Spent 2 nights at the Kuta Beach Club hotel. Decent place but forgot to take pictures. A lot of it is under construction at the moment so it will probably be a lot better once that is complete.
Next up was the Conrad Bali which I had been looking forward to most. I had booked the base room and a day before arrival noticed that my booking had been changed to a Lagoon Access Room, a couple of categories up. A bit of a disappointment arriving at the hotel and having to lug my own luggage out of the car and into reception (the uber driver helped). I had nearly arrived t reception before someone came over to take it off my hands. I actually don't mind carrying my own luggage, I'm still relatively young and fit, I would have thought a 5 star resort would do better.
When I handed over my passport my Diamond status was recognised and I was thanked for my loyalty. I did enquire about a suite upgrade but was told non were available and that my room had been upgraded. Also told that the Conrad Suites were not part of the upgrade program. These are rooms in a separate section of the resort and where the lounge is located. I arrived at 2:40 and was told that my room wasn't ready yet. I asked where's the best place for me to wait and she responded that I would have to come back to reception anyway to collect my key. So I sat down and waited in the un air-conditioned lobby. It wasn't until 10 past 3 that the receptionist noticed me and told me my room was ready. I'm not sure if she had forgotten my or that it had just become ready. If this was how they treat their Diamond members, I was worried. I enquired about the Conrad monekys and asked for 2 and was told they'd be placed in my room.
The room itself was quite spacious, the bathroom had a separate bath, toilet and shower area. The balcony was also large, with table and 2 chairs as well as an umbrella and 2 lounge chairs. It lead directly to the lagoon which connected a good part of the resort. Only a few of the lagoon access rooms had a large balcony. The majority was a small balcony with only 1 normal chair and 1 lounge chair. There was also a generic card in the room welcoming me.
As it was already afternoon tea time, I quickly headed to the lounge. Staff at the lounge were on another level. Very polite and attentive. Afternoon tea was decent and the mocktails were great. I'll post pics of the menus. It was quite empty with only another couple of tables with people on them. There was another area near reception where you could have afternoon tea so I'm not sure if everyone chose to eat there. After eating and drinking a few mocktails I headed back to check out the room further and to go for a swim. The promised monkeys still had not arrived so I called up to ask for them. The main pool whilst a decent size, is not as impressive as in the pictures. The lagoon pool was great though allowing me to swim around the resort areas instead of walking. One great thing about the resort was that bottled water was provided free, both in your room and pool side.
I headed back to the lounge soon after for evening coughtails and canapes. The times for afternoon tea was 3-5 and coughtails 5-7 so you could have done them back to back if you wished. Only a small plate of canapes were provided but the great staff kept bringing a new plate for us once we finished. I think we had 4 plates in total. The drinks list now included alcoholic drinks and coughtails. After coughtails, the monkeys still had not arrived so I had to call again and 15 minutes later someone was at the door with them.
I also had breakfast in the lounge the next day. There was a decent buffet selection as well as a menu you could order off. Like with afternoon tea and coughtails the previous day, it was quite empty. Service was excellent as always in the lounge. The following day I decided to have breakfast in the main area to compare. Of course it was much more crowded. It was 9 and nearly every table was filled. The buffet selection was much larger with some items not available in the lounge. The one thing I noticed that was available in the lounge but not the main area was smoked salmon.
I quite enjoyed my 2 days at the Conrad Bali. I did notice later that they consistently didn't have any staff manning the taxi and car drop off area so this is one area they could easily improve. It would have been nice to have a better check in experience for Diamond members. The lagoon access room was very nice, probably a lot more convenient than a room in the Conrad Suites section. I see that they do have some main area lagoon access suites as well so it would have been nice to get one of those. I got triple hilton points and quadruple asia miles for the stay so it was a decent return.
Last stay for the trip was at the Hilton Garden Inn very close to the airport. I booked the base room and saw that I had been upgraded one category the day before to a room with a better view. I didn't mind too much as it was just a one night stay before going home the next day. Once again nobody to help with bags and this time we had to do it all ourselves with noone carrying the bags or showing us to the room. It was a much cheaper stay so I didn't mark them down for it. At check in I was handed a card informing me of the benefits of being a gold member. I informed the clerk that I was in fact diamond and he checked and apologised to me. I was gold when I made the booking so that's probably why. He handed me a card showing benefits of diamond status and it was not very different with no lounge in this hotel.
The room was comfortable and clean and had everything one would expect. The pool was a highlight of the hotel and was much better than expected. It was longer than the main pool at the Conrad but not quite as wide. Overall quite happy with my stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bali. Also got triple hilton points and quadruple asia miles for the stay. On the last night we went to a seafood restaurant by the beach in Jimbaran. There is a lot of them all next to each other and I chose Made Bagus based on some reviews. For under $70 we got a large amount of food for 2 people and a drink each. I was very good value but taste wise was only ok. I would return though, given the chance.
Now for the pics
