing the "2 bedroom" apartment when we'd booked 2 separate rooms. They also tried to put us up at Balisani Padma but the bathroom was mouldy so we declined that too. Eventually we ended up at Bali Village hotel in Rum Jungle Rd for the first night. Second night I had my standard room as booked - my parents had booked a superior room and were put into a standard for 2 nights, then to their superior room after that. No big problem, just a minor inconvenience that was easily sorted out.
So if you were only staying for 10 or 14 days it might have been a big hassle, but a few days into the holiday we were settled and by the time we'd left it was all but forgotten. Nobody got upset, we didn't rant and rave (like some guests we saw doing) and we ended up getting what we wanted, plus a few bonuses for the inconvenience.
Maybe we were lucky, or maybe the reports of it being such a horrible place have been greatly exaggerated. Everyone else staying there seemed happy from what I could make out. A few had hassles getting rooms at first, but all sorted pretty quickly. Aside from the ones who got abusive to hotel staff, who just seemed to get nowhere other than getting themselves upset.
I'd stay again, except they probably won't be there in their current format by the time I get back next year.