In Reply to: Padma Renovations posted by lovebali on Wednesday, 15. April 2009 at 14:25 Bali Time:
Yes, the reno is big. If you have never stayed at the Padma it probably won't seem so disappointing but if you've been there before you realize just how much of the property is under renos. None of the others in my group (there were 11 of us) had stayed before so they didn't seem to mind the renos. I was abit disappointed with all the work going on but I'm sure that it will be great once it's done. They seem to be shooting for August as the completion date.
The lobby is all closed down and the temporary lobby is further back on the right hand side...just before the superior rooms. Not very nice but it's temporary. They had lots of staff always around the lobby (both inside and outside) so the service was good.
The main restaurant is all boarded up so you can have breakfast at the 'new' restaurant, next to the Japanese Restaurant or the Bella Rosa if you have club privledges. I thought that the Bella Rosa might be packed for breakfast but it was never too busy.
They have lots of the rooms closed down for renovations as well, so the hotel is not overly busy. Lots of chairs available by the pool all day long.
Many of the gardens are also dug up...mostly on the right side of the property if you were facing the ocean. That's where most of the rooms are also closed down.
We arrived at night and they were still working at 930PM. We had to walk around electrical cords and equipment and avoid the trenches that had been dug up. The staff were very helpful in making sure that you didn't fall in to the holes but the lighting was very poor. Certainly they don't have the same safety standards that we have in Canada so that was a bit of an eye opener.
The spa is also re-located to the superior room building. I had a spa treatment and have to say that it was abit disappointing compared to being spoilt in the old spa. Don't have the flower petal bath as they are just using 4 regular rooms for their treatments so the bath is just the normal bathtub (complete with a plastic shower curtain). I traded the bath part of my treatment for more time spent on my feet.
The gift shop is in the same hallway as the spa...got some great jewwllery there. They are using 3 superior rooms for the gift shop.
The Business Center was one of the room places that was not being reno'd.
I am hoping that they might eventually increase the outside area of the Garden Club Lounge. It really is way too small for the crowd during the 5-7PM Happy Hour. I guess they don't want to encouage too many people to take advantage of the free drinks! Our group never did get to all sit together during this time, if we wanted to be outside.
Overall, the reno's were well managed and there was not too much noise from them. I did feel though that they had a lot of nerve raising their rates at this time. I paid 18% more than I paid last November. The Nov. 09 rates are 28% more than Nov.08 but at least the renos will be done by then so they can hopefully justify the increases.
Because so many of the rooms are closed, their occupancy is high but I wonder if all the rooms were open, would the hotel be full.