Boeing to Bali for a Birthday Beach Break.

[Flyfrequently]

Grab and Gojek are great in Indonesia and Grab much wider in south east Asia too. Like uber but a third of the price and fewer driver scams!

Try grab food if you need something small delivered. Bags of ice, bottles of drink etc etc. I use it regularly to have martabak delivered.

We were just talking about that @Scarlett !
Think it's going to be an in- room date night Saturday as the birthday boy wants to watch the 2 AFL games
It  is his trip though!

 

[Flyfrequently]

and Thailand

And Thailand is the most comprehensive form to do @I love to travel
There is a Thailand medication thread

 

[Flyfrequently]

Just on midnight and finally in our room. Initial thoughts were dark, "rustic" - no, make that old and outdated.

We had done a fair bit of YouTube and knew not to raise our expectations.
Exhaustion took over and fell straight to sleep.

Woke the next morning with the sun on the balcony, birds chirping and a beautiful garden view.

I can cope with that!
Room is in a good position. It is on the same level as the lobby (#2) and halfway between said lobby and the beach/pool.

Take ourselves off on a morning 4km stroll in a pleasant 26°.

Breakfast beckons, fairly pedestrian but it fills the gap. As always, aim to be there early before it gets crazy busy.
This is the start of our rinse and repeat holiday
Walk
Breakfast
Beach
Swim
Read
And repeat
Until dinner - head to Bali Collection

Day one

 

[Flyfrequently]

These first 3 nights are pre paid with Qantas Hotels (to trigger TI spend) and we are settling in nicely.
The Staff are welcoming, aircon is good and the hotel is very clean, though dated having opened in 1983.

As mentioned in post # 6, I made separate bookings for the remaining nights via Accor ALL.
But, I still wanted to check out the Sofitel next door.

We took off in that direction for our next morning's walk.
Lovely pool, nice beach and, yes, Sofitel is newer but it lacks that Balinese charm we love.

We are very happy to stay put at Nusa Dua Beach Hotel.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Our first 3 night Qantas Hotel booking has now completed and head to the Front Desk to check out and check in.
Took them awhile to get their head around it, but as I anticipated confusion at some stage, I had set it all out clearly in an email prior to arrival. Once they located the email, all good.
As Accor Gold, we have access to the Kintamani Lounge. A quiet space, well staffed and open from 8 am - 10pm.

Snacks appropriate to the time of day with coffee, tea and juice.


Seamless check-out then checked - in and have kept us in the same room. Staff were very apologetic that they could not accommodate an upgrade due to high occupancy but for the last 3 nights of our stay, we have been granted Palace Club Lounge Access.
I had originally booked the last 3 nights in a Palace Club Room but cancelled that, as we do enjoy going off site in the evenings - one of the compromises in post #6!
I have found all our stays in Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Hong Kong) Accor Gold has been acknowledged and we have been looked after well.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Massage has now been added to daily routine
Weather perfect, 25°- 30° with a light breeze and minimal clouds.

Tomorrow we do the checkout and in - again.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Ok, check out /check back in went smoothly the other day.
Not so for our final 3 night booking.
This may be TLDR - essentially they stuffed up but followed up with good service recovery.

Saturday 10am:
Off to do check out and in.
Staff happy to have us stay in our room, sign the relevant paperwork, paid and receipted, keys recalibrated, all done in 15 minutes.

As we were about to leave, I enquired about the promised Palace Club Lounge Access.

Varying answers all starting with
"No"
▪︎ You do not get this
Me : You granted it for the last 3 days of our stay, you made notes and even showed us

Staff scurries off, checks with her mate - secret chatter ensues and several apologies laced with hushed phone calls.

▪︎ No you don't get access
Me : You reassured us this was in place of an upgrade not available due to high occupancy, you showed it in writing ^
More fluffing about.
▪︎ Ok, you can have it but will be extra $$
Me : No, that was not what you said on Wednesday.
More fluffing and phone calls.
▪︎ Ok, if you move rooms to the 4th floor, you can have complimentary Palace Club
 Me : Thank you, but we are happy to stay put as Palace Club is only a short walk from our current room.
▪︎ Let me talk to my Manager
Manager in meeting, will get back to you via What's App, email and will also put a note under your door.
Me : Ok, will wait to hear from you.
So far just on an hour of my life I won't get back - we head down to the beach and pool.......
.....hours later, 3pm and no word.
Called and again told Manager still in meetings.
Ok. Busy people, big hotel, I get that.
By 6.30 pm, no word so head out of the hotel to have dinner.
Arrive back 8.30pm.
Look, an envelope under the door time stamped 1.34 pm
Palace Club Lounge Access denied but goodwill gesture of a 2 pm checkout on final day.

Ok, not so fussed about no Lounge, by this time just ticked off with the delayed response and miscommunication.

So Sunday morning, I met with the Duty Manager.
My concern to her was not the denial of Palace Club but the miscommunication and mucking around after being offered it in the first instance.
She was extremely apologetic and conceded more staff training is required as NDBH has only been with Accor one year.
Although she could not authorise Club Access, she proactively offered us a later 5pm check-out and complimentary coughtails for the next 2 evenings in the Kintamani Lounge.
Big tick for her, especially to acknowledge staff need more training.

^ ok, should have taken a photo

 

[Mr_Tee]

I wonder what the reason was for the about turn on the Lounge access, and why, as a matter of goodwill not grant it anyway on the basis that (a) it had already been committed and (b) other status based entitlements were not available. Odd behaviour of management in my view.

 

[markis10]

Disappointing treatment, the hotel is hardly a budget option!

 

[Flyfrequently]

Disappointing treatment, the hotel is hardly a budget option!

Agree with you @markis10 and @Mr_Tee

To clarify though, I am A+ Gold so the offer to grant Club Access was something I was not entitled to, so unexpected but appreciated (will be Platinum at completion of this stay)
So I believe the turnaround was possibly because they realised I was Gold not Platinum, which is why I did not pursue that aspect.

Also, the Duty Manager said she was not able to grant access and that it would have to go further up the chain........ my holiday time is more precious than being concerned about more time waiting for an outcome.
And importantly I did not want the particular staff members to be in strife for offering it.
To have the Duty Manager acknowledge more training is sufficient for me.

I will email GM in due course but for now enjoying the last 48 hours.

Kintamani lounge last night