In Reply to: Price hike posted by saff on Tuesday, 22. March 2011 at 17:10 Bali Time:
Dear saff and other valued BTF members.
Thank you all for your views and valuable suggestions. Many of you who are the regular patrons of Green Garden Hotel, Green Garden Beach Resort & Spa, and later at Febri's Hotel & Spa must agree that you have watched the hotels and their staff grow from basic accommodations to where we are now.
The 'massive' increase applied as from April 2011 is largely in response to the 'massive' increase of operations costs I explained yesterday. As general rules of thumb, inflation rate in Bali is about 15% yearly if subsidy provisions remain the same. If government decides to alter their subsidies, the inflation rate shall reverse accordingly. You might like to subscribe to a free weekly online newsletter called BALI UPDATE and find the latest information on what is going on more concisely from expatriate communities who have lived in Bali since 25 years ago: their observations and the implications which are likely to come. To name a few, well water cost has jumped 1,500% (15 times more expensive than April last year), state electricity has jumped over 50% more expensive than the same month last year. Our official representatives in the local parliament have objected these massive increases since last year but their efforts have not changed the government decision (and the battle still continues). I will add its URL link at the bottom of this message.
Suggestions on the hotel improvements are always carefully considered. To name a few, elevators, free WiFi and more variation on breakfast menus will be implemented soon among other facilities which our patrons would like to have. Please understand that at the same time the management must also consider the cost constraints in order to avoid even higher pricing to our regular patrons.
When you are in Bali, please feel free to contact me. I will make myself available for any discussion or just a simple chat over coffee on how the hotel can improve to be more effective and efficient in its services. I am certainly not the best general manager (if compared to many Australian general managers in big name hotels) but I am always willing to learn. I try to attend to complaints personally if the hotels or my staff are at mistake whenever I can. I even put my bedroom extension number in all guest rooms at the Febri's for off-hour emergency contact (as I live in the hotel).
Yours truly,
Paulus Wibowo