Gonetroppo
Intern
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2010
- Posts
- 65
Starting a thread for GH Bali - mods please delete if I've missed an existing one.
Stay: 21/2-24/2
Status: Diamond
Rate: C + 21% tax + P + DSU
Paid: $127 p.n. + 6,000 p.n. for base room, 3 adults
Received: Grand Suite King with day bed made up for 3rd guest, tropical fruit, TV snacks.
Impressed beyond words with the beauty of the gardens, engagement of the staff and the lounge. It is a heavenly oasis - teeming with beautiful birds, colourful flowers, water monitors and other wildlife. The lounge platforms out over a water garden - a magical setting at any time of day. Food in the lounge was exceptional. Breakfast was a small selection, but top quality and great service. Best bircher muesli anywhere ever. Eggs Benedict for three in about 5 minutes flat. Evening canapés were inventive and delicious. Drinks selection was very small but far nicer quality than Canberra Hyatt selections (where hubby slogged out his HGP status).
Loved the waterslide, although the pools were too warm even for me (you’ll usually find me in the spa). Although I thought the small club pool was just right (making it too warm for most). As a former florist I loved the substantial arrangements everywhere, and although parts of the resort are older, maintenance and cleanliness was top notch (not so much at the Conrad Bali – I’ve written in the HH forum too). No bugs/mosquitos at all, despite the water gardens everywhere. I’d guess the birdlife keeps them in check - it does seem like a very happy little ecosystem. Lucky animals who live here! It really was just enchanting.
Cycling along the beach path was great fun. They have some dilapidated rusty old bikes to hire (~$20 for 3) - terrible value but we had to escape our suite (see toilet issue below) plus it was a great way to get our bearings on the first day and ‘windowshop’ all the other resorts. And get into Bali-mode with no helmets
The staff were more confident in their English; more willing to engage and converse than at the Conrad, and used our names too.
The suite honestly was a little underwhelming. It had a very low ceiling and not much natural light - it felt cramped and dark. Fourth floor or a different wing could be sunnier. The sofa and table settings wern’t very inviting (hard and too much glass) and the moody lighting didn’t help. Be warned - the day bed was shorter than our daughter by about a foot; she ended up squeezing in diagonally (she’s only 164cm). When at the suite we spent most of it on the small balcony overlooking a beautiful water garden - the serenity! However, our bed was very comfortable (far better than the Conrad Bali where we stayed afterwards), and the fresh orchids and Balinese touches were lovely. Toiletries looked and felt like something from Ibis - an odd choice.
Unfortunately we had major issue with a broken toilet, which wasn’t dealt with well at all. It didn’t have to be a problem, but a slow and ineffective response made it into one. After a late checkin, the toilet started running continuously (noisily) and lost its flush function during the early hours. The toilet is in the middle of the suite, making it too noisy to occupy. We alerted staff at breakfast …then again after lunch. At the end of the day, someone finally had a go at fixing it, only for it to break again early the next morning. It appeared that it was a known issue with that room (315??) and two other rooms as well, so it’s a mystery why they would allocate it to a diamond stay.
Explaining that we’d all been kept awake, forced into a long trek for every call of nature, and had our toilet out of action for most of our stay with zero acknowledgement or concern, the on-duty manager was quite apologetic. However, his solution was to offer a downgrade to a lower level suite. The resort was extremely quiet, but wouldn’t budge on offering the same or better room. Not wanting to pack up or lose our beautiful view, I suggested they fix the toilet post haste this time and all hope it didn’t reoccur. Fortunately it didn’t, but we were on tenterhooks until early checkout the next day. A note with a tiny vial of massage oil appeared (along with some eye-wateringly chemical-smelling bathsalts which had to be banished), which was nice but not exactly diamond service recovery IMHO. Although our room was unusable for half our stay, no adjustment to the final bill was made and we didn’t want to spoil our holiday vibe by quibbling on leaving.
Not sure how we’d approach another stay - room choice would be key - but due to the bed, lounge and gardens being so much nicer than the Conrad I would love to consider it feasible for another chance. Hubby is now giving SPG status a run, so that could be another option.
Stay: 21/2-24/2
Status: Diamond
Rate: C + 21% tax + P + DSU
Paid: $127 p.n. + 6,000 p.n. for base room, 3 adults
Received: Grand Suite King with day bed made up for 3rd guest, tropical fruit, TV snacks.
Impressed beyond words with the beauty of the gardens, engagement of the staff and the lounge. It is a heavenly oasis - teeming with beautiful birds, colourful flowers, water monitors and other wildlife. The lounge platforms out over a water garden - a magical setting at any time of day. Food in the lounge was exceptional. Breakfast was a small selection, but top quality and great service. Best bircher muesli anywhere ever. Eggs Benedict for three in about 5 minutes flat. Evening canapés were inventive and delicious. Drinks selection was very small but far nicer quality than Canberra Hyatt selections (where hubby slogged out his HGP status).
Loved the waterslide, although the pools were too warm even for me (you’ll usually find me in the spa). Although I thought the small club pool was just right (making it too warm for most). As a former florist I loved the substantial arrangements everywhere, and although parts of the resort are older, maintenance and cleanliness was top notch (not so much at the Conrad Bali – I’ve written in the HH forum too). No bugs/mosquitos at all, despite the water gardens everywhere. I’d guess the birdlife keeps them in check - it does seem like a very happy little ecosystem. Lucky animals who live here! It really was just enchanting.
Cycling along the beach path was great fun. They have some dilapidated rusty old bikes to hire (~$20 for 3) - terrible value but we had to escape our suite (see toilet issue below) plus it was a great way to get our bearings on the first day and ‘windowshop’ all the other resorts. And get into Bali-mode with no helmets
The staff were more confident in their English; more willing to engage and converse than at the Conrad, and used our names too.
The suite honestly was a little underwhelming. It had a very low ceiling and not much natural light - it felt cramped and dark. Fourth floor or a different wing could be sunnier. The sofa and table settings wern’t very inviting (hard and too much glass) and the moody lighting didn’t help. Be warned - the day bed was shorter than our daughter by about a foot; she ended up squeezing in diagonally (she’s only 164cm). When at the suite we spent most of it on the small balcony overlooking a beautiful water garden - the serenity! However, our bed was very comfortable (far better than the Conrad Bali where we stayed afterwards), and the fresh orchids and Balinese touches were lovely. Toiletries looked and felt like something from Ibis - an odd choice.
Unfortunately we had major issue with a broken toilet, which wasn’t dealt with well at all. It didn’t have to be a problem, but a slow and ineffective response made it into one. After a late checkin, the toilet started running continuously (noisily) and lost its flush function during the early hours. The toilet is in the middle of the suite, making it too noisy to occupy. We alerted staff at breakfast …then again after lunch. At the end of the day, someone finally had a go at fixing it, only for it to break again early the next morning. It appeared that it was a known issue with that room (315??) and two other rooms as well, so it’s a mystery why they would allocate it to a diamond stay.
Explaining that we’d all been kept awake, forced into a long trek for every call of nature, and had our toilet out of action for most of our stay with zero acknowledgement or concern, the on-duty manager was quite apologetic. However, his solution was to offer a downgrade to a lower level suite. The resort was extremely quiet, but wouldn’t budge on offering the same or better room. Not wanting to pack up or lose our beautiful view, I suggested they fix the toilet post haste this time and all hope it didn’t reoccur. Fortunately it didn’t, but we were on tenterhooks until early checkout the next day. A note with a tiny vial of massage oil appeared (along with some eye-wateringly chemical-smelling bathsalts which had to be banished), which was nice but not exactly diamond service recovery IMHO. Although our room was unusable for half our stay, no adjustment to the final bill was made and we didn’t want to spoil our holiday vibe by quibbling on leaving.
Not sure how we’d approach another stay - room choice would be key - but due to the bed, lounge and gardens being so much nicer than the Conrad I would love to consider it feasible for another chance. Hubby is now giving SPG status a run, so that could be another option.
