In Reply to: back to the mainland - jayakarta posted by audinary on Wednesday, 22. October 2008 at 12:05 Bali Time:
As a long term Resident of Residence an in Jayakarta Hotel & Resort I sympathize with Audinary's bad experience. I did not stay at the Resort during Xmas and New Year but when I visited and enquired about the Pool problem I was informed it was maintenance issue. During that time Jayakarta had a new GM who is since gone and I feel a lot of problems have been rectified now.
Of course Food and drink is expensive in a 4 star resort so what I do is eat in Blue Ocean Lanai, Zanzibar and Goody's where the food is great at a good price. Most of these Café's also provide free WiFi for using your Laptop. As for Beer, better to buy n Beach or Local store 15000Idr and bring to your chaise. I am not aware of any rule prohibiting bringing Food and drinks to the Pool area.
The long-term problem with most Bali Hotel's is that there has been no major price increase since the fiscal crisis in 1997 followed by 2 Bombings. The lack of Tourists that followed meant there was no ash available to upgrade and renovate Hotel's. This past year the Tourists started to return and that is why you see all this noisy Construction, as there is no Noise Violation codes here. Most Hotel Operators were anticipating a rate increase in 2009 but with the current Word financial crisis that knows.
On the Bright side Jayakarta still has the cheapest rates for a prime Beachfront location almost anywhere in the World. So far Local government has been tough on keeping a maximum of 5 floors being allowed to be built so you don' see Hotels and Apt Buildings like you see in Europe especially Spain.