8th - 17th June
I'm not really in the mood for doing a JBR but I did promise a few people.
I basically chose this hotel due to the reviews on the BTF and Trip Advisor.
We checked into the Griya Santrian beach wing room #210 and realized our view was the wall of the next block of rooms. Since we were about to go out and about, we went back to reception and asked if we could change rooms. As the hotel was full, we could only move to a renovated deluxe room #118 in about two days time. No worries for us.
Room 210 in the old beach wing was OK, however there wasn't much light and the view turned us off. The toilet didn't really flush properly and the shower leaked all over the floor. An accident waiting to happen.
Room 118 (ground level) in the newly renovated rooms was great. However I felt that the bathroom being only closed off with frosted glass didn't give much privacy, especially if your on a ground level room and you wanted to leave the drapes open, it felt like people might be able to see someone in the shower or using the toilet as they walked past.
Both rooms had tea/coffee making facilities but once we saw the inside of the kettle we decided against it. It just looked really dirty and local ants had taken up residence.
No smoking allowed in the rooms, but ashtrays are provided for you on the balcony.
The bed in this room was comfy, but if you both slept in the centre of the bed you could feel the mattress kinda cave in.
Breakfasts at the hotel were pretty standard IMO. Not much choice and the menu was changed every couple of days.
When we asked for a glass of water at breakfast, we were told that we would be charged for a bottle of aqua instead. After that we took our own bottle of aqua to breakfast with us.
The room service menu is fairly limited also with only about 5 or 6 choices. I guess thats to lure the guests out of their rooms and into the restaurant. We ate once at the restaurant I ordered a pizza, which was good and my partner ordered beef rendang. We had to laugh at the hotel's version of the rendang, two small round minute steaks with a bit of rendang sauce on the side. I have to mention that the club sandwiches are to die for. Yum!
We didn't really spend much time at the hotel or in the area itself. We did have about 3 meals at the warung KAMI SAMA, turn left out of the hotel on the beach front and its about 5 minutes walk. All the food was freshly cooked and tasted great. The Babi kecap (pork in sweet soya sauce) was fantastic.
The staff at the hotel itself were good, however there were one or two that need to learn how to smile.
The other guests were mainly, russian, german or dutch. Funnily enough the only guests that would say hello to you as they walked past your room or elsewhere along the paths were the Australians.
The housekeeping could learn to clean the rooms a little better, but everything else was good. Sometimes it felt like the hotel was always short on staff members.
I'd give the hotel about 8/10. Would we stay there again? Yes but only if we were in the renovated rooms.
Things we did coming soon...